LON: Challenged

1920s Japanese army started losing confidence in gov - gov supported disarmament, Great Depression hit silk exports badly, industrial production fell by 30%

politically weak - areas run by warlords, Manchuria - farming, coal, iron, Japan controlled land around Manchurian railway

bomb explosion on South Manchurian railway - Japanese army took control of town Mukden to restore order

China went to LON - by time issue considered Japan taken Chinchow - Manchurian Administrative Capital, Japan promised withdrawal but took Shanghai in early 32 - China went back to LON, March 32 - Manchuria renamed 'Manchuko' - independent state occupied by Japanese army

Manchuria didn't want to become Manchuko, advised it became autonomous Chinese state and Japan withdraw, assembly voted in favour (42-1) - Japan left LON

Britain wanted good relations with Japan due to own interests in Far East, GB Foreign Secretary told cabinet that Japan had reason to make complaints about China

US didn't want strong action, smaller nations like Finland demanded action

1937 - Japan launched full-scale invasion of China - military dictatorship

LON weak, return to traditional diplomacy

no sanctions, 1 year for Lytton to issue its report

30 Italians and 90 Abyssinians died at Wal-Wal in a border dispute - Mussolini invaded

prevented arms sales, limited credit to Italian gov and firms, embargo on oil sales - just traded with US, sanctions stopped once defeated

GB and FR reluctant to be harsh - maintain balance of power in Europe against Germany - Mussolini possible ally

GB and FR promoting imperialism, GB and FR used secret talks with IT - met at Stresa to discuss Germany

107 between 1929 and 1939

rise of extreme politics - dictatorships in Japan and Germany came to power, fewer sanctions

1932-34, included non-members eg US and USSR, Japan and Germany left during this time, difficulty deciding which weapons were defensive and offensive

had been effectively signed up to in TOV - Germany left LON in 1933

no air force, 100,000 men, conscription banned - rearmed, announced Luftwaffe and conscription 1935

demilitarised - remilitarised 1936

annexation forbidden - unified with Germany 1938

redrawn to contribute to creation of Czechoslovakia - took Sudetenland 1938 and rest of Czechoslovakia 1939

well-armed Germany - buffer to stop communism spreading

diplomacy conducted outside LON - 1935 Anglo-German Naval Treaty signed by both - Hitler could have navy smaller than GB

when he claimed it GB FR and IT negotiated directly and gave him what he wanted

umbrella organisation for other committee's work involving children eg. health and slavery and some non-leage groups eg. International Save the Children Fund (ISCF)

reports with good quality data, looked into juvenile crime, ideas and approaches later used by UNICEF, Geneva Declaration of the Rights of the Child - children have different rights to adults - signed by countries

issues like sex education and contraception seen as national, countries didn't always keep to Geneva Declaration

best way - outlaw in every country, transport of slaves at sea considered piracy, European and Egyptian ships allowed to pursue slave ships into countries' own territorial waters

1929 convention ratified by 30 govs, end to slavery in Nepal 1926 and Burma 1928, Liberian gov asked LON to investigate slavery 1930 - led to reforms abolishing it there, made abolition of slavery a precondition of Arab nations joining it

found hundreds of girls (mostly 14-16) being trafficked into prostitution

looked at cause rather than blaming prostitutes - 1927 report on how trade worked, 1937 conference in Java got several countries to raise ages of marriage and consent and abolish legal brothels, 1921 conference raised age at which women could agree to be trafficked to 21

not all countries who signed convention made it a crime, didn't protect women who agreed to be prostitutes or wre trafficked within own country

final act - expel USSR after invasion of Finland