The founding of the UN during the Second World War shows that the UN Essay

The founding of the UN during the Second World War shows that the UN can meet international challenges in the way that the Leagu - Essay Example That way, if a country decides to make genocide legal, the international community can impose trade restrictions, embargos, and other measures in order to weaken that country’s ability to carry out its plans. In addition, an international government makes possible the use of a widespread alliance in military actions against a country such as Germany in World War II. However, the League of Nations proved incapable of preventing the aggressive military actions of Germany in the years leading up to the Second World War, which created the need for the United Nations, which is more structurally able than its predecessor to handle such international challenges. The intergovernmental League of Nations was formed in 1919 at the Treaty of Versailles immediately after the First World War, tasked with the responsibility of preventing another such war and maintaining world peace. It planned to do so through disarmament, serving as an international arbiter of disputes, and by enforcing law s related to prisoners of war, the arms trade, and global health (League of Nations). The countries of the world readily approved of the idea of the League, noting that the Great Powers of the world needed to take increased responsibility in ensuring the global security of the world. The Great Powers began to realize that eventually, in a conflict between countries, they would have to become involved (Walters). Because the League of Nation had no standing army of its own, it relied on the Great Powers for its security measures. The resolutions that the League drafted were to be enforced by the larger armies of the world and, thus, the League relied on the active and full participation of each of its members (League of Nations). However, many armies were hesitant to fully engage those resolutions for a number of reasons. In some cases, the League would draft a resolution against an economic partner or long-time ally of one of the Great Powers. For example, during the conflict between Italy and Ethiopia in the mid-1930s, the League called resolutions against Italy. Few countries complied, due to Italy’s status in the world as an economic and political ally. Italy itself mocked the resolutions, which damaged the public image of the League as the world’s policing agency (Jahanpour). These kinds of acts undermined the effectiveness of the organization not only to carry out its intergovernmental security role, but also to serve as an effective arbiter between states. Once countries did not respect the authority of the League, they did not respect its ability to effectively bring about conclusions to those conflicts. The greatest failure of the League came in the late 1930s with Germany’s non-compliance. Starting with a complaint from a Jewish German about rights violations based on religion, sanctions from the League on Germany resulted (Shoah Resource Center). These resolutions banned racist laws. Because one of the stated goals of the League w as to protect minorities in Europe, the organization lived up to its mission (Walters). However, in 1937, Hitler-led Germany refused to recognize itself as part of the League and continued enforcement of laws against Jews. The failure of the League in this instance was constituted by the assumption that the Great Po