On January 25, 1919, a Peace Conference in Paris, France was held in the aftermath of World War I which created the League of Nations. President Woodrow Wilson attended the conference and adamantly called for the League of Nations to promote international peace.

All 32 states present on January 25, 1919 voted for the adoption of the League of Nations. The state representatives even elected Wilson to chair the subcommittee responsible for drafting the League’s Covenant (i.e. laws). However, ironically, the United States Congress refused to join the League of Nations against Wilson’s wishes.

World War I had brought much violence, unrest, and discontent between many nations, especially those nations in Europe. Many national leaders on the winning side of the war, such as Britain and France, wanted the losing nations such as Germany to pay dearly for the war. British Prime Minister Lloyd George was re-elected under the slogan "Be tough on Germany." French Prime Minister Georges Clemenceau wanted Germany to be punished dearly for its acts in World War I. And the Italians and Japanese wanted control of certain territories.

So, while World War I was originally dubbed the “war to end all wars,” the Treaty of Versailles, which ended World War I, did not help the cause for world peace. In fact, the Treaty of Versailles was overly favorable to the winning nations at great expense to the losing nations like Germany. The lopsided Treaty led to deeper nationalism and helped to promote the founding of the Nazi party in Germany which eventually led to World War II.

President Wilson still promoted a new form of diplomacy where nations could unite together against self aggressive nations. However, the nations which signed the treaty failed to abide by many of its terms. As World War II neared, it became quite clear that the League failed in its chief purpose to promote world peace. Further, the largest nations failed to support the League: the United States never joined; Germany and the USSR were members for only a few years; and Japan and Italy both withdrew in the 1930s. And Britain and France hesitantly enforced the League’s rules.

After World War II, the United Nations was formed in an attempt to do the job that the League of Nations failed to do – promote world peace. However, even today, there is debate over whether the United Nations has lived up to its goals of effectively promoting world peace.