League of Nations Convenes: Treaty of Versailles Ratified
The League of Nations held its first council meeting on January 16, 1920, and immediately confronted a crippling absence: the United States, whose president had conceived the organization, refused to join. The Senate had rejected the Treaty of Versailles over concerns about Article X, which critics argued could commit American troops to foreign conflicts without congressional approval. Without the world's largest economy and emerging military power, the League lacked enforcement teeth. It managed some early successes in resolving minor territorial disputes and repatriating prisoners of war, but when Japan invaded Manchuria in 1931 and Italy attacked Ethiopia in 1935, the League could only issue condemnations. Member states ignored sanctions. The organization limped through the 1930s as a talking shop while its founding principles of collective security collapsed under the weight of fascist aggression.
January 10, 1920
106 years ago
Key Figures & Places
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