The League of Nations has been commonly regarded in history as a dismal failure. Although it did suffer major failures during the 1930s, its successes must not be overlooked and its drive to wipe out world disease was taken on by the United Nations and continues today. The League of Nations was set up because President Wilson wanted this more than anything else. He wanted the League to be a kind of "world parliament" where nations would sort out their arguments. He hoped this would stop wars. But Wilson wanted to do more than just stop war; he wanted to make the world a better place. He wanted the League to do things to improve people's lives and jobs. He wanted to improve public health, and to end slavery. Wilson also hoped that the League would persuade the nations to agree to disarmament “to put down their weapons." That would make war impossible. Finally, Wilson thought that the League of Nations could enforce the Treaty of Versailles, and persuade countries to keep the promises they had made. Forty-two countries joined the League at the start. In the 1930s about 60 countries were members. This made the League seem strong. However, the most powerful countries in the world were not members. The USA did not want to join. The Russians refused to join “they were Communists and hated Britain and France." Germany was not allowed to join. Without these three big powers, the League was weak. Britain and France were the main members, helped by Italy and Japan; they were quite powerful countries. Also, the League had four powers it could use to make countries do as it. Theoretically, the League was allowed to use military force, but the League did not have an army of its own so if a country ignored it, in the end, there was nothing the League could do. The main strength of the League was that it had been set up by the Treaty of Versailles, and agreed by everybody at the conference. The biggest weakness was that the League's organization