League of NationsWHII SOL 11a

League of Nations

• Created after World War I, the League of Nations was the first permanent international organization dedicated to maintaining peace.

League of Nations

• The league was first suggested by U.S. President Woodrow Wilson in an address to Congress, in which he outlined a fourteen-point peace plan at the end of World War I.

League of Nations

• The formation of the league was one of the provisions of the Treaty of Versailles, and member nations included France, Great Britain, Italy, and Japan, but not the United States.

League of Nations

• The league sought to pressure member nations to settle disputes with diplomacy. Failure would result in economic sanctions. If sanctions did not work, theoretically, the league would respond with force – however the league did not have a military force under its command.

League of Nations

• The league experienced a few successes, such as negotiating an agreement between Finland and Sweden in a dispute over the Aland Islands, but overall it was unable to prevent war again.

League of Nations

• The league was dissolved after World War II and replaced by the United Nations.

Mandate System

Mandate System

• An article in the covenant of the League of Nations stated that colonies and territories needed assistance as they prepared themselves for self-government and that more advanced nations would act as guides for the less experienced ones.

Mandate System

• Influenced by the idea of self-determination, a principle originating in U.S. President Woodrow Wilson’s FourteenPoints at the end of World War I.

Mandate System

• Mandates were established in the former German colonies and in territories once belonging to the Ottoman Empire.

Mandate System

• France and Great Britain took control of the MiddleEast, including Iraq and Palestine; France gained control of Syria and Lebanon. Arab nationalists had hoped that the British and French would make good on promises of independence for the former Ottoman territories.