Many people think that the absence of the USA in the League of Nations was one of the main causes for the outbreak of the Second World War. In the following essay, we will analyze how far this absence is to blame for the begining of it.
First of all, USA should have been a member of the League since his president at that moment, Woodrow Wilson, was the one who gave the initiative to create it. Moreover, at that time USA was one of the most powerful and strong country in the world and its absence affected the League in many different ways. For example, economic sanctions were useless since the aggressor country could still trade with USA and due to the fact that the League did not have an army, these sanctions were their strongest “weapon”. Also, when the League was created, everyone thought USA was going to be a member of it and when they did not join, other leading member felt at a loss since they count with their presence. After that, the League lost a lot of prestige, without United States it did not seem mighty. All things considered, everything would have evolved diferently and from our point of view, in a better way.
However, there were other causes that led to the outbreak. For instance, the policy of appeasement; it allowed Germany to recover, gain power and territories and they also “authorize” Hitler to do whatever he wanted. Furthermore, the League of Nations failed because of the self interest of its members; they put their own interests before the ones of the country they should defend. What is more, the failure of the disarmament conference benefited Hitler a lot. German army had always been very strong and disciplined and with this failure, they could finally rearm openly. In addition, this allowed Germany to take advantage of the situation and quit the League in the position of the victim.
All in all, there were different and varied factors that led to the war, that we previously named on this essay. That’s why we believe that the absence of the USA in the League was partly a cause
Thank you it really help
thank you this has helped me with my finals!!!!!!!!
im still trying to find out why the absence of the USA led up to the failure of The League of Nations ?
Hello Maria,
The US was the only strong country that could have helped the League of Nations to succeed in its work in the 1920s. Remember that the other countries were recovering from the post war situation and focusing on their own growth and recovery.