Maps
Europe after WW I

Danzig &
the Saarland

League Mandate Territories:
- in the Middle East
- in Africa
- in the Pacific


Images
First Session of the League, 1920 [1][2]

Sir Eric Drummond

The Palais des Nations, Geneva

The Library

Delegations from:
- Egypt
- Ethiopia
- Germany
- Iran
- Siam (Thailand)

The League At Its Best, 1919-1929
History 300 / August 29, 2013

I. Paris, 1919: the “big four” reshape Europe
         A. Containing Germany
                  1. Reparations
                  2. Military restrictions
                  3. Occupation
         B. Implementing “self-determination”
                  1. Rewarding the smaller Allied powers
                  2. Plebiscites in contested areas
                  3. Exchange of populations between Greece & Turkey
II. The structure of the League of Nations
         A. The League Covenant [click here for PDF]
                  1. Obligations of members        
                  2. Rules for settling disputes
         B. Institutions
                  1. The League Assembly
                  2. The League Council
                  3. The Secretariat
                  4. Other affiliated organizations
         C. Membership in the League [PDF]
                  1. The US Senate rejects ratification
                  2. Germany and the USSR as pariah states
III. The League at work
         A. Humanitarian work
                  1. Emergency relief for refugees (and repatriation)
                  2. Protection of minorities
                  3. The League of Nations Health Organization (LNHO)
                  4. “Slave women” in China and other causes
         B. Organizational work
                  1. Overseeing colonial mandates
                  2. Governing disputed territories
                  3. Setting standards
                  4. Limited role in economic management
         C. International security
                  1. Peaceful resolution of conflicts
                  2. Striving for disarmament
IV. Great-power diplomacy outside the League framework
         A. Managing German reparations
                  1. Setting the sum (London, 1921)
                  2. France and Belgium occupy the Ruhr (1923)
                  3. The Dawes Plan (1924), Young Plan (1929),
                           Hoover Moratorium (1930)
         B. Disarmament and conflict resolution
                  1. The Washington Naval Conference, 1922
                  2. The Locarno Treaty, 1925
                  3. The Kellogg-Briand Pact, 1928 [link]

Further reading
The League of Nations Photo Archive (housed at Indiana University!)
Gary Ostrower, The League of Nations from 1919 to 1929 (Avery, 1996)
Zara Steiner, The Lights That Failed: European International History 1919-1933 (New York: Oxford, 2005)