League of Nations

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Once the hope for a new, peaceful world.

Precursor to the United Nations, the League of Nations was formed after World War One to ensure peace and prevent World War Two. Guess how it worked out.

The ideas behind the League represented a fundamental shift in thought from the preceding hundred years; rather than each nation pursuing their own national interests at the expense of others, the League brought in the concept of international co-operation. The League lacked its own armed force and so depended on the victorious Great Powers of the Great War: Great Britain, France, Italy & Japan to enforce its resolutions via military or economic pressure.

The League was structured under three main constitutional organs: the Assembly (all members of the League); the Council (the excutive body of the League) and the Permanent Secretariat. These bodies would later be carried on to the United Nations.

The concept of collective security and disarmament, central to the League's goals of peace, failed as the member nations were unwilling to disarm their militaries for varying reasons. Furthermore, as Those Wacky Nazis re-militarised their army and posed a threat to peace in Europe, the nations opted to follow suit.

You can see where this is going.