1. Introduction

The LoN was founded in1920 as a result of the treaty of Versailles that was signed after the Paris peace conference. This definition pointed toward it as the first attempt at encouraging global peace and benevolence to other countries that are part of the society as well as a method of appointing mechanisms for security and resolution of conflicts within the society. Altogether, the League could be seen as a rather successful and, at the same time, a clearly failing international organization.

Key Facts:
– Headquarters: Geneva, Switzerland.
– Membership: Reached a membership of fifty eight member states once, but excluded some of the most powerful nations such as the United States. It was for the reason to prevent hostilities, to settle all the existing conflicts and dissensions, as well as to ensure the free and mutual intercourse between nations.
2. Possible successes of the League of Nations
In a way the League of Nations had its successes in terms of managing disputes, humanitarianism and socio- economical projects.
a. Resolution of Disputes
The League of Nations succeeded in the resolution of a number of international disputes:
– Upper Silesia Conflict (1921): Achieved the peaceful settlement of the territorial dispute between Germany and Poland by referendum and diplomatic means.
– Greece-Bulgaria Conflict (1925): Prevented actual warfare by politically intervening after the start of border incursions.
– Peru-Colombia Territorial Dispute: A peacefully settled the problematic ones among the territories.

b. Humanitarian Activities
The League was also an important contributor to global humanitarian causes:
– Nansen Passport (1922): Provided the basis for an identification system of stateless refugees so that population in such a condition can be identified.
– Health Campaigns: Erased Typhus epidemic in Russia as well as in the world, and facilitated a campaign to avoid entry of this disease into Europe.
– Social Reforms: Has gone to considerable lengths to try to eliminate trade in opium and other addictive substances, human trafficking, and the sexual exploitation of women.
c. Mandates of Monitoring
The League administered territories in its mandate system, such that the administration was kept up to the international level:
– Carried out plebiscites; for example, ‘ Saar region plebiscite(1935)’ let people settle whether to be sovereign.

3. Limitations and Failure The League was plagued at times by structural, geo-political, as well practical ills that severely limited League efficacy. a. Structural Flaws
a. Unanimity Prohibition: Any decision needs the unanimous agreement of league member states. This may, and did, tie all parties in knots without much happening.
Universal membership: the United States lack of membership meant that whatever potential it had was negated.
– Ineffective Management: It was based mostly on voluntary cooperation, thus making it hard to enforce the resolutions.

b. Geopolitical Mistakes
League of Nations did not move with swift actions in many of the significant conflicts between the two wars:
-Japanese invasion of Manchuria in 1931: League condemned Japan and Japan ignored the League that continued to withdraw from League.
-Italian invasion of Abyssinia in 1935: Economic sanctions against Italy were ineffective; League showed itself to be powerless
– German remilitarization of the Rhineland in 1936: League could not prevent Germany from breaching the Treaty of Versailles.
– It could not solve the ‘Spanish Civil War and the ‘Second Sino-Japanese War’, which proves that it was incapable of solving this type of conflicts.
c. Lack of Enforcing Powers
– No Standing Army: The League had no armed forces that could enforce its decisions or even prevent the occurrence of an act of aggression.
– The league relied on the member states to enforce the resolutions; however, most of them harbored more nationalistic tendencies than to support collective security.

Key Facts:
– Membership declined because more and more countries lost their confidence in its ability.
– The League failed to prevent World War II, and eventually it was dissolved in 1946.

Conclusion

At the end of it all, the League’s failures paved the way for its successor, the ‘United Nations (UN)’, to rectify most of its failures. Although the League could not maintain world peace, it remains an integral step in the history of international diplomacy and, in a way, explains how much collective effort is needed in order to ensure global stability.