Joseph Louis Anne Avenol

Who was Joseph Louis Anne Avenol?

Joseph Louis Anne Avenol was a French diplomat. He served as the second Secretary General of the League of Nations, from July 3, 1933 to August 31, 1940. He was preceded by Sir Eric Drummond of the United Kingdom, who was general secretary between 1920 and 1933, and he was succeeded by the Irish diplomat Seán Lester, who was general secretary between 1940 and 1946, when the League was dissolved.

Avenol was sent to the League of Nations from the French Treasury Department in 1922 to handle the League's finances. He was under secretary-general in 1933, when Eric Drummond resigned. He became secretary-general because the first secretary-general had been British and there had been a private agreement at Versailles that the next would be French. Avenol was accused of using the League as an extension of the French Foreign Office in its policy of appeasement of Germany and Italy.

Avenol took office shortly after Japan had left the League. Shortly thereafter Germany also left. He worked to prevent action or criticism of those countries in an effort to lure them back to the League.