league of nations definition us history
The League of Nations: A Key Component of U.S. History
The League of Nations: A key component of U.S. history. The League of Nations is a vital catalyst in shaping United States history. Although many Americans at the time and some acknowledged historians shrugged it aside, its impact is embedded in most of the significant aspects of political, cultural, social, and economic history. In particular, the League’s effects on U.S. foreign policy, military affairs, governmental process, racial attitudes, economic management, visual arts, and world concept are not merely marginal to the history of the U.S. They are key elements. This is especially important because many of the realities about the decade after the Armistice are not well known to many undergraduates. That so few know of it well is the fault of the profession. First, warning and wisdom given about the post-Armistice period by every major field commander, statesman, and observer – civilian and military – were largely ignored and, consequently, the consequences were as predicted. Second, the study of the 1920s now has its own history in American historiography, and illustrative monographic detail has obscured an understanding of the broader meaning and implications of the decade.
Wilson progressively compromised the Fourteen Points, and finally, on June 28, 1919, signed the Versailles Peace Treaty and established Great Britain and France as imperial colonial powers. American advocates of the League established the American delegation to follow President Wilson and again made their presence felt by formulating a strong minority report. Equally strong in opposition, but absent from the Versailles talks, was Dr. John R. Mott, who later received the Nobel Peace Prize for his work. Before the final Versailles Peace Treaty was completed, Senator Henry Cabot Lodge, the Republican chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, sent to President Wilson a note stating that it was the understanding of the Senate Committee that the President would submit peace terms together with the completed draft of the German Treaty for advice and consent prior to the signing.
President Wilson was not invited to attend the post-war peace negotiations that began on January 18, 1919, in Paris. With the N.I.P. behind him, President Wilson was able to obtain an invitation for the United States to attend the meeting, and he himself eventually was invited to attend. In Paris, five members of the Big Four countries attended the peace talks. A Treaty of Versailles, the grand World War Peace Treaty, was the result, but President Wilson had a greater plan which was embodied in the Fourteen Points. The already established National Security Business League, the Merchants League (with real estate interests in mind), the Knights of Columbus, and the Republican Party (using expansion and renewal of the Mississippi as a political issue) were dominantly anti-League. The Anti-Saloon League, Chautauquas, the Young Peoples Federation of Temperance, and the Saratoga and Carlton Clubs were considered to be strongly anti-League.
President Wilson has received his share of the blame for the failure of the United States to join the League of Nations. It was assumed by many that he crisscrossed the nation in 1919 attempting to gather public sentiment behind him. Actually, until August 1919, he did very little to whip up support for the treaty or the League. Even after the physical breakdown on his midwestern tour, the president was not overly assertive in rallying public support. In wishing to become the “closer,” Wilson had to make alarming statements concerning the dangers inherent in the failure of the Senate to approve the treaty and the League, while denying that he was attempting to scare the Senate into ratifying the treaty and joining the League. The post-war world promised to be a difficult and uncertain one, but few felt that the League of Nations was the solution to its problems.
In looking at the impact of the League of Nations, Article X of the Covenant is the most controversial. It was greeted with approval in some circles, but faced stiff opposition from others, who saw it as an infringement on U.S. sovereignty. In attempting to analyze the impact of the League of Nations on American history, a consideration of the Treaty of Versailles, which created it, is pertinent. The Treaty of Versailles is believed to achieve a fair and lasting peace, and to render it impossible for any nation in the future to have any ambition of attacking its neighbors and to start another war.
The League of Nations faced several criticisms other than the shortcomings of the treaties generated by the Paris Peace Conference. Some U.S. senators and other Americans who had been invited to join the League of Nations criticized the organization for accepting certain changes to treaties passed by the leading powers. For example, the Soviet Union rejected the League for not treating it entirely as a sovereign state and feared that the treaty revisions helped to divide the Soviet Union and its allies at a time when such behavior could not be tolerated. Similarly, the United States rejected the terms of the treaty revision regarding Allied Powers’ behavior in the Pacific Islands, particularly those islands traded from Germany to Japan after World War I. The United States accused League delegates to the Washington Conference of failing the local interests of these Pacific states that had been forced to become the subjugates of imperial powers in Europe and Asia.
The League of Nations faced its first test in the mid-1920s when its delegates revised various treaties that had formally concluded World War I. In many respects, the League of Nations failed this early test. Delegates at the conference tore apart several treaties and undermined many of the principles of the Paris Peace Conference. For example, many territorial decisions made in central and eastern Europe, particularly in the Balkans, irked various Europeans at the time and significantly undermined the stability and long-term success of these treaties.
For as magnanimous as its origins were and as lofty as its goals seemed, the League of Nations was by no means perfect. It encountered numerous challenges and criticisms from its member nations, and its weakness on the international stage helped encourage the rise of revisionist and aggressive states that brought the world to war once again in 1939.
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