The League of Nations lasted just 27 years. An offshoot of the treaties and settlements that concluded the “war to end all wars” of 1914‐1918, it was formally wound up in 1946, replaced by the United Nations, of which it might be considered the failed prototype. For, although the League had some successes, especially in the honeymoon years of the 1920s, it was finally overwhelmed by the gathering storm of fascist aggression in the 1930s. Its inability to prevent the outbreak the Second World War must be seen as the ultimate failure, but by 1939 the organization was already effectively dead, rendered lifeless by the unwillingness of the major powers, especially Britain and France, to stand up to Italy over its invasion of Abyssinia (Ethiopia) in 1935. Although the League continued in suspended animation beyond 1939 and twitched into life occasionally, such as with the futile expulsion of the Soviet Union after its invasion of Finland, there was never any prospect of it being revived at the end of the Second World War. Consigned to history in 1946 and generally not treated kindly by historians, its record is in need of succinct and balanced reference treatment, something this new book from Scarecrow Press provides.
It is ironic that Scarecrow's Historical Dictionaries of International Organizations series has taken to volume 23 to cover a deceased body like the League of Nations when active and thereby more challenging organizations such as the European Community, United Nations and World Bank have already been covered. Series editor Jon Woronoff alludes to the difficulty of finding a suitable author, but in van Ginneken the publisher has struck gold. An assistant professor of international relations at the University of Utrecht in The Netherlands, she has also conducted research at the League of Nations Archive in Geneva. Poignantly, her mother was a victim of the Second World War the League failed to prevent, her father also being wounded. Whether this volume concludes the Historical Dictionaries of International Organizations series is unclear, but it is noticeable that this is the first offering under the label since 2004, the series reaching peak output soon after the first volume appeared in 1993. Perhaps now the onus will be on updating previous titles; with the United Nations volume, for example, issued in 1995, there is certainly much scope for this to become the focus of effort.
Those familiar with Scarecrow's various historical dictionaries series will find few surprises in the structure of this volume. After standard prefatory matter a one‐page list of Acronyms and Abbreviations is followed by a 13‐page Chronology. The latter stretches back to 1815 and ends abruptly in 1946 with the League's winding up, but with often one page or more devoted to some of the key years of the inter‐war period it usefully places major events in historical sequence. The scene setting Introduction that follows is relatively short in comparison with some other Scarecrow historical dictionaries, but provides a readable and accurate overview of the League devoting eight pages to the sub‐section Missed Opportunities and seven to the less euphemistic Successes. Before the Dictionary proper that runs across a relatively modest 170 pages are 18 black and white photographs, mainly of League officials and important international conferences. Seven appendices lead the closing matter and contain some very helpful reference information including the Covenant of the League of Nations (incorporating amendments adopted to the end of 1924), a list of member states with date of entry and withdrawal (if applicable), a table of budgetary information 1921‐1945 and various organizational charts. The Bibliography that concludes the book occupies 40 pages. As with companion historical dictionaries this is a key and valuable feature. Organization is under headings such as Official Publications, Peace and Security, Mandates and Slavery and then by major member states. An impressive and international array of books, book chapters, periodical articles and reports has been assembled, but one is left with the feeling that the Bibliography may omit a significant body of valuable material, especially as it appears to deliberately exclude most items more than 30 years old on and only mentions web sites in passing in the introductory paragraphs.
The core Dictionary sequence itself contains in excess of 500 entries. Probably half of these are biographical, dealing with major League officials and international statesmen and rulers, and are usually fairly brief often extending to just a few lines. Many states that were members of the League have entries (e.g. Mexico eight lines, Poland over one page), as do constituent sections and special commissions (e.g. Financial Committee half a page; Lytton Commission ten lines) and other international organizations that were either subsidiary to the League or worked alongside it (e.g. International Labour Organization one page). Particularly useful are entries for treaties and conferences (e.g. Locarno, Treaties of half a page and Stresa Conference 15 lines). Also provided are entries for international crises and disputes that the League attempted to solve, some with relative success such as Greco‐Bulgarian Crisis of 1923 (a few lines) and Leticia (disputed territory between Colombia and Peru half a page). Occasional see references helpfully signpost preferred and related entries (e.g. Geneva Protocol see Protocol of Geneva), while there are plentiful boldface cross‐references to entry headings embedded in the text, a necessary navigational aid as in common with some other Scarecrow historical dictionaries this volume lacks an index.
Helping to illuminate lesser‐known aspects of the League of Nations and providing information on some of its more successful activities, this is a valuable contribution to the Historical Dictionaries of International Organizations series. It will be an essential purchase in any library where the international relations of the inter‐war years are the subject of study and research. Reasonably priced considering the effort that must have gone into compilation, the book could also be a useful acquisition for more general collections looking for a competent overall reference to supplement other sources charting the course of international affairs between the Versailles Peace Treaty and the Second World War.
