IB History Successes and Challenges of the League of Nations in Europe Key Definitions

A territorial dispute between Finland and Sweden over the Aland Islands, an archipelago in the Baltic Sea between the two countries. Both Finland and Sweden claimed sovereignty; the Swedish-speaking islanders wanted union with Sweden. The League of Nations was asked to rule on the dispute, one of its earliest test cases. In 1921, the League awarded sovereignty to Finland but protected Swedish cultural rights and demilitarized the islands. Both parties accepted the ruling. The case was cited as an early success of the League, demonstrating that it could resolve disputes peacefully when great powers were not directly involved.

A dispute between Italy and Greece in August-September 1923. Italian General Enrico Tellini and four members of a boundary commission were murdered on Greek territory while working on the Albanian-Greek border. Mussolini blamed Greece and issued an ultimatum. When Greece refused to comply fully, Italian forces bombarded and occupied the Greek island of Corfu. Greece appealed to the League of Nations. The League Council initially found against Italy, but pressure from France (which wanted Italian support for its Ruhr occupation policy) led the Conference of Ambassadors to issue a separate settlement requiring Greece to pay Italy 50 million lire. Italy withdrew from Corfu. The episode was seen as a League failure: a Great Power had violated the Covenant and escaped significant consequences.

A secret agreement negotiated by British Foreign Secretary Samuel Hoare and French Prime Minister Pierre Laval in December 1935, proposing to end the Abyssinian crisis by offering Italy roughly two-thirds of Abyssinia's territory in exchange for a ceasefire. When the proposal leaked to the press in December 1935, it provoked a public outcry in Britain and France. Hoare was forced to resign. The episode exposed the unwillingness of Britain and France to enforce League sanctions against Italy, even as they publicly supported collective security. It severely damaged the League's credibility and accelerated the collapse of the collective security system.

An international agreement formally known as the General Treaty for Renunciation of War as an Instrument of National Policy, signed in Paris on August 27, 1928. It was initiated by US Secretary of State Frank Kellogg and French Foreign Minister Aristide Briand. Sixty-three nations eventually signed, including Germany, the USSR, Italy, and Japan. The pact committed signatories to renounce war as an instrument of national policy and to resolve disputes through peaceful means. It had no enforcement mechanism. Critics noted that it did not define aggression or provide for collective action against aggressors. In practice it proved ineffective: Japan violated it by invading Manchuria in 1931; Germany by remilitarizing and then invading its neighbors.

A territorial dispute between Poland and Lithuania over the city of Vilna (Vilnius). In October 1920, Polish General Lucjan Zeligowski staged a "mutiny" and seized Vilna with Polish government backing, despite the League of Nations having arranged a ceasefire. Lithuania refused to accept the occupation. The League was unable to force Poland to withdraw, partly because the Allied powers were unwilling to pressure Poland. Poland formally annexed the Vilna region in 1923. The episode was considered a League failure because a member state had used force to acquire territory, and the League had been powerless to reverse this.