A covenant is a written legal and binding agreement
The covenant of the League of Nations was like a constitution
It had 26 Articles or clauses
It contained aims, principles and procedures
It was written into every peace agreement
Mandates
Mandated territories were taken from the defeated powers and handed to various countries (mostly Britain and France but also Japan, South Africa, Australia and others)
But they were under the overall provision of the League of Nations and
its Mandates Commission
The territories were to be administered for the good of the peoples in the
various territories with the long-term goal of preparing them for
independence
In reality, however, the mandates were run for the strategic or economic
benefit of the mandated powers
Plebiscites
A referendum
A vote on a specific issue
They were held to decide particularly contentious territorial issues (not
that they weren’t all contentious)
Examples: Northern Schleswig voted to join Denmark whilst Central
Schleswig voted to remain in Germany; the Saar would hold a plebiscite
after 15 years to decide whether it should be part of Germany, France or