The League of Nations Society was a political group devoted to campaigning for an international organisation of nations, with the aim of preventing war. The society was founded in 1915 by Baron Courtney and Willoughby Dickinson, both members of the British

Liberal Party The Liberal Party is any of many political parties around the world. The meaning of ''liberal'' varies around the world, ranging from liberal conservatism on the right to social liberalism on the left. __TOC__ Active liberal parties This is a li ...

, and Baron Parmoor, a member of the

Conservative Party The Conservative Party is a name used by many political parties around the world. These political parties are generally right-wing though their exact ideologies can range from center-right to far-right. Political parties called The Conservative P ...

. The group campaigned for the establishment of the

League of Nations The League of Nations (french: link=no, Société des Nations ) was the first worldwide intergovernmental organisation whose principal mission was to maintain world peace. It was founded on 10 January 1920 by the Paris Peace Conference that ...

, its interest mostly motivated by pacifism, and opposition to

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

. The society was influenced by the proposals of the

Bryce Group The Bryce Group was a loose organisation of British Liberal Party members which was devoted to studying international organisation. The organization was the first to fully flesh out a blueprint for a League of Nations and organize a popular movement ...

, and many of that group's members also held membership of the society. However, it differed from the Bryce Group in proposing that the future international league should be able to impose sanctions in order to enforce arbitration decisions, not just to compel nations to take disputes into arbitration. The society grew quickly, appointing

Margery Spring Rice Margery Spring Rice (10 June 1887 – 21 April 1970) was a British social reformer. She was Secretary of the League of Nations Society and a founding member of the National Birth Control Association (later Family Planning Association). She auth ...

as its secretary, and within a couple of years had several thousand members. By 1917,

Woodrow Wilson Thomas Woodrow Wilson (December 28, 1856February 3, 1924) was an American politician and academic who served as the 28th president of the United States from 1913 to 1921. A member of the Democratic Party, Wilson served as the president of ...

supported the principle of a League of Nations, and less radical supporters of the idea formed the League of Free Nations Association. In 1918, the two organisations merged, forming the

League of Nations Union The League of Nations Union (LNU) was an organization formed in October 1918 in Great Britain to promote international justice, collective security and a permanent peace between nations based upon the ideals of the League of Nations. The League of N ...

References

Organizations established in 1915 League of Nations Peace organisations based in the United Kingdom World government {{poli-org-stub