The League of Nations did many things to sully its reputation. One of these was the Corfu incident, which took place in 1923.
Corfu is an island off the coast of Greece. In 1923, an Italian general, Tellini, was assassinated by Greek partisans while on an assignment from the League of Nations. Benito Mussolini, the leader of Italy, was furious and blamed Greece. He sent in parts of his army to invade and occupy Corfu, under the pretense of investigating. Greece asked the League of Nations for help.
The Council of the League met, with meetings for both the General Assembly and the Security Council. It condemned Mussolini, and told him to leave Corfu, and to pay reparations for invading. Greece was also told to pay, for costs of holding meetings. Mussolini knew that the League didn't have the power to really do anything about him. He said that Greece should have to pay him.
Adolf Hitler and Benito Mussolini in Munich, Germa...
birthplace of Benito Mussolini in Predappio, today...
English: Mug shot of the revolutionary socialist B...The League decided to have another meeting. It changed its mind, and in a questionable decision, it told Greece to apologize to Mussolini, and to pay reparations for being invaded. The Greeks did as the League said. The island was evacuated by Italian troops after several months of occupation, but the Italian Fascist regime had managed to prevail in its first international confrontation.
Another thing the League tried and somewhat successfully did was stop a war between Bulgaria and Greece. In 1925, some Greek soldiers were killed during a skirmish on the Greek-Bulgarian border. The Greeks were angry, and remembering what had happened in Corfu two years earlier, thought they could invade Bulgaria without being punished by the League of Nations two years earlier. The Security Council met, condemned Greece, and issued an order to leave Bulgaria. The Bulgarian government told its soldiers not...