After the First World War the League of Nations was setup to settle international disputes. Its main aims were to discourage aggression from any nation, encourage countries to co-operate, encourage nations to disarm and to improve living and working conditions around the world. The league was a good idea however there are many reasons why the League of Nations failed.

The most important reason why the league failed was because of Britain’s and France’s self interest. This is seen in many places. Firstly in the 1920 Vilna crisis when Lithuania was attacked by Poland the French didn’t want to send in their army to protect Lithuania. One of the methods for the league to settle disputes was by collective security and the French army was chosen to settle the dispute although this did not concern the French and they had not used their army. As a result of this Lithuania was completely destroyed and the league had failed. Also during the Manchurian crisis when the league had imposed sanctions on Japan Britain wanted to keep good relations with Japan and refused to agree to the sanctions. This made the leagues sanctions meaningless and Japan had got its way.

The French and British self interest is also shown in the Abyssinia crisis. If Britain and France had cooperated the Crisis could have been settled a long time ago. Britain and France didn’t want to stop the Italians in their invasion because the French and British wanted to keep good relations with Italians as they were their strongest Ally against Germany. The Italian main supply line to Abyssinia was through the Suez Canal that belonged to the French and British and this was the quickest way there the French and British had not closed the canal to the Italians as they had feared to go to war against Italy. Britain and France had completely betrayed the League of Nations during the Hoare and Laval Pact. In the Hoare and Laval Pact Britain and France made a secret deal with Italy and they agreed that Italy could have 2/3 of Abyssinia. This was done secret without consulting the League and this was against the league. In the end Abyssinia was taken over by Italy and the league had failed to resolve the problem.

Secondly there were some major powers missing in the league that led to its failure. The two major powers were USA and USSR. The absence of USA and USSR meant that what the league said didn’t make the other countries much of a difference. The league did not have access to the prestige, influence, wealth or military power of the United States. It was forced to rely on Britain and France, who had both been weakened by the First World War. If the league had placed sanctions on a country it would not make then a difference as they could just trade from USA or USSR. This is seen in the Manchurian Crisis when the league placed sanctions on Japan, Japan could trade with USSR and USA. This also led to a big failure to the league.

Furthermore the league could not place effective sanctions on countries. In the Manchurian crisis the League had taken long the place the sanctions on Arms and metals on Japan. Although due to the absence of the USA and USSR Japan just traded with USA. Japan had got its way and the league failed. Also the sanctions placed on Italy were not enough, the league had banned trade of Rubber, Tin and metals which was a good decision made by the league however the league didn’t ban Oil. This led to the failure of the sanctions. The Italian army could still continue to fight with oil. Another problem with the sanctions was that not everyone wanted to place the sanctions as their country would lose income.

This is seen when Britain didn’t want to support the sanctions against Italy as many people would lose their jobs in Britain. The Depression also made the sanctions worthless as all the countries had rather cared about saving their own economy rather than keeping world peace. This also brings back the point of self interest of countries which made the sanctions even more ineffective and therefore the league had failed again.

Moreover the league had reached their decisions very late in a crisis. This had happened many times. It is seen in the Manchurian Crisis when the league officials were sent to Japan to analyze the problem; it had taken one year to reach their which delayed the decision by far. Also for the Report to be created, then sent back to Europe and then to create a decision took 1 and a half years. This delay was costly for China and the League. Also the decision for the banning of Oil in the Abyssinia Crisis took a very long time. During the delay Italy was building up its stockpile and the banning of oil became worthless. During this delay Italy had taken over most of Abyssinia and the league had failed again. The main structure of the league had weaknesses. The countries only met once a year to make decisions which always delayed the decisions. Also the league needed a unanimous vote for any decision to pass which would generally take a long time as no one would agree straight away on a decision.

In addition the league lacked an Army and depended on other countries to provide their army to fight in crisis situations. Although this was a problem as countries wouldn’t send their army in a crisis that didn’t involve them. This is seen in the Vilna crisis when France was supposed to send their army to oppose Poland but France had refused to send their army as it didn’t involve them. This weakens the league as no country as afraid of the league if no one attacks them.

The league was part of the Versailles Treaty and there were many controversies against the treaty that affected their league. The unfair Versailles treaty was used by Germany in many occasions as an excuse to do what they wanted. In the Disarmament conference German had said that they should re-arm to the level of other countries. Due to many countries thinking that the Versailles Treaty was unfair they agreed to the German statement. This went against the leagues aim to Disarm and Germany was allowed to rearm. PJ Larkin a school teacher in 1960 said ‘One basic weakness of the League was that it was tied in people's minds to the Versailles settlement, and criticism thrown at Versailles fell on the League.’ When people criticized the Versailles treaty they criticized the League. The league had failed because of the unfair treaty.

In conclusion the League had failed mainly because of the self interest of the league members; mainly Britain and France. Also due to absent powers like USA and USSR Britain and France were the only strong powers but they had been weakened after World War one. Due to the absence of USA and USSR the sanctions placed on countries were ineffective. The League had reached its decisions very slowly due to the weak structure of the league and late responses by countries. The League also lacked its own army. All these reasons had weakened the league and led to the complete failure of it. During the 1930’s the Leauge of Nations completely collapsed and all other countries went their own way.