What is the major difference between the League of Nations and the United Nations?

The creation of the League of Nations marked a new era of multilateral cooperation. The Covenant bound its Member States to try to settle their disputes peacefully. By joining the League, Member States also renounced secret diplomacy, committed to reduce their armaments, and agreed to comply with international law. Each state pledged to respect the territorial integrity and political independence of all members of the League. By establishing a bond of solidarity between Member States, the League is considered the first attempt to build a system of collective security. This principle relied on a simple idea: an aggressor against any Member State should be considered an aggressor against all the other Member States.

The League of Nations was also in charge of supervising the Mandate system. The “mandated territories” were former German colonies and Ottoman territories placed under what the Covenant called the “tutelage” of mandatory powers until they could become independent states.

Although the Covenant focused on conflict prevention and the peaceful settlement of disputes, some articles referred to the role of the League in promoting international cooperation in areas such as health, drug trafficking, transit, freedom of communications, and human trafficking. The efforts in these fields became increasingly important over the years and, in some cases, paved the way for the creation of United Nations entities, such as Specialized Agencies and UN Funds and Programmes.

Some responsibilities were assigned to the League by other international instruments, such as the peace treaties signed in Paris. In 1920, the Saar territory was placed under the League’s administration until a plebiscite was held to decide on its future. The League also supervised the Constitution of the Free City of Danzig and the implementation of the minority treaties. The treaties were signed after the Peace Conference in Paris and drastically changed the borders in Europe.

 Comparison Between League of Nations and United Nations

Introduction: In order to know how international organizations have grown and changed over time, it is essential to compare the League of Nations and United nations in terms of policies, in terms of obstacles, in terms of failures and in terms of successes.

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Background:       What Led to the Formation of League of Nations?

First world war started in 1914 and ended in 1918. The war was virtually unprecedented in the slaughter, carnage, and destruction it caused. This was one of the deadliest conflicts of the world in terms of human casualties as about 17 million people lost their lives in this war. The horrific effects of the war had shocked many people across the world and an anti-war sentiment acquired strength among both people and statesmen alike. 

This was an international conflict that embroiled most of the nations of Europe along with Russia, the United States, the Middle East, and other regions. The war pitted the Central Powers—mainly Germany, Austria-Hungary, and Turkey—against the Allies—mainly France, Great Britain, Russia, Italy, Japan, and, from 1917, the United States. It ended with the defeat of the Central Powers.

Destruction of the First World War

Peace Efforts by the World Leaders

During the war, many efforts were made by different leaders to bring peace to the world. The US President Woodrow Wilson and South African Prime Minster Jan Smuts, advocated the need for an international organization that preserved peace and settled disputes by arbitration. However, the credit goes to Woodrow Wilson who presented his famous Fourteen Points which served as the basis for the signing of the Armistice. The Armistice included the formation of the League of Nations.

League of Nations First Session

Comparison  Between the Two Organizations                       

• It is interesting to compare and contrast these two major organizations of the world. The first major difference between the League of Nations and the United Nations is the years in which these agencies operated. The League of Nations came into being at the end of the First World War in 1919. The United Nations came into being under similar circumstances at the end of the Second World War in 1945.
• League of Nations had only 63 member countries whereas the United Nations has 192 member states.
• League of Nations did not succeed in preventing the world war whereas the United Nations has prevented the war so far. In terms of failures and successes, the League of Nations was considered a failure, because, despite its existence, the Second World War was still fought. The League of Nations was set up as an international regulatory body to prevent future conflict and resolve issues between countries. It was unable to do this. The result was Word War II, which saw the killing of soldiers and civilians in epic proportions.
• United States was not a part of the League of Nations which means less power whereas in the UN, United States is forming one of the most important member state. So the League has emerged more powerful organization.
• Nations could leave the League of Nations when they did not agree but there is no provision for the member states in the UN to leave the organisation.
• League had no armed force whereas the member states of the UN can send soldiers for special tasks.The United Nations, has been largely successful in maintaining the international order from the time it was created. The main area of difference between the two, which turns out to be a major advantage that the United Nations has over the League, is that member countries of the UN can deploy their armed forces as a part of a peace keeping force in areas of conflict. The League of Nations did not have this advantage.
• Many important countries did join the League of Nations. Every important state is a member of the United Nations.
• The League of Nations collapsed while the UN is still existent. The U.N.O. is a much wider organization. Between the two world wars {1919-1939}, the League of Nations became a forum of imperialist powers, an instrument to maintain their own interests and resolve their imperialist conflicts.

League of Nations vs United Nations

These videos are  the best videos for the understanding the key differences found between the world two organisations.

Establishment of the United Nations

It was due to the failure of the League of Nations to prevent the the Second World War that the idea of establishing a new organisation arose in the minds of many for promoting international co-operation. A replacement for the ineffective League of Nations, the organization was thus established on 24 October 1945 after World War II in order to prevent another such conflict. 

The main objective of this organization are to balance up the international relations and give more peace and secure foundation for the world. 

The United Nations has become much more than a peace-keeper and forum for conflict resolution. This is because the United Nations and its family of agencies take every aspects of humans lives around the world regard as an important issue.

Achievements of the United Nations

Since 1945, United Nations has realize plenty of achievements based on their target.The following are several of the major achievements of the United Nations :

• Maintaining Peace and Security: The UN has succeeded in maintaining peace across the world. It has  saved millions of people from becoming casualties of conflicts with the help of its deployment of dozens of peace keeping forces.
• Promoting Democracy: The UN has always provided electoral advice for creating democratic countries across the world.
• Preventing Nuclear Proliferation: With the help of International Atomic Energy Agency the UN has conducted inspection of nuclear reactors in a number of countries. These steps have greatly helped to avoid the threat of nuclear proliferation.
• Ending Apartheid in South Africa: The whole credit goes to United Nations which played a key role in putting to an end to the curse of Apartheid in South Africa.
• Reducing Child Mortality Rates: Last but not the least, the UN has played a very important role in reducing the Child Mortality Rates across the world. In this respect a number of steps were taken which include oral rehydration therapy, water and sanitation and other health and nutrition measures. 

CONCLUSION

In

a nutshell,

the United Nations has

 performed extremely well as compared

to the League of Nations in terms of achievements.

Of course, its greatest achievement is the prevention of

another World War and restoring peace in the different parts of the world.  

Moral:

"Let there be Peace in the World, Let it begin with Me"

What is the difference between League of Nations and United Nations?

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