The League Of Nations And Its Impact On World Peace

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Recommended: League of Nations during 1930 - 1939

Through my studies and research I have come to the

following conclusion about the League of Nations: despite

all of President Woodrow Wilson's efforts, the League was

doomed to fail. I feel this was so for many reasons, some

of which I hope to convey in the following report. From the

day when Congress voted on the Fourteen Points, it was

obvious that the League had a very slim chance of being

passed in Congress, and without all of the World powers, the

League had little chance of surviving.

On November 11, 1918 an armistice was declared in

Europe. Wilson saw the opportunity to form an international

organization of peace to be formed. He acted quickly. On

January 18, 1919 he released his fourteen points. The

Fourteen Points consisted of many things, but the most

important was the fourteenth-the establishment of a league

of nations to settle international disputes and to keep the

peace. After congress had voted, only three of Wilson's

fourteen points were accepted without compromise. Six of

the others were rejected all together. Fortunately the

League was compromised.

Wilson then went to Europe to discuss the Treaty of

Versailles. Representatives from Italy, France, and Britain

didn't want to work with the nations they had defeated.

They wanted to hurt them. After much fighting and

negotiating, Wilson managed to convince them that a league

of nations was not only feasible, it was necessary.

The Senate supported most of the Treaty of Versailles

but not the League. They thought it would make the U.S.A.

too involved in foreign affairs. Wilson saw that the League

may not make it through Congress, so he went on the road and

gave speeches to sway the public opinion. Unfortunately,

Wilson's health, which was already depleted from the

negotiations in France, continued to recede. Wilson's battle

with his health reached its climax when Wilson had a stroke

on his train between speeches.

After Wison's stroke, support of the League weakened,

both in Congress and in the public's opinion. In 1920 G.

Harding, who opposed the League, was elected as president.

The League formed but the U.S. never joined.

The first meeting of the League was held in Geneva,

Switzerland on November 15, 1920 with fourty two nations

represented. During twenty-six years the League lived, a

total of sixty-three nations were represented at one time or

ano...

... middle of paper ...

...to effect its own dissolution,

whereupon much of its property and organization were

transferred to the United Nations which had resently been

founded. Never truly effective as a peace keeping

organization, the lasting importance of the League of

Nations lies in the fact that it provided the groundwork for

the United Nations. This international alliance, formed

after World War 2, not only profited by the mistakes of the

League but borrowed much of the organizational machinics of

the League of Nations.

The League of Nations and its impact on world peace

John James

Mrs. Hippe

History

March 7, 1996

Bibliography:

Mothner, Ira. Woodrow Wilson, Champion of Peace. New York

Watts Inc., 1969

Mason, Lorna; Garcia, Jesus; Powell, Frances; Risinger,

Fredrick. America's Past and Promise. Boston

McDougal Littell, 1995

Albright, Madeleine. "America and the League of Nations,

Lessons for Today" Speech

United States Department of State 1994

McNally, Rand. Atlas of World History. New York

Reed International Books Limited, 1992

Microsoft. "The League of Nations."

Excarta 95. 1995

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