IN WHAT SENSE, IF ANY COULD THE LEAGUE OF NATION BE REGARDED AS A REVOLUTION IN WORLD DIPLOMACY?

INTRODUCTION

The League of Nations came into being after the World War One, in which her formation revolutionizes the political instability in world diplomacy to a point of order. The League of Nation’s task was simple- to ensure that war never broke out again. After the turmoil caused by the First World War, many looked to the League of Nations to bring stability to the world¹. The only way to avoid a repetition of such disaster, was to create an international body whose sole purpose was to maintain world peace and which would sort out international disputes as and when they occurred. This would be the task of the League of Nations².

After the devastation of the war, support for such good idea was great (except in America where isolationism was taking root). The League of Nations was to be based in Geneva, Switzerland. This choice was natural as Switzerland was a natural country and had not fought in the World War One. No one could dispute this choice especially as an international organization such as the Red Cross was already based in Switzerland.

The League is empowered to do three things-these were known as its sanctions; It could call on the states in dispute to sit down and discuss the problem in an orderly and peaceful manner. These would be done in the League’s Assembly- which was essentially the League’s parliament which could listen to disputes and come to discussion on how to proceed. If one nation was seen to be the offender, the League could introduce verbal sanctions-warning an aggressor nation that she would need to leave another nation’s territory or face the consequences³. If the states in dispute failed to listen to the Assembly’s decision, the League could introduce economic sanctions. This would be arranged by the League’s Council. The purpose of this sanction was to financially hit the aggressor nation so that she would have to do as the League required. The logic behind it was to push an aggressor nation towards bankruptcy, so that the people in that state would take out their anger on their government forcing them to accept the League’s decision⁴.