The League of Nations was the forerunner of the United Nations. It was established under the Treaty of Versailles, the peace treaty that formally ended World War I. The Treaty of Versailles was signed on 28 June 1919. Part I of the Versailles Treaty, i.e. the Covenant of the League of Nations, was the constitutional document of the League. According to this constitution, the League’s purpose was “to promote international co-operation and to achieve international peace and security”. The main organs of the League were the Assembly, the Council and a permanent Secretariat, headed by a Secretary General. The Assembly was the global deliberative organ, the Council the global executive, and the Secretariat acted somewhat like a global bureaucracy. Both Council and Assembly were mandated to deal with any matter within the sphere of action of the League or affecting the peace of the world. The League was based at Geneva, Switzerland. The Covenant also included the establishment of a Permanent Court of International Justice. Even though the League managed to contain various international disputes, the League ultimately failed to prevent World War II, and was formally abolished in 1946.
This Research Guide is intended as a starting point for research on the League of Nations. It provides the basic (legal) materials available in the Peace Palace Library, both in print and electronic format. Handbooks, leading articles, bibliographies, periodicals, serial publications and documents of interest are presented in the Selective Bibliography section. Links to the PPL Catalogue are inserted. The Library’s classification index code 54a. League of Nations in General and subject heading (keyword) League of Nations are instrumental for searching through the Catalogue. Special attention is given to our subscriptions on databases, e-journals, e-books and other electronic resources. Finally, this Research Guide features links to relevant websites and other online resources of particular interest.
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“A fascinating study of the advent of the League of Nations mandate system in Africa.” — Choice “Provides us with the best account we are likely to get of the French and British ‘official mind’ about mandates.” — Susan Pedersen, Professor of History & James P Shenton Professor of the Core Curriculum at Columbia University, in a review essay in American Historical Review (October 2007) “In this definitive book the meticulous research and critical analysis of Michael Callahan has brought clarity in the evolution of these murky mandates from the old imperial order to the acceptance of neo-imperial trusteeship at the beginning of the new. His scholarship will be rewarded as the source for students, their teachers, and those scholars of every nationality who seek to understand Africa in the lost but formative years between the two great wars of the twentieth century.” — Robert O Collins, Professor of History Emeritus, University of California Santa Barbara “The best study of the colonial mandates in Africa and raises important questions about the evolution of colonial empires.” — The International History Review “An extensively researched and detailed study.” — Journal of African History “A book of profound historical research…which deserves to become a work of incalculable value to scholars of African history as well as international relations.” — Anthony Kirk-Greene, St Antony’s College, Oxford
Callahan. M.D., 2008This first in-depth study of Thai foreign relations in well over a decade traces how these and other policy areas brought Siam in contact with the League of Nations, after the kingdom had signed the Treaty of Versailles and became an original member of this first global body. Based on never before consulted primary sources in Thailand and Europe, the study unfolds the story of a unique relationship between the only independent country in Southeast Asia and the League during the inter-war period 1920-1940. The book highlights both the importance of the League for the modernisation of Siam and the shaping of its foreign policies, as well as the intriguing role Siam played on the world stage in the early development of the multilateral political system we live in today.
Hell, S.M., 2010The League of Nations was the first globally recognized inter-governmental body that attempted to organise peace comprehensively. It addressed not only the traditional security areas of military balances and diplomacy, including the peaceful settlement of international disputes, but also aimed at removing the very causes of war by promoting social and economic justice (specifically by addressing the welfare of vulnerable people). In many ways decades ahead of its time, the League broke the mould as a mechanism for ‘doing international relations’. New to the Seminar Studies in History Series, it contains valuable primary source material, a Glossary, Bibliography and Who’s Who.
Housden, M., 2011
Siam and the League of Nations : Modernisation, Sovereignty and Multilateral Diplomacy, 1920-1940 / , 2010
Mandates and Empire : the League of Nations and Africa, 1914-1931 / , 2008
The League of Nations and the Organization of Peace / , 2011
Historical Dictionary of the League of Nations / , 2006
The League of Nations / , 2010
The League of Nations from 1919 to 1929 / , 1994
