League Failures

🧠 Memory Aids: Lock In the Key Facts

The three main 1920s failures — "VCD": Vilna, Corfu, Disarmament

• V — Vilna (1920): Poland seized Lithuania's capital; League said withdraw; Poland refused; France blocked enforcement
• C — Corfu (1923): Italy bombarded Greece; League condemned it; Conference of Ambassadors overruled League; Greece paid Italy 50 million lire
• D — Disarmament (1932–33): Conference failed; Germany wanted equality; France refused; Hitler used deadlock as excuse to rearm

Why the League failed — BUSES (recap from League Structure topic):

• B — Britain and France self-interest (put national interests first)
• U — USA absent (sanctions leaked; no military threat)
• S — Slow decisions (met annually; unanimous vote needed)
• E — Economic sanctions weak (without USA; excluded key goods)
• S — Structure flawed (no army; veto system; unanimous voting)

The Corfu "5 steps to humiliation" — a sequence to remember:

1. Italian officials killed on Greek border (August 1923)
2. Mussolini bombards and occupies Corfu
3. League condemns Italy and orders withdrawal
4. Mussolini refuses and appeals to Conference of Ambassadors
5. Conference overrules League — Greece apologises and pays Italy 50 million lire

Outcome: aggressor rewarded, victim punished, League humiliated. Hitler watched carefully.

Key date to link failures: All three major League failures were caused by the SAME underlying problem — major powers were unwilling to sacrifice their interests for collective security. Vilna = France protecting Poland. Corfu = Britain and France unwilling to confront Italy. Disarmament = France unwilling to risk security. Same cause, three different crises.