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Formation of League of Nations
After the turmoil of World War I was over, many nations decided to bring forth the idea of a neutral organisation which would be given the authority to deal with international conflicts through negotiation and arbitiation. The primary objective of the League of Nations was to prevent the possiblity of another global conflict, through the use of economic resolve, and if deemed necessary military force. The idea was promising and it gained membership from many nations, except the US and Russia. -
League of Nations Failure: Treaty of Versailles
One of the most major contributing factors to World War II was the anger of the Germans, that was propelled by the Treaty of Versailles. In the treaty it stated that Germany was the main aggressor and villian in World War I and that they were not considered to be a part of the internation community. It declared Kaiser Williem II to be an international war criminal, and demanded Germany pay a ransom of 31 billion gold marks, which led to an economic hyperinflation in price of basic necessities. -
League of Nations Failure: The Invasion of Ruhr
Through the treaty of Versailles, the Germans were ordered to pay a substantial economic compensation to the Allied forces, which they simply stated they could not do. This angered the allies, and prompted them to invade Ruhr, Germany's industrial sector, which was at the time contrary to the League's rules. France and Britain were seen as senior members in the league, and their failure to follow the league's mandate illustrated the lack of enforcement and an unfair bias towards the Allies. -
Leauge of Nations Success: Memel
The port city of Memel had a predominantly German-Lithuation population, and it was under the provisional control of the Allied forces. The French and Polish governments favoured turning Memel into an international city, while Lithuania wanted to annex the area. Since the fate of the area had still not been decided, Lithuanian forces invaded in January 1923 and seized the port. The league then intervened and proposed the idea giving Memel automous rights, which prompted both parties to agree. -
Inception and Creation of the International Monetary Fund
The International Monetary Fund (IMF) was created to restore the volume of internatonal trade that had dropped due to the instabilit of the 1930's. It's goals include the facilitation and expansion of international trade, and the promotion and maintenance of high levels of employment. It also hoped to generate a stable income of the people in developing nations and prmote economic stability. -
Official Establishment of the United Nations and the Charter
The United Nations was officially acknowledged on 24 October 1945, when the UN Charter had been ratified by a majority of the original 51 Member States. The idea of the UN was originally proposed in by representatives of China, the UK, the US and the USSR at a conference in Dumbarton Oaks,Washington, DC. The UN's mission was to bring all nations of the world together for peace and development, based on the principles of justice, human dignity and the well-being of all people. -
Creation of the World Bank
The official establishment of the IMF and The International Bank for Reconstruction and Development, aka the World Bank. The original purpose of the World Bank was to grant loans to rebuild Europe after World War II and the reduction of world poverty. It planned to reach it's objectives through the promotion of international trade and the facilliation of capital investment in foreign terrotories. -
League of Nations: Demise After WWII
After the conflict and terror caused by World War II, the reliability and effectiveness of the League of Nations was brought into question. The league thus admitted it's failure in ensuring the primary objective of it's establishment, and decided to give forth it's authority and influence into a new global organisation, the United Nations. -
WTO: Predecessor GATT Agreement Officially Signed
A treaty created following the conclusion of World War II. The General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT) was a treaty that implemented the regulation of world trade to aide in the economic recovery following World War II. GATT's main objective was to reduce the barriers of international trade through the reduction of tariffs, quotas and subsidies. It was conceived in 1947 but it was not until 1948, that the agreement was finally signed with a starting membership containing 23 nations. -
United Nations Failure: Creation of Israel Leads to Arab Discontent
From 1920 to 1947, Palestinians and Jews had been clashing in British governed Palestine. In 1947, Britain asked the UN to take over, despite the rage of the Arab nations, such was the sympathy for Jews after WWII, that the once holy land of Jerusalem was given back to the Hebrews and renamed "Israel." It's creation lead to war in 1948 when the Arab nations surrounding Israel attacked it which prompted the UN to arranged for a failed 4 week truce. The Israel/Palestine conflict is still ongoing. -
United Nations: Korean War
On this day North Korea suddenly launched a violent military attack on it's Southern neighbors. The actions of the North Koreans were condemned by UN and a military force was created to push North Korea out of the South. The UN force attacked Northern forces but its action provoked a response from China. After a stalemate by 1953, a ceasefire weas signed which is still in action today. -
United Nations Success: Installed Stability in Congo
After Belgium granted the Congo its independence, the Congonese army mutinied against its white officers and it's 100,000 Belge inhabitants were seen to be put under the risk of threat. The Congo's government called on the UN for help, which they responded by sending 10000 troops, and they succeeded by installing stability in 1964. -
IMF: Collapse of Bretton-Woods System and US Dollar Inflation
By the early 1960s, the U.S. dollar's fixed value against gold, under the Bretton Woods system of fixed exchange rates, was seen as overvalued. A sizable increase in domestic spending on President Lyndon Johnson's Great Society programs and a rise in military spending caused by the Vietnam War gradually worsened the overvaluation of the dollar. An attempt to revive the fixed exchange rates failed, and by March 1973 the major currencies began to float against each other. -
United Nations Failure: East Timor
After considering East Timor to be a part of Indonesia, Indonesian military forces were sento out to enforce it's political rule. This lead to around 50,000 to 80,000 deaths after the first two years of conflict, and an uncountable number of human rights abuses, which despite a proposed UN resolution failed to stop until 2002. This example showed the UN failure to enforce it's proposed resolutions and it's lack of political and military assertiveness. -
The World Bank: Introduction of Third World Nations' Investment Strategy
Antoine W. van Agtmael of the International Finance Corporation of the World Bank coined the term “emerging market.” He coined the term to attract investors in a “Third World Equity Fund.” The emerging, or developing, market economy (EME) is defined as an economy with low-to-middle per capita income. Such countries constitute approximately 80% of the global population, representing about 20% of the world's economies. -
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IMF: Reform and Dealing wiht Debt
When a crisis broke out in Mexico in 1982, the IMF coordinated the global response, even engaging the commercial banks. It realized that nobody would benefit if country after country failed to repay its debts.
The IMF's initiatives calmed the initial panic and defused its explosive potential. But a long road of painful reform in the debtor countries, and additional cooperative global measures, would be necessary to eliminate the problem. -
World Bank: Failed Lesotho Highlands Water Project Shut Down
A project began in Lesotho to divert freshwater from the mountains for electricity and for sale to South Africa. At a cost of 3.5 billion, the World Bank was one of it's primary sponsors, despite predicting a pontential failure. The electricity proved too expensive for most people and the water diversion wreaked environmental havoc downstream, and the operation was shut down. Courts convicted 3 of the world’s largest construction firms of corruption. -
Establishment of World Trade Organization
The World Trade Organization begins operations as the successor to GATT, establishing global trade rules enforceable with economic sanctions and launching a series of multiyear negotiating 'rounds' to eliminate barriers to trade. Ministerial conferences take place in Singapore (1996) and Geneva (1998) without incident. -
IMF: Introduction of the HIPC Intiative
The HIPC Initiative was launched in 1996 by the IMF and World Bank, with the aim of ensuring that no poor country faces a debt burden it cannot manage. Since then, the international financial community, including multilateral organizations and governments have worked together to reduce to sustainable levels the external debt burdens of the most heavily indebted poor countries. The total cost of this intiative was estimated to be worth 76 billion dollars. -
IMF: Asian Financial Crisis
In 1997, a wave of financial crises swept over East Asia, from Thailand to Korea. Almost every affected country asked the IMF for both financial assistance and for help in reforming economic policies. Through this event it helped the IMF to realize that would have to pay more attention to weaknesse's in countries’ banking sectors and to the effects of those weaknesses on macroeconomic stability. It also illustrated the difficuly of it's goal of liberalized capital flow.
