LEAGUE OF THE NATIONS

League of the nations



League of the nations

The League of Nations lasted just 27 years. An offshoot of the treaties and settlements that concluded the “war to end all wars” of 1914-1918, it was formally wound up in 1946, replaced by the United Nations, of which it might be considered the failed prototype. For, although the League had some successes, especially in the honeymoon years of the 1920s, it was finally overwhelmed by the gathering storm of fascist aggression in the 1930s. Its inability to prevent the outbreak the Second World War must be seen as the ultimate failure, but by 1939 the organization was already effectively dead, rendered lifeless by the unwillingness of the major powers, especially Britain and France, to stand up to Italy over its invasion of Abyssinia (Ethiopia) in 1935. Although the League continued in suspended animation beyond 1939 and twitched into life occasionally, such as with the futile expulsion of the Soviet Union after its invasion of Finland, there was never any prospect of it being revived at the end of the Second World War. Consigned to history in 1946 and generally not treated kindly by historians, its record is in need of succinct and balanced reference treatment, something this new book from Scarecrow Press provides.

It is ironic that Scarecrow's Historical Dictionaries of International Organizations series has taken to volume 23 to cover a deceased body like the League of Nations when active and thereby more challenging organizations such as the European Community, United Nations and World Bank have already been covered. Series editor Jon Woronoff alludes to the difficulty of finding a suitable author, but in van Ginneken the publisher has struck gold. An assistant professor of international relations at the University of Utrecht in The Netherlands, she has also conducted ...