Reading Comprehension About The League of Nations
Develop your reading skills. Read the following text about the League of Nations and do the comprehension task.
The League of Nations: Striving for Peace, Facing Challenges
League of Nations
The League of Nations was the first international organization whose principal mission was to maintain world peace. This intergovernmental organization was founded on January 10, 1920, as a result of the Paris Peace Conference that concluded World War I. Its principal goals included preventing wars through collective security and disarmament and settling international disputes through negotiation and arbitration. Other issues addressed in this and related treaties included labor conditions, the just treatment of native inhabitants, human and drug trafficking, the arms trade, global health, prisoners of war, and the protection of minorities in Europe.
Failures
Although the diplomatic philosophy behind the League represented a fundamental shift from the preceding hundred years, it had its pitfalls. The League lacked its own armed force and depended on the Great Powers to enforce its resolutions, adhere to its economic sanctions, or provide an army when needed. However, the Great Powers were often reluctant to do so. Sanctions could harm League members, leading to hesitancy in compliance. During the Second Italo-Abyssinian War, when the League accused Italian soldiers of targeting Red Cross medical tents, Benito Mussolini responded that “the League is very well when sparrows shout, but no good at all when eagles fall out.”
After a number of notable successes and some early failures in the 1920s, the League ultimately proved incapable of preventing aggression by the Axis powers, which included Germany, Italy, and Japan, in the 1930s. Germany withdrew from the League, as did Japan, Italy, Spain, and others. The onset of the Second World War revealed that the League had failed in its primary purpose, which was to prevent any future world wars. Lasting for 26 years, the League was replaced by the United Nations (UN) after the end of the Second World War on April 20, 1946, inheriting a number of agencies and organizations founded by the League.
Source: Wikipedia
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