League of Nations founded

On 28 April 1919 in Paris, the allies found the League of Nations, whose articles of association will become a component of the Versailles Peace Treaty (articles 1 to 26). Initially, the 32 victorious powers of the First World War (the allies) as well as 13 neutral states join this first world organisation with headquarters in Geneva. By 1937, 21 additional countries will follow.

© Deutsches Historisches Museum, Berlin American postcard on the occasion of the founding of the League of Nations

The United States – having become a world power through its significant role in the World War – declines to participate in the League of Nations and withdraws from foreign affairs for the next 20 years (isolationism). Austria, the successor nation to the defunct Danube monarchy, joins the League of Nations in 1920; Germany – thanks to the far-sighted policies of Foreign Minister Gustav Stresemann – finally joins in 1926. In its initial years of activity, the League of Nations is able to achieve major successes in humanitarian issues and in protecting national minorities. It considers the preservation and maintenance of peace to be its most important task. However, the expansive territorial ambitions of the dictators Hitler and Mussolini, which will lead to the Second World War, cannot be held in check by this predecessor organisation to the UN.