League of Nations was the brainchild (creation) of the US President at that time, Woodrow Wilson.

The main purpose of the League was to preserve peace throughout the League and solve world conflicts. The League was also to have a policy of Collective Security. This is when a membered states is attacked by an aggressor then all of the other membered states would come together and put a stop to that aggressor. The League of Nations came into effect on January 20, 1920. Its headquarters were located in Geneva, Switzerland.

When the League first came into operation in 1920 it consisted of forty-two membered states. It had four major functioning organs. The first organ of the League is the General Assembly. It consisted of only one representative of each membered state. The General Assembly only met once a year (annually). The main function of the General Assembly was to decide on the General policy of the League. The General Assembly also handled the finances of the League of Nations. All decisions that were made in the General Assembly required a unanimous vote.

The second organ of the League of Nations was the Security Council. This was a much smaller organ than the General Assembly. The Security Council met on a three times a year occasion. It contained four permanent members, Japan, Britain, Italy and France. The Security Council also had four non-permanent members which were elected by the General Assembly. These non-permanent members were to serve a three-year term. The Security Council dealt with disputes, conflicts and crisis as they arose. Again just like the General Assembly, the Security Council required a unanimous vote.

The third organ was the Secretariat which consisted of only one person. The Secretariat looked after paper work and prepared agendas. He would also write a report on any decision that was made in the League. The last organ was the Permanent Court of International Justice. This was located at the Hague in Holland. It consisted of fifteen judges all of which have different nationalities. This organ dealt with legal disputes between various countries throughout the world.

During the existence of the League it did have some successes. One success was the International Labour Organisation (ILO). This organisation was headed by the French Socialist Director, Albert Thomas. Its intention was to persuade governments to fix maximum working days and weeks. Also to fix an adequate minimum wage. It also introduced old age, sick and unemployment pensions.

Another main success of the League was the Refugee Organisation which was headed by Norwegian explorer, Fridtjop Nansen. It solved the problem of many former POW's that were left stranded in Russia. As a result about half-a-million POW's returned to their respected homes.

The League also had some failures which led to its decline. A major reason was the low membership of the League. Germany did not arrive until 1926. Russia did not enter until 1934. The USA never did enter the League. So for the first three years of its existence the League of Nations was deprived of three very important world powers, Germany, Russia and the USA. The League was very much a Franco-British affair. Britain showed that they were not really very enthusiastic when they rejected the Geneva Protocol and showed interest towards the Locrano Treaties which were not a part of the League's covenant.

Also the covenant making in the League was weak. It could hardly make any decisions. Members were showing hostility towards each other which meant that they were not all in union. Also the league was weak military-wise and financially weak.

The League was set up to preserve peace throughout the world. It was well organised structurally. This led to the success of the League. The disunity of the members meant that decisions were not able to be made which led to the Leagues failures. These failures and weaknesses led to the decline of the League which is now not existent.

KEVIN PILGRIM Form 5 Berkeley Institute.

EDUCATION MONTH