🚢 Prisoners of war
Around 450,000 men were sent home to their own countries. Nansen found transport, food and money for the journeys.
The Creation and Successes of the League, 1919-29 » The Refugee and Drugs Committees in the 1920s
What you'll learn this session
Study time: 30 minutes
Edexcel spec: Paper 2 Section B, Breadth study B5, Key topic 1
- How the Refugee Committee helped prisoners of war and refugees, led by Fridtjof Nansen
- What the Nansen passport was and why it mattered
- How the Drugs Committee tried to control the opium trade, and how far it succeeded
- How the League of 1929 compared with the hopes of 1919
One theme of this breadth study is the work of the specialised agencies: the committees and organisations the League set up to deal with problems that were not about borders or armies. In the 1920s some of its most lasting successes came from this work. Like every League success, it depended on countries choosing to co-operate, because the League had no army and no power to force anyone.
Key terms:
- Refugee: a person forced to leave their home country, for example because of war, and unable to return safely.
- Repatriate: to send someone back to their own country.
- Stateless: having no country that accepts you as a citizen, so no passport and no papers.
- High Commissioner: an official appointed to take charge of a particular job, here the League's work for refugees.
- Opium: a drug made from poppies, used as medicine but also highly addictive. Heroin is made from it.
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Unlock This CourseThe Refugee Committee and Fridtjof Nansen
The First World War and the Russian Revolution left millions of people far from home. Many soldiers were still held as prisoners of war in 1920, stuck in Russia and Germany with no way to get back. Also, over a million Russians had fled the civil war and the new communist government. Many of them had nowhere to go.
The League asked Fridtjof Nansen, a Norwegian scientist, polar explorer and diplomat, to take charge. In 1920 he began to organise the return of prisoners of war. Working with little money, he used ships and trains provided by governments and charities. In about a year and a half, around 450,000 prisoners had been sent home. In 1921 the League's Council made him its High Commissioner for Refugees, with the job of helping the Russian refugees.
🌍 Refugees
Nansen helped Russian refugees find work and homes. Later the League's work also helped other refugees, such as Armenians.
The Nansen passport
Most Russian refugees were stateless. Without a passport, they could not legally cross a border, take a job or settle in a new country. In 1922 the League introduced a certificate known as the Nansen passport. It gave stateless people an official identity and allowed them to travel and look for work. More than fifty governments agreed to accept it. It was later given to Armenian refugees as well. Nansen was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1922 for his work on prisoners of war, relief and refugees.
How far did it succeed? It was a real success: hundreds of thousands of people were helped, and the idea of international help for refugees began here. But it had limits. The League could not make countries take refugees in, the passport gave no right to stay, and the committee always had little money.
The Drugs Committee and the opium trade
In the early twentieth century opium and drugs made from it, such as heroin and morphine, were sold in huge amounts. Addiction was a serious problem, especially in China. In 1921 the League set up the Advisory Committee on Traffic in Opium and Other Dangerous Drugs, usually called the Drugs Committee. Its aim was to cut the trade down to the amount needed for medicine.
The Committee collected figures from member countries on how much opium they grew, made and traded. It pushed for international agreements. A 1925 Convention set up the Permanent Central Opium Board, which began its work in 1928 to check imports and exports, so that countries had to explain where the drugs were going.
How far did it succeed? It made the drug trade much more open and it created the first world-wide system for watching it. But progress was limited. Countries that made money from opium, including some European powers with colonies, were slow to agree to limits. Some countries, such as the USA, were not members of the League, and smugglers were hard to catch. The League could report on the problem but could not stop it.
The League in 1929 compared with the hopes of 1919
🌟 The hopes of 1919
Wilson and the founders hoped for a League that would prevent war through collective security, include all the major powers and settle disputes peacefully.
📊 The League of 1929
It had settled several small disputes and its agencies were doing valuable work. But the USA had never joined, Germany had joined only in 1926, the USSR was still outside, and the League still had no army.
Change and continuity
What stayed the same was the League's method: persuading, investigating and reporting rather than forcing. What changed was its reputation. By 1929 it was respected for its humanitarian work and small-scale peacekeeping, but it had not yet faced a major crisis in which a Great Power's aggression threatened world peace. Later lessons show what happened when it did.
Common mistakes
Common mistakes
- Writing that Nansen "founded" the League. He worked for it: the League appointed him.
- Calling the Nansen passport a normal passport. It was a special certificate for stateless people.
- Saying the Drugs Committee ended the opium trade. It improved control and information, but the trade went on.
- Giving a one-sided comparison. In 1929 the League had real successes and real gaps compared with 1919.
Exam-style question
Explain TWO ways in which the League of Nations in 1929 was different from the League its founders hoped for in 1919. [6 marks]
Model answer
One difference was in membership. In 1919 the founders, led by Woodrow Wilson, hoped that all the major powers would join so that the League could act together against aggressors. By 1929 the USA had never joined, because the Senate refused to ratify the Treaty of Versailles, and the USSR was still outside, while Germany had only been admitted in 1926. The League was therefore much weaker than planned.
A second difference was in what it was best at. In 1919 the hope was that collective security would prevent war. By 1929 the League's clearest successes were smaller: it had settled disputes such as the Aaland Islands, and its agencies were doing practical work, such as Nansen's return of about 450,000 prisoners of war and the Nansen passport for stateless refugees. It had also made limited progress against the opium trade. It had not yet shown it could stop a Great Power, and it still had no army.
What lifts this to the top level: two different ways, each explicitly comparing 1919 with 1929 and supported by precise facts from both.
Exam tip
For a comparison question, write about BOTH sides in each paragraph. Use a phrase such as "In 1919 ... whereas by 1929 ..." and give a precise fact for each side.
Recap
- Nansen organised the return of about 450,000 prisoners of war, and became High Commissioner for Refugees in 1921.
- The Nansen passport (1922) gave stateless refugees an identity and the right to travel.
- The Drugs Committee (1921) gathered information and a 1925 Convention created a board to check the opium trade, but control was limited.
- By 1929 the League had real humanitarian and small-scale successes, but not the full membership, power or army its founders had hoped for.