League of Nations off to a Bad Start

The League of Nations off to a bad start

The fact that the USA did not assume its role as world leader had a devastating effect on the League. It quickly became clear that such an organization could only work if the world’s powers took an active interest in it. As well, Germany (which was renamed the Weimar Republic) was not accepted into the League until 1925; many French people felt resentment towards Germany since the Western Front took place on French soil and so many French people had died as a consequence of German aggression. Even though the Weimar Republic had become a democracy and had taken the blame for the war, many people felt that they should make Germany pay. The attitude of the French government was that a weak Germany would not be able to start another war. Even though the British government felt that treating the Weimar Republic too harshly might create problems in the future, it did not object to the French demands.

It was only when the Weimar Republic came under the leadership of Stresemann, that its economy improved, partially thanks to American investment, and that it voluntarily started paying back war reparations to France and Britain that it was accepted into the League of Nations. As WWI proved, Germany is a very important figure in European politics, and therefore, not having Germany as a member could only undermine the Leagues’ influence.

On top of that, Russia, which had gone through a Communist revolution in 1917 and had been renamed the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR), was not accepted into the League, even though Russia had been an ally of Britain and France up until the revolution and millions of Russians had lost their lives on the Eastern Front. This was a reflection of the Western nations’ fear of Communism and their anger towards the Soviets for giving up the Eastern Front against Germany and the Austro-Hungarian Empire in 1917 after the signing of the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk.

The League of Nations, set up in Geneva, Switzerland, barely ever came up with any resolutions due to the fact that member nations had to agree unanimously on anything that it passed. Naturally, it was very rare that all of the countries (which numbered a maximum of 60) agreed on a common resolution. This organization quickly became a place for the victors of the war to argue.