Editing League of Nations (section)

==Other conflicts==
In addition to territorial disputes, the League also tried to intervene in other conflicts between and within nations. Among its successes were its fight against the international trade in opium and sexual slavery, and its work to alleviate the plight of refugees, particularly in Turkey in the period up to 1926. One of its innovations in this latter area was the 1922 introduction of the [[Nansen passport]], which was the first internationally recognised identity card for stateless refugees.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.unog.ch/80256EE60057D930/%28httpPages%29/03F1E1DD124D3276C1256F32002EE3AB?OpenDocument|access-date=15 September 2011|title=The United Nations in the Heart of Europe|publisher=United Nations|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111110132257/http://www.unog.ch/80256EE60057D930/(httpPages)/03F1E1DD124D3276C1256F32002EE3AB?OpenDocument|archive-date=10 November 2011|url-status=live}}</ref>

===Greece and Bulgaria===
{{Main|Incident at Petrich}}
After an incident involving sentries on the Greek-Bulgarian border in October 1925, fighting began between the two countries.{{sfn|Northedge|1986|p=112}} Three days after the initial incident, Greek troops invaded Bulgaria. The Bulgarian government ordered its troops to make only token resistance, and evacuated between ten thousand and fifteen thousand people from the border region, trusting the League to settle the dispute.{{sfn|Scott|1973|pp=126–127}} The League condemned the Greek invasion, and called for both Greek withdrawal and compensation to Bulgaria.{{sfn|Northedge|1986|p=112}}

===Liberia===
Following accusations of forced labour on the large American-owned [[Firestone Tire and Rubber Company|Firestone]] rubber plantation and American accusations of slave trading, the Liberian government asked the League to launch an investigation.{{sfn|Miers|2003|pp=140–141}} The resulting commission was jointly appointed by the League, the United States, and Liberia.{{sfn|Miers|2003|p=188}} In 1930, a League report confirmed the presence of slavery and forced labour. The report implicated many government officials in the selling of contract labour and recommended that they be replaced by Europeans or Americans, which generated anger within Liberia and led to the resignation of President [[Charles D. B. King]] and his vice-president. The Liberian government outlawed forced labour and slavery and asked for American help in social reforms.{{sfn|Miers|2003|p=188}}<ref>{{cite journal|first=W.E. Burghardt|last=Du Bois|title=Liberia, the League and the United States|journal=Foreign Affairs|volume=11|date= July 1933|pages=682–95|issue=4|doi=10.2307/20030546|jstor=20030546}}</ref>

===Mukden Incident===
{{Main|Mukden Incident|Japanese invasion of Manchuria}}
[[File:SesiónDeLaSociedadDeNacionesSobreManchuria1932.jpeg|thumb|right|Chinese delegate addressing the League of Nations concerning the [[Manchurian Crisis]] in 1932]]
The Mukden Incident, also known as the "Manchurian Incident", was a decisive setback that weakened the League because its major members refused to tackle Japanese aggression. Japan itself withdrew.<ref>Sara Rector Smith, ''The Manchurian crisis, 1931–1932: a tragedy in international relations'' (1970).</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=Burkman |first=Thomas W. |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/j.ctt6wqrcq |title=Japan and the League of Nations: Empire and World Order, 1914–1938 |date=2008 |publisher=University of Hawai'i Press |doi=10.2307/j.ctt6wqrcq |jstor=j.ctt6wqrcq |isbn=978-0-8248-2982-7}}</ref>

Under the agreed terms of the [[Twenty-One Demands]] with China, the Japanese government had the right to station its troops in the area around the [[South Manchurian Railway]], a major trade route between China and Korea (then a Japanese colony), in the Chinese region of [[Manchuria]]. In September 1931, a section of the railway was lightly damaged by the Japanese [[Kwantung Army]] as a pretext for an invasion of Manchuria.{{sfn|Iriye|1987|p=8}}{{sfn|Nish|1977|pp=176–178}} The Japanese army claimed that Chinese soldiers had sabotaged the railway and in apparent retaliation (acting contrary to orders from Tokyo{{sfn|Scott|1973|p=208}}) occupied all of Manchuria. They renamed the area [[Manchukuo]], and on 9 March 1932 set up a [[puppet government]], with [[Puyi]], the final emperor of China, as its nominal head of state.{{sfn|Northedge|1986|p=139}}

The League of Nations sent observers. The [[Lytton Report]] appeared a year later (October 1932). It refused to recognise Manchukuo and demanded Manchuria be returned to China. The report passed 42–1 in the Assembly in 1933 (only Japan voting against), but instead of removing its troops from China, Japan withdrew from the League.{{sfn|Northedge|1986|pp=156–161}} In the end, as British historian [[Charles Mowat]] argued, collective security was dead:
:The League and the ideas of collective security and the rule of law were defeated; partly because of indifference and of sympathy with the aggressor, but partly because the League powers were unprepared, preoccupied with other matters, and too slow to perceive the scale of Japanese ambitions.<ref>Charles Loch Mowat, ''Britain between the Wars 1918–1940'' (1955) p. 420.</ref>

===Chaco War===
{{Main|Chaco War}}
The League failed to prevent the 1932 war between [[Bolivia]] and [[Paraguay]] over the arid [[Gran Chaco]] region. Although the region was sparsely populated, it contained the [[Paraguay River]], which would have given either landlocked country access to the Atlantic Ocean,{{sfn|Scott|1973|pp=242–243}} and there was also speculation, later proved incorrect, that the Chaco would be a rich source of petroleum.{{sfn|Levy|2001|pp=21–22}} Border skirmishes throughout the late 1920s culminated in an all-out war in 1932 when the Bolivian army attacked the Paraguayans at Fort Carlos Antonio López at [[Lake Pitiantuta]].{{sfn|Bethell|1991|p=495}} The war was a disaster for both sides, causing 57,000 casualties for Bolivia, whose population was around three million, and 36,000 dead for Paraguay, whose population was approximately one million.{{sfn|Scott|1973|p=248}} It also brought both countries to the brink of economic disaster. By the time a ceasefire was negotiated on 12 June 1935, Paraguay had seized control of most of the region, as was later recognised by the 1938 truce.{{sfn|Scheina|2003|p=103}}

Initially, both sides refused to allow the League to conduct an inquiry until November 1933, over a year after the start of the war. As a result, the League did not formally invoke [[Covenant of the League of Nations#Article 16|Article 16]] to apply sanctions. The [[Pan-American Conference]] offered to mediate and the League deferred to the conference, but the warring sides ignored the conference. Eventually (without going through Article 16), an arms embargo was enacted by several members of the League (plus non-League members the United States and Brazil), but several neighbouring states ignored the embargo rendering it ineffective. In November 1934, the League demanded that both sides withdraw and undergo arbitration. Bolivia accepted, but Paraguay by then had taken control of all of the disputed area. Paraguay rejected arbitration and quit the League.<ref>LLOYD, LORNA. "The League of Nations and the Settlement of Disputes." World Affairs, vol. 157, no. 4, 1995, pp. 160–74. JSTOR, http://www.jstor.org/stable/20672432. Accessed 3 Sept. 2024.</ref><ref>Kain, Ronald Stuart. "The Chaco Dispute and the Peace System." Political Science Quarterly, vol. 50, no. 3, 1935, pp. 321–42. JSTOR, https://doi.org/10.2307/2143696. Accessed 3 Sept. 2024.</ref>

===Italian invasion of Abyssinia===
{{Main|Abyssinia Crisis|Second Italo-Abyssinian War}}
[[File:SelassieInJerusalem.jpg|thumb|right|Emperor [[Haile Selassie I]] going into exile in Bath, England via Jerusalem]]
In October 1935, Italian dictator Benito Mussolini sent 400,000 troops to invade Abyssinia ([[Ethiopia]]).{{sfn|Northedge|1986|pp=222–225}} Marshal [[Pietro Badoglio]] led the campaign from November 1935, ordering bombing, the use of chemical weapons such as [[mustard gas]], and the poisoning of water supplies, against targets which included undefended villages and medical facilities.{{sfn|Northedge|1986|pp=222–225}}{{sfn|Hill|Garvey|1995|p=629}} The modern [[Italian Army]] defeated the poorly armed Abyssinians and captured [[Addis Ababa]] in May 1936, forcing Emperor of Ethiopia [[Haile Selassie I|Haile Selassie]] to flee to exile in England.{{sfn|Northedge|1986|p=221}}

The League of Nations condemned Italy's aggression and imposed economic sanctions in November 1935, but the sanctions were largely ineffective since they did not ban the sale of oil or close the [[Suez Canal]] (controlled by Britain).{{sfn|Baer|1976|p=245}} As [[Stanley Baldwin]], the British Prime Minister, later observed, this was ultimately because no one had the military forces on hand to withstand an Italian attack.<ref name = "events">{{cite book|title=Events Leading Up to World War II|publisher=Library of Congress|year=1944|page=97}}</ref> In October 1935, the US president, [[Franklin D. Roosevelt]], invoked the recently passed [[Neutrality Acts of 1930s|Neutrality Acts]] and placed an embargo on arms and munitions to both sides, but extended a further "moral embargo" to the belligerent Italians, including other trade items. On 5 October and later on 29 February 1936, the United States endeavoured, with limited success, to limit its exports of oil and other materials to normal peacetime levels.{{sfn|Baer|1976|p=71}} The League sanctions were lifted on 4 July 1936, but by that point, Italy had already gained control of the urban areas of Abyssinia.{{sfn|Baer|1976|p=298}}

The [[Hoare–Laval Pact]] of December 1935 was an attempt by the British Foreign Secretary [[Samuel Hoare, 1st Viscount Templewood|Samuel Hoare]] and the French Prime Minister [[Pierre Laval]] to end the conflict in Abyssinia by proposing to partition the country into an Italian sector and an Abyssinian sector. Mussolini was prepared to agree to the pact, but news of the deal leaked out. Both the British and French public vehemently protested against it, describing it as a sell-out of Abyssinia. Hoare and Laval were forced to resign, and the British and French governments dissociated themselves from the two men.{{sfn|Baer|1976|pp=121–155}} In June 1936, although there was no precedent for a head of state addressing the Assembly of the League of Nations in person, Haile Selassie spoke to the Assembly, appealing for its help in protecting his country.<ref>{{cite web| author =Haile Selassie I| title =Appeal to The League of Nations:June 1936, Geneva, Switzerland| publisher =Black King| url =http://www.black-king.net/haile%20selassie%2001e.htm| access-date =6 June 2008| url-status=dead| archive-url =https://web.archive.org/web/20080325023216/http://www.black-king.net/haile%20selassie%2001e.htm| archive-date =25 March 2008| df =dmy-all| author-link =Haile Selassie I}}</ref>

The Abyssinian crisis showed how the League could be influenced by the self-interest of its members;{{sfn|Baer|1976|p=303}} one of the reasons why the sanctions were not very harsh was that both Britain and France feared the prospect of driving Mussolini and [[Adolf Hitler]] into an alliance.{{sfn|Baer|1976|p=77}}

===Spanish Civil War===
{{Main|Spanish Civil War}}
On 17 July 1936, the [[Spanish Army]] launched a coup d'état, leading to a prolonged armed conflict between Spanish [[Second Spanish Republic|Republicans]] (the elected leftist national government) and the Nationalists (conservative, anti-communist rebels who included most officers of the Spanish Army).{{sfn|Lannon|2002|pp=25–29}} [[Julio Álvarez del Vayo]], the Spanish Minister of Foreign Affairs, appealed to the League in September 1936 for arms to defend Spain's territorial integrity and political independence. The League members would not intervene in the Spanish Civil War nor prevent foreign intervention in the conflict. [[Adolf Hitler]] and Mussolini aided General [[Francisco Franco]]'s Nationalists, while the Soviet Union helped the Spanish Republic. In February 1937, the League did ban [[International Brigades|foreign volunteers]], but this was in practice a symbolic move.{{sfn|Northedge|1986|pp=264–265, 269–270}} The result was a Nationalist victory in 1939 and confirmation to all observers that the League was ineffective in dealing with a major issue.<ref>F.P. Walters, ''A History of the League of Nations'' (1952) pp. 721–730, 789–791.</ref>

===Second Sino-Japanese War===
{{Main|Second Sino-Japanese War}}
Following a long record of instigating localised conflicts throughout the 1930s, Japan began a full-scale invasion of China on 7 July 1937. On 12 September, the Chinese representative, [[Wellington Koo]], appealed to the League for international intervention. Western countries were sympathetic to the Chinese in their struggle, particularly in their stubborn [[Battle of Shanghai|defence of Shanghai]], a city with a substantial number of foreigners.{{sfn|Northedge|1986|p=270}} The League was unable to provide any practical measures; on 4 October, it turned the case over to the [[Nine Power Treaty Conference]].<ref>{{cite book|title=The China White Paper|page=10|editor=van Slyke, Lyman|publisher=Stanford University Press|year=1967}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.mtholyoke.edu/acad/intrel/WorldWar2/china.htm|title=Japanese Attack on China 1937|access-date=15 September 2011|publisher=Mount Holyoke University|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110831141400/http://www.mtholyoke.edu/acad/intrel/WorldWar2/china.htm|archive-date=31 August 2011|url-status=live}}</ref>

===Soviet invasion of Finland===
{{Main|Winter War}}
The [[Nazi-Soviet Pact]] of 23 August 1939 contained secret protocols outlining spheres of interest. Finland and the Baltic states, as well as eastern Poland, fell into the Soviet sphere. After [[Soviet invasion of Poland|invading Poland]] on 17 September 1939, on 30 November the [[Soviet Finnish War|Soviets invaded Finland]]. Then "the League of Nations for the first time expelled a member who had violated the [[Covenant of the League of Nations|Covenant]]."<ref>[[Richard W. Leopold]], ''The Growth of American Foreign Policy. A history'' (New York: Alfred A. Knopf 1964), pp. 558, 561–562 (quote at 562).</ref> The League action of 14 December 1939, stung, because the Soviet Union became "the only League member ever to suffer such an indignity".<ref>[[Stephen Kotkin]], ''Stalin. Waiting for Hitler, 1929–1941'' (New York: Penguin 2017), p.729 (quote).</ref><ref>Cf., [[Winston Churchill]], ''The Gathering Storm'' (Boston: Houghton Mufflin 1948), pp. 392–393, 447, 539.</ref>