The League Of Nations And Its Impact On World Peace Essay examples --

Through my studies and research I have come to the following conclusion about the League of Nations: despite all of President Woodrow Wilson's efforts, the League was doomed to fail. I feel this was so for many reasons, some of which I hope to convey in the following report. From the day when Congress voted on the Fourteen Points, it was obvious that the League had a very slim chance of being passed in Congress, and without all of the World powers, the League had little chance of surviving. On November 11, 1918 an armistice was declared in Europe. Wilson saw the opportunity to form an international organization of peace to be formed. He acted quickly. On January 18, 1919 he released his fourteen points. The Fourteen Points consisted of many things, but the most important was the fourteenth-the establishment of a league of nations to settle international disputes and to keep the peace. After congress had voted, only three of Wilson's fourteen points were accepted without compromise. Six of the others were rejected all together. Fortunately the League was compromised. Wilson then went to Europe to discuss the Treaty of Versailles. Representatives from Italy, France, and Britain didn't want to work with the nations they had defeated. They wanted to hurt them. After much fighting and negotiating, Wilson managed to convince them that a league of nations was not only feasible, it was necessary. The Senate supported most of the Treaty of Versailles but not the League. They thought it would make the U.S.A. too involved in foreign affairs. Wilson saw that the League may not make it through Congress, so he went on the road and gave speeches to sway the public opinion. Unfortunately, Wilson's health, which was already depleted from the negotiations in France, continued to recede. Wilson's battle with his health reached its climax when Wilson had a stroke on his train between speeches. After Wison's stroke, support of the League weakened, both in Congress and in the public's opinion. In 1920 G. Harding, who opposed the League, was elected as president. The League formed but the U.S. never joined. The first meeting of the League was held in Geneva, Switzerland on November 15, 1920 with fourty two nations represented. During twenty-six years the League lived, a total of sixty-three nations were represented at one time or ano... ...to effect its own dissolution, whereupon much of its property and organization were transferred to the United Nations which had resently been founded. Never truly effective as a peace keeping organization, the lasting importance of the League of Nations lies in the fact that it provided the groundwork for the United Nations. This international alliance, formed after World War 2, not only profited by the mistakes of the League but borrowed much of the organizational machinics of the League of Nations. The League of Nations and its impact on world peace John James Mrs. Hippe History March 7, 1996 Bibliography: Mothner, Ira. Woodrow Wilson, Champion of Peace. New York Watts Inc., 1969 Mason, Lorna; Garcia, Jesus; Powell, Frances; Risinger, Fredrick. America's Past and Promise. Boston McDougal Littell, 1995 Albright, Madeleine. "America and the League of Nations, Lessons for Today" Speech United States Department of State 1994 McNally, Rand. Atlas of World History. New York Reed International Books Limited, 1992 Microsoft. "The League of Nations." Excarta 95. 1995