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In 1935, Mussolini's armies in Somaliland invaded the Empire of Abyssinia, the last independent country in Africa.  Its leader, Emperor Halie Selassie, protested to the League of Nations.  But Italy was a leading member of the League, and the other members did not want to upset Italy.

The UK could have stopped the invasion by closing the Suez Canal and stopping the sale of oil to Italy.  It did neither.

Instead, the UK and France agreed a secret treaty with Italy called the Hoare-Laval Pact (after the British and French foreign ministers, Sir Samuel Hoare and Pierre Laval). When the world discovered this, the League was totally discredited.

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Japan already controlled the railway in Manchuria.

In 1931, Japanese forces invaded Manchuria and installed a puppet government there.  China protested to the League of Nations.

The League spent a year making its report.  When it eventually condemned Japan, the Japanese government simply left the League.  There was nothing the League could do about it.

If the League had wished to enforce its decision, it would have needed the cooperation of the two largest powers in the Pacific - the USA and USSR. But neither was a member of the League.

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The Wall Street Crash in 1929 led to the the collapse of the US economy, and had implications around the world.  It had an impact on affairs within countries and also changed relationships between countries.

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The Great Depression also helped Josef Stalin to tighten his grip on the Soviet Union. He was very suspicious of the emerging fascist powers (Italy, Germany, Japan) and also suspected that the democracies would not act to stop them. He spent the 1930s building up Russian industry and army in preparation for a war with Germany.

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Japan's economy was reliant on trade with the West (mostly the USA) for raw materials and food. The Great Depression caused a collapse in its main market. This led to the rise of an aggressive nationalist military government. This in turn led Japan to look at invading its neighbours to get the resources it needed.

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The USA, Great Britain, France, Italy and Japan agreed to limit the size of their navies. This was as far as disarmament ever got.

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Another economic deal with Germany which reduced the total amount of reparations.

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65 nations agreed to outlaw war.

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Germany accepted its western borders according to the Treaty of Versailles. In exchange, Germany was allowed to join the League of Nations. (Nothing was said about Germany's eastern borders with Poland and Czechoslovakia, possibly leaving open the door to Germany retaking its lost territories).

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Economic collapse in Germany led to Germany not being able to pay its reparations to the Allies. In response, France occupied the Ruhr (Germany's industrial heartland near the French border).

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To prevent an economic crisis in Germany, American banks lent huge loans to Germany.  This helped Germany honour its reparations to the Allies. French troops withdrew from the Ruhr.

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An international organisation including (almost) every country. Its aims were to prevent war by allowing countries to resolve disputes by talking. It also provided a way for countries to work together.

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The leaders of the three leading powers at the Paris Peace Conference were known as the Big Three. They were Woodrow Wilson (President of the USA), David Lloyd-George (UK Prime Minister) and Georges Clemenceau (French Prime Minister). They had different hopes for the outcome of the conference.

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Wilson wanted a peace without punishment.  He argued for:
-disarmament
-no blame
-national self-determination

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Try to find the definitions of these in your work - if you can't, look them up!

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Use the information in this padlet to create your own super-useful-timeline of the International Relations topic!

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You should also rank the events out of 5 for how far you think they encouraged peace...
5 = very peaceful / countries working together
1 = very aggressive / countries looking after themselves

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Georges Clemenceau wanted to punish Germany, partly to rebuild France.

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The USA, Great Britain and France became very inward focused and unwilling to intervene abroad because they did not have the money to do so.

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The Council - the leading nations had one representative each, and could veto any League decision.

The Assembly - the League's parliament, in which every member had a vote.  It met once a year.

The Secretariat - the permanent staff of office workers who carried out its decisions.

Commissions - the League had a number of separate bodies that each dealt with a different problem, like refugees or health.

The Court of Justice - helped to settle disputes between countries.

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David Lloyd-George wanted to get Germany up and running again as quickly as possible so that it could begin trading with Britain.

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Three important great powers were not members:
-the USA had refused to join because it did not want to get sucked into international affairs
-Germany was not invited
-the USSR was in the middle of a communist revolution, and therefore also not invited

Also, the League's council needed to be unanimous to make a decision.  If one permanent member decided to veto, there was nothing the League could do.

The League had no army and no way of enforcing its decisions on other members.

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In 1919, the Allies presented the peace deal to Germany.  It contained four main areas:
-LAND - Germany had to give up 15% of its land, mostly in the East, to create new countries like Poland.  Germany also lost all of its African colonies.
-ARMY - Germany was limited to an army of 100,00 men, no tanks or air force, and a very small navy with no submarines
-MONEY - Germany had to pay an enormous reparations sum of £6.6,000,000,000 (billion)
-BLAME - Germany was forced to accept that it had caused the First World War

Many Germans were scandalised by the terms of this treaty, but the German government had no choice but to sign.

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The Refugee Committee resettled around 400,000 people at the end of the war.

The International Labour Organisation achieved international agreements on the rights of workers.

The League brought in the first Declaration of the Rights of the Child - still in force today.

The Health Committee worked to spread vaccines against leprosy and malaria.

The League led successful campaigns against drug trafficking and slavery.

The League's Financial Committee helped to re-establish the banking systems in Austria and Hungary which had been ruined by the war.

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American banks called in their loans to Germany. This led to the collapse of banks and many businesses in Germany. This led to mass unemployment. This led many Germans to abandon democratic parties and support extremist parties - either the Communists or a new group called the National Socialists, led by a man with a very recognisable moustache.

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In 1921, Finland and Sweden both claimed the Aaland Islands. Both sides threatened to go to war but in the end Sweden accepted the League's ruling that the islands should belong to Finland.

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Germany and Poland both claimed a rich coal-mining region called Upper Silesia. The League organised a peaceful vote of residents (called a plebiscite) and then divided the region between Poland and Germany - both countries accepted the decision.

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In 1930 Poland took control of the Lithuanian capital city, Vilna. Lithuania appealed to the League for help. The League protested to Poland, but Poland was not prepared to listen and Britain and France did not want to force Poland as it was a potential ally against Germany.

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Italy's new Prime Minister Benito Mussolini invaded the Greek island of Corfu. Greece appealed to the League. Even though Mussolini was the aggressor, Britain and France did not want to act against Italy so in the end Greece had to pay Italy to leave the island.

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Mussolini used the Great Depression to tighten his grip on power in Italy and began to look outwards, with intentions to build a new Roman Empire. He also believed that the great democracies (Great Britain and France) were unwilling to intervene to stop him.