1. The body that was formed out of Wilson's 14 Points was called the League of Nations.
(a) The League's aims and objectives were set in 26 articles known as the Covenant.
(b) President Wilson was hoping that the League would unite against any future international wars.
(c) The League of Nations offered the idea of collective security. This meant those countries would act together if any member were threatened by any hostile state.
2. In the beginning the League did have some successes. However, a series of failures (Manchuria, Abyssinia, and German infringements of the Treaty of Versailles.) soon discredited the League.
B. The Aims and Organization of the League
1. Aims: The main aim of the League of Nations was to keep international peace. However, the League also had other important aims-it was to look after the new mandated territories, improve world working and health conditions, abolish slavery, and help refugees.
2. The League’s organization had initial weaknesses, which was demonstrated in many of its failures.
(a)First, the League did not contain all nations.
The USA did not join. (The US congress voted against it)
Russia was not allowed because her leaders were keen to promote world revolution.
The Central Powers (Germany, Austria, Bulgaria, and Turkey) were not allowed to join, initially as punishment for having caused the War. Therefore it was difficult to see that the League was a body, which spoke for the world.
3. Perhaps the most important weakness of the League was its inability to stop any state ignoring decisions.
(a) The League could apply: diplomatic pressure, economic sanctions, and even military measures to enforce a member to conform.
(b) However, the League was never able to call an international peacekeeping force.
(c) It soon became clear that if the stronger nations of the world wished to settle issues without using the League then it was powerless.
C. The work of the League in