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How successful was the League of Nations in dealing with disputes during the 1920s? The League of Nations settled disputes in numerous ways. One way in which it did this was by resolving the dispute in 1920 between Sweden and Finland over who should be responsible for the Aaland Islands. The LON did a lot of research in concern of the situation and came to the conclusion that they should go to Finland. The League confronted Sweden with their conclusion and they accepted, avoiding a war from breaking out.
Another way in which the League was successful in dealing with disputes was by helping the arrangement of the division of Upper Silesia between Poland and Germany in 1921. Both countries claimed the land should rightfully be theirs. This was resolved in Upper Silesia being given a plebiscite to make the decision fair. As well as this, all nations involved in this accepted their decision which prevented a dispute.
The League of Nations was successful in dealing with disputes because in 1925, it stopped a Greek invasion of Bulgaria. During a border dispute some Greek soldiers were killed, and the consequence of this was Greece invading Bulgaria. The League dealt with this problem by ordering Greece to withdraw from the fight and to pay the damage they had caused. On the other hand, there are other reasons to why the League of Nations was unsuccessful in dealing with disputes. One such reason is the Corfu incident in 1923.
This was where some Italian soldiers employed by the Conference of Ambassadors to mark out the borders between Albania and Greece were murdered by Greek bandits. The Italian leader, Mussolini, demanded 50 million in compensation because of this. Because Mussolini demanded 50 million worth of compensation, Greece asked the League for help and to investigate. After it was brought to attention, Italy refused to adopt this and invaded Corfu. After this, the Conference of Ambassadors ordered Greece to accept Mussolini’s demands.
This was a failure because a dispute broke out and the league was made out to be biased. Another reason why the League was unsuccessful was the Vilna incident in 1920. This was where a private Polish army invaded the capital of Lithuania and took control of it. The League showed that countries had their own agendas, when they were all supposed to be working together to create an everlasting peace. France did not want to upset Poland as the saw them as barrier between themselves and Germany.
Britain was unwilling to send troops to a country on the other side of Europe, and they were more interested about protecting their empire. In conclusion, the League tried their best to settle most disputes that occurred. The rest they couldn’t do anything about because nations were going against them, and this couldn’t help the League to prevent another war from breaking out if nations were working on their own empires and land instead of working together co-operatively to make the world a better place.