Lanterna Rally

Author: Sakiko Kaiga

Publisher:

Published: 2015

Total Pages: 494

ISBN-13:

This thesis examines the ideas and the development of the pro-league of nations movement in Britain from· 1914 to 1918. Historians often explain the foundation of the League of Nations as a result of a public reaction to the horrors of the war and as a consequence of the policies of leading statesmen. Although these factors were important, the war-time pro-league of nations movement founded by the Bryce Group in 1914 also made a significant yet misunderstood contribution to the creation of the League. As this thesis argues, the development of the pro-league movement was never as smooth, straightforward or driven by purely utopian ideals as previous scholars have suggested. Historians have not appreciated the way in which the movement's official ideas about a league changed during the war under the pressures of public opinion and politics, to reflect the yearning for a victory, and the ideological way in which victory was framed as a triumph of democracy over German authoritarianism and militarism. In 1914, the Bryce Group identified international anarchy and the rivalry of alliance blocs ' as the primary causes of war, and saw the creation of a new international organisation inclusive of all the great powers as a way to ensure the peace. By 1918, however, the pro-leaguers came to promote what they had originally opposed - the league as a continuation into peacetime of the war-time alliance against Germany and its allies. To understand how and why this shift occurred, this thesis exploits the rich unpublished manuscripts and private papers of key pro-league activists, in addition to official records and published materials. By focusing on the fate of the ideas about the international order in war-time Britain, this thesis seeks to illustrate the transformative power and limits of ideals in the history of international relations.