The League of Nations, convening in Geneva in 1923, saw its idealistic hopes dashed, in part because of America's refusal to join. (Hulton-Deutsch Collection/Corbis) World War I Issue.

The United Nations is now at a similar inflection point to the League’s position in the 1930s. When the League ended, the United Nations and several of its agencies became operative.

A century ago Friday, on Jan. 25, 1919, nearly 30 countries approved a proposal to create a commission to establish the League of Nations. Meant to keep the peace in the aftermath of World War I ...

It was the League of Nations, an ambitious entity established 100 years ago this month that asked its member states to ensure one another’s security and national interests.

T he Secretariat of the League of Nations reluctantly made public, last week, a note dated one month previous in which the Brazilian Government of Premier Octavio Mangabeira reaffirmed Brazil’s ...

But at this rate, the UN could soon meet the fate of its precursor, the League of Nations, which showed itself to be useless in the 1930s and was finally dissolved just after World War II.

He did, however, make sure the League of Nations was an inextricable part of the final agreement. He hoped that once the League was established, it could rectify the treaty's many shortcomings.

Since its founding in 1922, Foreign Affairs has been the leading forum for serious discussion of American foreign policy and global affairs. The magazine has featured contributions from many leading ...