Why was the League of Nations unable to stop Japan taking over Manchuria in the 1930s?

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The League of Nations was an international organisation formed in 1920 with its primary objective being to uphold world peace and promote collective security. This was based on the idea that if one of the League’s members was invaded, the other countries would stand up against the aggressor together. The League had a variety of successes, including settling the Aaland Islands dispute between Sweden and Finland, as well as failures, such as the Corfu incident between Greece and Italy. The main reason Japan took over Manchuria was because it did not want to fall victim to the vast European Empires at the time and be conquered. Instead, it was looking to be on par with major European nations such as Britain and France. As a result, it tried to expand its empire and had already taken control of Korea in 1876. In 1931, Japan invaded a North-eastern region of China – Manchuria. Manchuria was rich in resources and shared borders with Russia and Mongolia. Because both Japan and China were members of the League, China turned to the League for support and collective security. However, 20th century China was a country in decline and not considered a major country globally. In contrast, Japan was seen as the League’s most powerful member in the Far East and a permanent member of the League sitting in the League Council – which had full authority to make decisions, while China was not. There are several reasons why the League of Nations was unable to stop Japan from taking over Manchuria. Firstly, most of the respected countries in the League were powerful European nations such as Britain, France, Italy and Germany. Because the League had no army of its own, an army would be gathered from its member nations should it go to war. If war was t... ... middle of paper ... ...action to Japan’s use of force and simply not being confident of going to war with Japan. Therefore, because these permanent members of the League had no interest in stopping Japan, the League did not do anything. Furthermore, powerful countries including the USA and USSR were not part of the League and this greatly reduced the League’s authority. Lastly, the only action that the League did take – the Lytton Committee and Report, bore no fruits and exposed the League’s vulnerability to the world. As Italian Prime Minister said, ‘The League is very well when sparrows shout, but no good at all when eagles fall out’. During the 1920s, the League was able to solve minor disputes between relatively small countries. However, because the crisis in Manchuria involved Japan, a major power, the League was helpless against it and was unable to stop Japan taking over Manchuria.

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