The League of Nations and the Civil War

Abstract

While the Non-intervention Committee became immersed in long discussions, the Spanish Government regularly appealed to the League of Nations to redress the mounting injustice of the policy of non-intervention during the course of the war in Spain. The League of Nations was in a critical condition at the end of 1936. Italian aggression in Abyssinia, followed swiftly by the German occupation of the Rhineland, inflicted a shattering blow upon the system of collective security in Europe of which the League was the expression. The United States had never been a member of the League, Japan and Germany had already withdrawn their membership, and Italy was to do so in December, 1937. The effective members therefore included only three of the great powers out of seven — Britain, France and Russia.

“It is at Geneva rather than in Spain that the peace of the world may be secured in 1937.” (Winston Churchill) ¹).

“Beyond the Spanish question, there is clearly the question of the League of Nations itself.” (Alvarez del Vayo) ²).