The League of Nations was founded in 1919-1920 to avoid a repeat of a destructive war. The parties to the Versailles Agreement, created by this organization, were 58 states. The goals of the League were to maintain world peace within the framework of the founding principles of the Pact adopted by its members: to develop cooperation among peoples and guarantee them peace and security.
During the early years of the League of Nations, great progress was made. In accordance with the provisions of the Pact, several international disputes - between Sweden and Finland, and between Greece and Bulgaria - have been resolved amicably. The agreement signed at Locarno in October 1925, which marked the beginning of the Franco-German reconciliation, was entrusted to the League.
Who did not join the League of Nations
Countries not included in the League: USA, Saudi Arabia. Later, due to non-compliance with the Treaty of Versailles, countries such as Germany, Italy, Japan withdrew, and the USSR was also excluded from the League of Nations.
At the beginning of the formation of the League, the USSR was not a member of the countries, although it supported this organization in every possible way, taking an active part in summits andnegotiations. In September 1934, the USSR joined the League as a permanent member. The reason for the exclusion of the USSR from the League of Nations lay in the armed attack on Finland.
Political events in Moscow leading to hostilities
Stalin was worried that the border with Finland was very close to Leningrad, which, in his opinion, threatened national security. The Soviet leader was initially reluctant to launch a military campaign and negotiated for peace and military assistance. Stalin was ready to cede a significant part of Karelia to the Finns, in return they were required to move the border from Leningrad deep into their territory and provide the USSR with several islands on Finnish territory for military bases.
How the USSR was excluded from the League of Nations
Moscow's proposal caused a split in the Finnish leadership, and those who did not want any compromises with the Bolsheviks took over. On November 26, 1939, around 16:00, on the territory of the Soviet frontier post in the area of the Korean village of Mainila, shelling was allegedly carried out from the Finnish territory, according to official sources, 4 people were killed, 8 wounded.
Finnish border guards claimed that the shells came from the Soviet rear. An hour later, a commission was held in Mainil as part of the MKVD, which quickly determined the guilt of the Finnish side. Such a shelling gave Moscow a formal reason to attack the territory of the Finns, under the guise of protecting their land. That is why the USSR was excluded from the League of Nations(1939).
November 28, Moscow withdraws from the non-aggression pact, the next day follows a statement about the severance of diplomatic relations. On November 30, 1939, the troops of the Soviet Union crossed the Finnish border with a large preponderance of manpower and equipment. This confrontation went down in history under the name "War with the White Finns." The beginning of it was not announced, and Moscow leaders denied even the obvious shelling of Finnish territory by Soviet troops.
The League of Nations' patience has run out
Moscow has created information propaganda that the Finnish government is the enemy of its population. The Union declared itself not an aggressor, but a liberator. But few believed in Moscow. On December 14, the exclusion of the USSR from the League of Nations was supported by 7 members of the Council out of 15. Despite the minority of those who supported, the decision entered into force. The meeting ignored the main leverage against the aggressor - the application of economic sanctions. Delegates from countries such as Greece, China and Yugoslavia abstained from voting, while representatives from Iran and Peru were not present at the meeting where the USSR was excluded from the League of Nations.
World War II was approaching
This was the largest bloody conflict in the history of mankind with the use of nuclear weapons, which involved 62 states in hostilities, which is 80% of the globe. World War II began shortly after everyone saw the exclusion of the USSR from the League of Nations. Not worth itforget the bloody war in Finland, where the city of Helsinki was completely wiped off the face of the country.
After the outbreak of World War II, the failure of the League turned out to be obvious, and the last thing that could be considered was the exclusion of the USSR from the League of Nations. The date of this event fell on December 14, 1939, and by January 1940 the League had stopped all activity regarding the settlement of political issues.
What failures has the organization suffered
Despite a good start, the League of Nations failed to prevent either the invasion of Manchuria by Japan or the annexation of Ethiopia by Italy in 1936, and the capture of Austria by Hitler in 1938 weakened the League of Nations to prevent further world conflict. The League of Nations has ceased its activities since 1940.
Such failures only prove the failure of agreements between political forces. Settlement agreements are adhered to as long as it is beneficial to both countries or until there is no opportunity to wage military conflicts. Therefore, the participating countries observed the exclusion of the USSR from the League of Nations (1939).
Successes of the Treaty of Versailles
The failure of the collective security of the League of Nations does not lose sight of the successes that have been achieved from the very beginning. Under its auspices, a significant number of summits, intergovernmental meetings of experts in Geneva were held in such areas as financial issues, he alth care, social affairs, transport and communications, etc. This fruitful work was confirmed by the ratification of more than a hundred conventions by members -states. The unprecedented work on behalf of the refugees carried out by the Norwegian leader F. Nansen since 1920 should also be emphasized.
Almost 100 years ago, the USSR was excluded from the League of Nations, the date of this event, as mentioned above, fell on December 14, 1939. Today, the UN is considered the League's successor.
