USA HISTORY

AMERICAN IMPERIALISM(1890 1919)

LEAGUE OF NATIONS

[SOURCES]
Why did Abyssinia show that the League had failed (pick 4)?

(A) ** One of the League’s most important members, Italy, had gone against the Covenant.

(B) ** Britain and France showed they were more interested in their own welfare than protecting the Covenant of the League.

(C) It showed that the League were not listened to by other powers.

(D) ** Small countries now knew that the League would not protect them from invasion and dictators, like Hitler and Mussolini, realised the League was powerless to stop them.

(E) ** The League had shown that not only could it not deal with instances far away, but it also couldn’t deal with those closer to home with Europe.

EXPLANATIONS BELOW

Concept note-1: -The League’s unwillingness to impose an oil sanction and its evident failure to prevent Italy’s conquest of Abyssinia discredited the League and its collective security provisions.

Concept note-2: -In response to Ethiopian appeals, the League of Nations condemned the Italian invasion in 1935 and voted to impose economic sanctions on the aggressor. The sanctions remained ineffective because of general lack of support.

Concept note-3: -Japan refused to leave Manchuria. Instead, Japan left the League. Many countries had important trading links with Japan. The League could not agree on sanctions or even a ban on weapons sales.

Concept note-4: -The Abyssinian Crisis together with the Manchurian Crisis showed that the League would not stand up against those countries who wished to push the boundaries. Both instances of failure were watched by Hitler in particular who saw that the League of Nations would not stand up to him.