WW1 and the origin of the League of Nations Dr Daryl Le Cornu The intellectual roots of the United Nations go back to the First World War. As Australia and the world enters a period of commemoration of key events associated with the First World War it is fitting that we seek to understand the origin of the League of Nations, the forerunner to the United Nations. The League of Nations had its origins in various people and events predominantly in Great Britain and the United States between 1914 and 1919. Some events that were notable in the creation of the League of Nations are listed below: •
Sept 1914 – Union of Democratic Control formed (Britain) •
May 1915 – League of Nations Society formed (Britain) •
June 1915 – League to Enforce Peace formed (USA) •
April 1915 -­‐ Central Organisation for a Durable Peace formed (The Hague, Netherlands) •
April/May 1915 – The International Congress of Women at The Hague •
May 1916 -­‐ Wilson's League to Enforce Peace speech (USA) – President Wilson became the first world leader to give a public commitment to the creation of a ‘league of nations’. •
Nov 1916 – German Chancellor Bethmann-­‐Hollweg – stated Germany would join a league •
Nov 1916 -­‐ US Elections – the commitment to creating a league made part of Wilson's platform •
18 Dec 1916 – American Peace Note – Wilson advocated a league and to mediate an end to War •
22 Jan 1917 – Peace Without Victory speech -­‐ Wilson advocated a ‘League for Peace.’ •
August 1917 -­‐ the Papal Peace Note (The Vatican) – 8 point peace plan including arbitration •
8 Jan 1918 -­‐ Fourteen Points Speech – the 14th point called for a League of Nations •
8 Oct 1918 German request for an armistice on the basis of the Fourteen Points •
July 1918 -­‐ League of Free Nations formed (Britain) •
Oct 1918 -­‐ League of Nations Union formed from merger of LNS and LFN (Britain) •
5 Nov 1918 – Allied governments’ conditional acceptance of the Fourteen Points •
11 Nov 1918 -­‐ Armistice •
Feb 1919 – Draft of League of Nations Covenant •
28 June 1919 -­‐ Treaty of Versailles – containing the League of Nations Covenant •
10 January 1920 – The League of Nations began operation Union of Democratic Control Manifesto August, 1914 1. No Province shall be transferred from one Government to another without the consent by plebiscite or otherwise of the population of such Province. 2. No Treaty, Arrangement, or Undertaking shall be entered upon in the name of Great Britain without the sanction of Parliament. Adequate machinery for ensuring democratic control of foreign policy shall be created. 3. The Foreign Policy of Great Britain shall not be aimed at creating alliances for the purpose of maintaining the 'Balance of Power', but shall be directed to concerted action between the Powers, and the setting up of an International Council, whose deliberations and decisions shall be public, with such machinery for securing international agreement as shall be the guarantee of an abiding peace. 4. Great Britain shall propose, as part of the Peace Settlement, a plan for the drastic reduction, by consent, of the armaments of all the belligerent Powers, and to facilitate that policy shall attempt to secure the general nationalization of the manufacture of armaments and the control of the export of armaments by one country to another. 5. The European conflict shall not be continued by economic war after the military operations have ceased. British policy shall be directed toward promoting free commercial intercourse between all nations and the preservation and extension of the principle of the Open Door. Resolutions adopted by the International Congress of Women The Hague, Holland, May 1, 1915 Point 11. INTERNATIONAL ORGANIZATION This International Congress of Women urges that the organization of the Society of Nations should be further developed on the basis of a constructive peace, and that it should include: As a development of the Hague Court of Arbitration, a permanent International Court of Justice to settle questions or differences of a justiciable character such as arise on the interpretation of treaty rights or of the law of nations. As a development of the constructive work of the Hague Conference, a permanent International Conference holding regular meetings in which women should take part, to deal not with the rules of warfare but with practical proposals for further international co-­‐operation among the states. This conference should be so constituted that it could formulate and enforce those principles of justice, equity and good will in accordance with which the struggles of subject communities could be more fully recognized and the interests and rights not only of the great Powers and small nations but also those of weaker countries and primitive peoples gradually adjusted under an enlightened international public opinion. This International Conference shall appoint: A permanent Council of Conciliation and Investigation for the settlement of international differences arising from economic competition, expanding commerce, increasing population and changes in social and political standards. ‘Peace Without Victory’ speech President Woodrow Wilson 22 January 1917 In every discussion of the peace that must end this war, it is taken for granted that that peace must be followed by some definite concert of power which will make it virtually impossible that any such catastrophe should ever overwhelm us again. Every lover of mankind, every sane and thoughtful man must take that for granted. It is right that before it comes, this government should frankly formulate the conditions upon which it would feel justified in asking our people to approve its formal and solemn adherence to a League for Peace. The treaties and agreements which bring it [the War] to an end must embody terms which will create a peace that is worth guaranteeing and preserving, a peace that will win the approval of mankind, not merely a peace that will serve the several interests and immediate aims of the nations engaged. It will be absolutely necessary that a force be created as a guarantor of the permanency of the settlement so much greater than the force of any nation now engaged, or any alliance hitherto formed or projected, that no nation, no probable combination of nations, could face or withstand it. If the peace presently to be made is to endure, it must be a peace made secure by the organized major force of mankind. There must be, not a balance of power but a community power; not organized rivalries but an organized, common peace. There is no entangling alliance in a concert of power. When all unite to act in the same sense and with the same purpose, all act in the common interest and are free to live their own lives under a common protection. Source: 64 Congress, 2 Session, Senate Document No. 685: "A League for Peace."