Structure, aims and weak membership
Set up in 1920 under the Versailles settlement, on Wilson's idea of collective security. Governing bodies: the Assembly (all members, yearly, needing unanimity), the Council (Britain, France, Italy, Japan plus elected members) and the Secretariat (in Geneva). Specialist agencies (Health, Slavery, Refugee, Mandates) did its humanitarian work; aims: prevent war, disarm, improve lives. Membership was weak: the USA never joined, Germany was excluded to 1926, the USSR to 1934.
Was failure inevitable? Both sides
Argue both sides. Failure looked likely: the Assembly needed unanimity (one member could block); no army, only volunteered troops; weak sanctions while non-members kept trading; and the USA never joined, Germany and the USSR long absent. Yet not doomed: the 1920s brought successes (Aaland, Bulgaria) and lasting humanitarian work, and the 1930s failures (Manchuria, Abyssinia) owed much to the Depression and Anglo-French self-interest. Weigh flaws against the 1930s climate.
Drawn from real examiner reports.
Agencies are not governing bodies
Candidates confuse the League's agencies — the Slavery, Health, Refugee and Mandates Commissions, which did humanitarian and technical work — with its governing bodies, the Assembly, Council and Secretariat, which ran the organisation itself. If a question asks about the agencies that did humanitarian work, describing the Assembly or Council is off-topic and earns nothing.
Digest (## B2): candidates confuse League agencies (Slavery Commission, Health Organisation, Refugee Organisation, Mandates Commission) with governing bodies (Assembly, Council, Secretariat) (Paper 1).
Aaland went to Finland, not Sweden
On the Aaland Islands dispute (1920-21, Sweden v Finland over the islands), weaker answers give the wrong outcome, saying they went to Sweden. The League ruled they should stay with Finland, with guarantees for the Swedish-speaking population. Some also muddle it with Vilna — Poland's seizure of Vilna from Lithuania (1920), never reversed by the League. Keep the two distinct.
Digest (## B2): on the Aaland Islands, weaker responses give the wrong outcome (say Sweden, not Finland) or describe an unrelated dispute, often Vilna (Paper 1).
Keep to the decade the question sets
Asked about 1930s failures, candidates sometimes discuss 1920s disputes, or drift into Hitler's foreign policy and appeasement — a separate Key Question (B3), not a League matter. A question on 1920s peacekeeping should not stray into Manchuria or Abyssinia either. Stay within the decade and the organisation the question names, or accurate material scores nothing.
Digest (## B2): candidates discuss 1920s disputes when the question is about the 1930s, or drift into Hitler's foreign policy/appeasement; some stray beyond the 1920s date range into Manchuria/Abyssinia (Paper 1).
Corfu: the Conference of Ambassadors
On the Corfu incident (1923), Italy bombarded and occupied the Greek island of Corfu after an Italian general was murdered on the Greek-Albanian border. Candidates are unsure of the Conference of Ambassadors — a great-power body, not the League, which settled the dispute outside the League, largely in Italy's favour, showing a great power could sideline the League.
Digest (## B2): some are unsure of the Conference of Ambassadors' role in the Corfu incident (Paper 1).
Abyssinia: Haile Selassie, not communism
On Abyssinia (1935-36), some cannot link Emperor Haile Selassie, who appealed in person to the League, to the crisis. Others wrongly claim Britain and France wanted Italy as an anti-communist ally; their real motive was to avoid conflict with Italy and keep it on side against a resurgent Germany. Name Haile Selassie's appeal and the correct Anglo-French motive.
Digest (## B2): some cannot link Haile Selassie to the crisis, or wrongly claim Britain/France wanted Italy as an anti-communist ally (Paper 1).
Italy WAS sanctioned over Abyssinia
The League did act over Abyssinia — sanctions were imposed on Italy in 1935. But they were not effective: no oil embargo was imposed, the USA kept selling Italy oil, and the Suez Canal stayed open. Confidence collapsed when the secret Hoare-Laval Pact — to give Mussolini most of Abyssinia — leaked in December 1935. Not "no sanctions" but sanctions made ineffective by gaps.
Digest (## B2): on Abyssinia, candidates miss the "effective" qualifier — sanctions WERE imposed but were weakened (no oil embargo; US continued oil sales to Italy; the Hoare-Laval Pact) (Paper 1).
Name the precise problem, don't narrate
Identify the precise problem a crisis caused, not the story. On Manchuria, the Lytton Report condemned Japan, yet the League could not enforce it — Japan left in 1933 keeping Manchuria. On Corfu, the dispute was settled outside the League.
Build a real judgement, don't repeat
On a 10-mark "How far do you agree?", give side one, side two (each developed), then a judgement weighing the two to a conclusion. Genuine "how far" evaluation is rare — do not just restate earlier points, which loses the top level.
Interpret the source, don't summarise it
On a Paper 2 source question, interpret rather than summarise: draw out what it shows, using details together, not paraphrase at length. A biased or critical source is still useful evidence of an attitude, not useless. State your verdict directly, tied to the content.
The League of Nations was set up in 1920, established by the Paris Peace Conference settlement, to keep world peace through collective security — member states acting together against aggression rather than relying on rival alliances. It also aimed to encourage disarmament and improve people's lives through humanitarian work. Its record is genuinely mixed: real strengths in the 1920s and in humanitarian work, but serious failures once faced with determined great-power aggression in the 1930s.
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