League of Nations Day

League of Nations Day is celebrated on January 10, since it was on this day in 1920 that the Treaty of Versailles came into force, which included the Pact of the League of Nations The treaty formalized the end of World War I, but also had some controversial consequences As a result of the agreements of the signatories, new national states emerged, most of which still exist today But often their boundaries were determined arbitrarily, without specific grounds in the form of any expediency This became a “time bomb” that contributed to local armed conflicts in the future The League of Nations was the first world organization whose stated purpose was to preserve peace, as well as develop cooperation between different states Formally, the day of its founding was January 10, 1920, ie, the day the Pact came into force This organization embodied projects that existed before the First World War, but had not previously been implemented in practice In addition to preserving peace, she pursued the goal of improving people's living conditions Almost all 65 large states that existed as of 1920 were members of the League of Nations, at one time or another The exceptions were the United States and Saudi Arabia, founded only in 1932 The Charter (Covenant) of the League of Nations determined the measures that the contracting parties were obliged to observe to maintain peace: • reduction and further limitation of armaments; • obligations of member states to promptly resist any aggression, oppose it, and not resort to war; • adherence to mutual agreements on arbitration, as well as legal settlement of emerging problems; • mutual actions on the use of economic or military sanctions;• obligations of the signatories to maintain, in full publicity, international relations based on honor and justice During its existence, the League of Nations managed to more or less successfully resolve more than forty different political conflicts But there were also outright failures of the organization These include an attempt to influence Japan in 1931, which carried out an attack on Manchuria The League also showed even greater impotence during Italy's aggression against Ethiopia in 1935, especially since both countries were members of the organization Shortly after the invasion of Ethiopia began, economic sanctions were imposed on Italy In particular, a ban on the supply of weapons and certain types of strategic raw materials to the country At the same time, the ban did not apply to metal, oil and coal, and also did not prevent Italy from purchasing everything it needed through the mediation of third countries Potential aggressors thus saw firsthand the weakness of the chosen mechanism for using force The organization's failures in resolving military-political issues compromised it But the League of Nations also had serious achievements in the humanitarian and social fields Such successes include: • establishing greater control over the spread of opium; • effectively combating the slave trade; • taking measures to protect the interests and rights of youth; • coordinating the actions of international organizations The cessation of the League of Nations is associated with the emergence of another international body - the United Nations By January 1940, the League had ceased to be involved in resolving political issues And at the last session of its Assembly in 1946, it was decided that the property and material assets of the organization would be transferred to the UN