Contents

Member states of the League of Nations

This article includes a list of general references, but it lacks sufficient corresponding inline citations. Please help to improve this article by introducing more precise citations. (May 2020) (Learn how and when to remove this message)

Between 1920 and 1939, a total of 63 countries became member states of the League of Nations. The Covenant forming the League of Nations was included in the Treaty of Versailles and came into force on 10 January 1920, with the League of Nations being dissolved on 18 April 1946; its assets and responsibilities were transferred to the United Nations.

The League's greatest extent was from 28 September 1934 (when Ecuador joined) to 23 February 1935 (when Paraguay withdrew) with 58 members. At this time, only Costa Rica (22 January 1925), Brazil (14 June 1926), Japan (27 March 1933) and Germany (19 October 1933) had withdrawn, and only Egypt was later joined (on 26 May 1937).

Of the 42 founding members,^[1] 23 (or 24, counting Free France) were members when the League of Nations was dissolved in 1946. A further 21 countries joined between 1920 and 1937, but seven had withdrawn, left, or been expelled before 1946.

Countries are listed under the year in which they joined. Several countries withdrew after joining; the Covenant stipulated that a withdrawing country kept its obligations and membership for two years. Several countries also ceased to exist after annexation by Germany, Italy, or the Soviet Union. The Soviet Union was expelled from the League in 1939 after its invasion of Finland, and was the only country to face that measure.

Despite formulating the concept and signing the Covenant, the United States never joined the League of Nations. (The United States Senate voted 49–35 in favor of ratifying, but this failed to reach the necessary two-thirds majority.^[2]) Saudi Arabia (then the Kingdom of Hejaz) also signed the Covenant but did not join, and some relatively-isolated sovereign states in Asia did not join either, including Bhutan, Mongolia, Nepal, Philippines, and Yemen. Iceland was given the opportunity to join the League of Nations in 1920, but opted not to, primarily due to limited administrative resources.^[3]

Likewise, most of the European microstates such as Andorra, Monaco, San Marino, and Vatican City never sought membership in the organization.^{[citation needed]} Liechtenstein applied for membership in 1920, though unsuccessful.^[4]

At the IX Congress of European Nationalities, an organization of the League of Nations, held in Bern, the first three autonomies of Spain (Basque Country, Galicia, and Catalonia), were recognized as a nation. In any case, they were not independent but were represented by the Spanish government.^[5]

Map[edit]

List[edit]

  Original signatory   Original invitee

Member state	Date of admission	Date of withdrawal	Notes
Belgium	10 January 1920
Bolivia	10 January 1920
Brazil	10 January 1920	13 June 1928
British Empire	10 January 1920		All six members of the League joined from one ratification document.
Canada
Australia
South Africa
New Zealand
India
China	16 July 1920
Cuba	8 March 1920
France	10 January 1920		Vichy France sent a notice of withdrawal 19 April 1941, which the League recognized.[6][7] Free France did not recognize Vichy France's withdrawal and rescinded the notice 15 and 16 April 1943,[a] which the League also recognized.[8] France attended the last session of the League in April 1946 as a member.[9][10]
Greece	30 March 1920
Guatemala	10 January 1920	25 May 1938
Haiti	30 June 1920	7 April 1944
Honduras	3 November 1920	9 July 1938
Italy	10 January 1920	10 December 1939
Japan	10 January 1920	27 March 1935
Liberia	30 June 1920
Nicaragua	3 November 1920	26 June 1938
Panama	25 November 1920
Peru	10 January 1920	8 April 1941
Poland	10 January 1920
Portugal	8 April 1920
Romania	14 September 1920	10 July 1942	[11]
Kingdom of Serbs, Croats, and Slovenes	10 February 1920		Renamed Yugoslavia in 1929.
Siam	10 January 1920		Renamed Thailand in 1939.[12]
Czecho-Slovakia	10 January 1920		Occupied and annexed by Nazi Germany 15 March 1939; never withdrew.
Uruguay	10 January 1920
Argentina	10 January 1920		Invitee; ratified 18 July 1919. Quit 4 December 1920 without sending a notice of withdrawal;[13] resumed participation 26 September 1933.[14]
Chile	10 January 1920	1 June 1940	Invitee; ratified 4 November 1919.
Colombia	16 February 1920		Invitee.
Denmark	8 March 1920		Invitee. Occupied by Nazi Germany 9 April 1940 and forced to withdraw 19 July 1940; withdrawal not recognized by the League. Withdrawal notice rescinded in 1945.
Netherlands	9 March 1920		Invitee.
Norway	9 March 1920		Invitee.
Paraguay	10 January 1920	23 February 1937	Invitee; ratified 29 October 1919.
Persia	10 January 1920		Invitee; ratified 21 November 1919. Renamed Iran in 1934.
El Salvador	10 March 1920	9 August 1939	Invitee.
Spain	10 January 1920	8 May 1941	Invitee.
Sweden	9 March 1920		Invitee.
Switzerland	8 March 1920		Invitee.
Venezuela	3 March 1920	10 July 1940	Invitee.
Austria	15 December 1920	18 March 1938	The League recognized the Anschluss (five days afterward) and removed Austria from its list of members.[15]
Bulgaria	16 December 1920
Costa Rica	16 December 1920	1 January 1927
Finland	16 December 1920
Luxembourg	16 December 1920
Albania	17 December 1920		Invaded by Italy 7 April 1939; the puppet government sent a notice of withdrawal to the League 13 April 1939, but the League did not recognize the puppet government or accept the notice.
Estonia	22 September 1921		Occupied by the Soviet Union and annexed 6 August 1940; never withdrew.
Latvia	22 September 1921		Occupied by the Soviet Union and annexed 5 August 1940; never withdrew.
Lithuania	22 September 1921		Occupied by the Soviet Union and annexed 3 August 1940; never withdrew.
Hungary	18 September 1922	9 April 1941
Irish Free State	10 September 1923		Renamed Ireland in 1937.
Abyssinia	28 September 1923
Dominican Republic	29 September 1924
Germany	8 September 1926	20 October 1935	Quit in October 1933 after Hitler came to power.
Mexico	12 September 1931		The League invited Mexico to join on 8 September 1931.[16]
Turkey	18 July 1932
Iraq	3 October 1932
Soviet Union	18 September 1934	14 December 1939	§ Expulsion of the Soviet Union
Afghanistan	17-26 September 1934
Ecuador	28 September 1934
Egypt	26 May 1937

Sources: ^{[17][18][19][20][21][22]}

Expulsion of the Soviet Union[edit]

On 14 December 1939,^[23] the Soviet Union was expelled for invading Finland in violation of the Covenant of the League of Nations, by a Council vote of 7-0-4-3 (7 in favor, 0 against, 4 abstaining, 3 absent).^[24] The British Empire, France, Belgium, Bolivia, the Dominican Republic, South Africa, and Egypt voted in favor; the Republic of China, Finland, Greece, and Yugoslavia abstained; and Iran, Peru, and the Soviet Union itself were absent. Three of the votes in favor had been made Council members the day before the vote (South Africa, Bolivia, and Egypt). This was one of the League's final acts before it practically ceased functioning.^[25]

It has been disputed whether the expulsion was legally valid. Article 16 paragraph 4 of the Covenant states that the Council may expel a member from the League if all members of the Council other than the to-be-expelled member concur. However, it is unclear if abstentions or absences are permitted for expulsion votes (though it is undisputed that they are allowed for non-expulsion unanimous Council decisions).^[24] Even if permitted, it is disputed whether the expulsion could be legally valid without a majority (8 out of 14) of the Council in favor.^{[25][failed verification]}

Regardless, both the expulsion and dispute had little practical effect. The Soviet Union had already declared nine days earlier that it would be absent from the League until further notice, it acknowledged its expulsion^[26] and made no move to challenge it on the disputed grounds, no other member was ever expelled from the League to demonstrate any precedent, and the League took no further significant actions due to the Second World War.^[24]

The League of Nations partially did not recognize the Soviet occupation of the Baltic states. In its last session in 1946, Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania remained on the list of members of the League.^[10][27] However, two months before the session, the League^[b] stated that it would not consider the 1939 documents of any representatives as valid, and required the governments of the League members to furnish new documents naming representatives.^[28] When the representatives of the Latvian government-in-exile and Lithuanian government-in-exile attempted to attend the session, a Secretariat staff member denied their 1939 documents as instructed, and explicitly stated that there did not exist any government which could provide them with the necessary credentials. The letter documenting this incident refers to the representatives as the "permanent delegate of Latvia" and "permanent delegate of Lithuania" as titles. (The letter does not mention the presence of the delegate of Estonia.) The staff member offered the representatives, and their family members and assistants, entry into the League's diplomatic gallery to spectate the session, but the representatives refused the offer for themselves, while accepting it for their family members and assistants. In addition, the offered entry card, and even the envelope containing the card, explicitly omitted a country name and a title.^[27]

See also[edit]

• Member states of the United Nations

Notes[edit]

Citations[edit]

References[edit]

Further reading[edit]

• Hell, Stefan (2019). Siam and The League of Nations; Modernisation, Sovereignty, and Multilateral Diplomacy, 1920-1940. Bangkok: River Books. ISBN 9789749863893. Archived from the original on 25 September 2020. Retrieved 8 January 2020.

External links[edit]

• Map of League of Nations members