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Essay / After the end of the Great War, the peace conference held in Paris from January 1919 to January 1920 that resulted in the Treaty of Versailles was both vengeful and idealistic. Germany was stripped of its colonies and had severe restrictions placed on rebuilding its army and fleet. In this way, the peace agreement could be seen as a punishment for the defeated enemy, while reducing its status and strength. At the same time, Woodrow Wilson's vision of a general association of nations took shape in the League of Nations, founded in 1920. Its basic constitution was the Covenant, which was incorporated into the Treaty of Versailles and other peace treaties. The fundamental principle of the League was collective security, according to which its signatories pledged to seek peaceful solutions to disputes and to render assistance in every aggression. In other words, its main goal was to prevent the outbreak of war by protecting member states from invasion, settling border disputes, and encouraging countries to reduce their armaments. As such, it was a new and potentially far-reaching project; it could have become a powerful instrument of peace. He indeed settled a number of practical disputes – between Finland and Sweden, Albania and Yugoslavia, Poland and Germany, Hungary and Czechoslovakia. He also created subordinate agencies to deal with specific problems, including the status of Danzig and the Saarland, narcotics, refugees and leprosy. It was supplemented by a Permanent Court of International Justice and the International Labor Organization. However, the League of Nations disappointed the hopes of its founders. From the start, it lacked teeth and most of its members were reluctant to see it develop. It is thus nothing more than a permanent version of the congresses (in Vienna, etc.) which founded the old-fashioned Concert of Europe. There was a risk of conflict between Finland and Sweden over which state owned the Aaland Islands in 1920. The League decided that the islanders should remain under Finnish control. However, the rights of the Swedish minority on the islands had to be protected. Thus, the dispute was settled peacefully and a military conflict was avoided. Upper Silesia was on the border between Germany and Poland and contained both Germans and Poles. When conflict seemed imminent in 1920, the League held a plebiscite on whether to become part of Poland or Germany. Based on the results, the League decided to divide the zone. A third went to Poland and two thirds to Germany as part of a peaceful settlement. The Austrian government faced economic disaster after war losses and following the subsequent Treaty of Versailles. The League sent a team of financial experts to help the Austrian government in 1922. As a result, they managed to save Austria from imminent bankruptcy and political collapse. This was followed the following year by a similar rescue act for Hungary. In October 1925, Greek troops invaded Bulgaria. The League called on both countries to stop fighting, which they did. The League's commission of inquiry ruled in favor of the Bulgarians and the Greeks had to pay compensation. One of the League's greatest successes was its efforts to improve the lives of people in Europe and around the world, through the creation of numerous humanitarian agencies tasked with tackling social and economic problems. The International Labor Organization has made several important contributions to improving working conditions.work of people. It got its member countries to agree to principles including a maximum eight-hour working day and a 48-hour working week. All workers have the right to join a union and receive paid annual leave. Additionally, no one under the age of fifteen was to work full time. Toxic white lead was banned from paint, eliminating health threats. The organization regularly publishes its findings and recommendations in order to increase pressure on governments around the world. The World Health Organization has had some success in helping countries control outbreaks of life-threatening diseases. He launched a global mosquito extermination campaign, which dramatically reduced cases of malaria and yellow fever in the following decades. Even Russia, opposed to the League, used the WHO to advise it on the prevention of plague in Siberia. When a refugee crisis hit Turkey in 1922, hundreds of thousands of people had to be housed in refugee camps. The League took rapid action to eradicate cholera, smallpox and dysentery in the camps. The League also contributed to the repatriation of around 400,000 prisoners held following the First World War. The League has also enjoyed success in other areas of work. He successfully fought against slavery, arms trafficking and drug trafficking. It also made recommendations on the marking of shipping lanes and produced an international highway code for road users. The League's Minorities Commission put pressure on governments that failed to respect the rights of minority groups. Even in areas where it could not alleviate social injustice, the League carefully recorded what was happening and provided information on issues such as drug trafficking, prostitution, and slavery. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on “Why Violent Video Games Should Not Be Banned”? Get the original essay However, given these successes, the League also had failures, which tended to be more high-profile and more serious than its successes. There have been many instances where international disputes have been sources of conflict for the League, putting it in a bad light. The former capital of Lithuania, Vilna, had many Poles. It was seized by the Polish army in 1919, prompting the new Lithuanian government to appeal for help from the League of Nations. The League protested the Polish action but Vilna remained under Polish rule. France, a key member of the League, supported Poland's claims to Vilna in exchange for Polish support in the event of a future attack by Germany. In 1923, an Italian general named Tellini, who worked for the League of Nations Boundary Commission, was assassinated in Greece. Mussolini, the Italian leader, demanded compensation of 50 million lire from the Greek government, ordered with his weapons to bomb the Greek island of Corfu and demanded that the assassins be handed over. The Greek government did not know who the assassins were and appealed to the League. The League Council suggested that the Greeks pay compensation to the League which, in turn, would return the money once the murderers were found. But Mussolini had other plans. He wanted the Conference of Ambassadors to judge the case rather than the League. He won his case and the Conference decided that Greece must pay Italy what it demanded. These examples showed that, even if the League had established itself as an international organization capable of resolving disputes between powers.
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