1. The League of Nations and collapse of collective security: Abyssinia, the Spanish Civil War

Question 1

what/when did woodrow Wilson announce?

Answer 1

Jan 1918,
announced plans for peace after war in his ‘fourteen Points Speech’ to American Congress. 14th point called for establishment of ‘LON’

Question 2

What did Wilson hope to resolve?

Answer 2

resolve international conflict without use of force, arguing that if existed before 1914, then Great War could have been avoided

Question 3

What did LON comprise of?

Answer 3

an assembly, a council, a secretariat and non-political org

Question 4

what did WW1 point out?

Answer 4

fundamental flaw in balance of power system

Question 5

What did victorious states sought to do?

Answer 5

institutionalize system of collective security via League of Nations in which aggression by one state would bring response for all states; collective security would thus be achieved

Question 6

what is collective security?

Answer 6

based on principle that attack on one is attack on all

Question 7

what could LON impose?

Answer 7

military force and trade sanctions

Question 8

although had various successes, what were its inherit flaws which undermined its authority?

Answer 8

• America was never a member
• Britain refused to commit troops to conflicts and was focused on internal problems
  members did not always agree
• nationalism overshadowed notion of internationalism
• League lacked military force

Question 9

major conflicts which challenged authority of League and principle of collective security?

Answer 9

Abyssinia, Manchuria, Spanish Civil War. (although some successes) = League’s impotence

Question 10

what did failure of collective security allow?

Answer 10

allowed dictators to act without fear of retribution

Question 11

Manchuria crisis: first instance of?

Answer 11

League’s ineffectiveness in international peace keeping + set example that aggressive dictators Mussolini and Hitler were to follow

Question 12

Manchuria crisis:1931?

Answer 12

Japan invaded Chinese province Manchuria, bombing Shanghai and annexing further provinces

Question 13

Manchuria crisis: why did Japan invade China?

Answer 13

in attempt to recover from subsequent economic depression

Question 14

Manchuria crisis: what did China do in response to attack?

Answer 14

appealed to LON under Article 11 to intervene and help them recover Manchuria, but when ordered to withdraw, japan rejected it and instead left LON

Question 15

Manchuria crisis: was League able to pacify Japan?

Answer 15

no

Question 16

Manchuria crisis: what role did depression play in response to Japan’s rejection?

Answer 16

because of the depression which was going on at the time, no countries wanted to risk losing Japan as trade partners and so Japan went without being reprimanded

Question 17

Manchuria crisis: what did this show to Germany and Italy?

Answer 17

Italy that the League was unable to keep its promises of collective security and was unable to enforce any of their policies. (can’t prevent international conflict)

Question 18

Manchuria crisis: what does Tony Howarth say about it?

Answer 18

“dreadful revelation that the League was powerless in the face of a determined aggressor”

Question 19

Abyssinia: what did it reveal?

Answer 19

reveal League unable to reprimand countries who disobeyed the League’s law and threatened the collective security of the world

Question 20

Abyssinia: what led to invasion in 1935-36?

Answer 20

Mussolini’s ambitions for a colonial empire and dominance of the Mediterranean region

Question 21

Abyssinia: what did Abyssinia do several times throughout 1935 before Italy invaded?

Answer 21

appealed to LON

Question 22

Abyssinia: what did League attempt to do?

Answer 22

condemn Italy and apply economic sanction

Question 23

Abyssinia: what did Britain and France wished to do though?

Answer 23

wished to avoid upsetting Mussolini and prevent him from joining Germany

Question 24

Abyssinia: due to Brit and France what happened to Abyssinia?

Answer 24

As such, League failed to protect Abyssinia, which was defeated and occupied

Question 25

Abyssinia: what happened to Italy?

Answer 25

joined with Germany and Japan to form Anti-Comintern Pact and withdrew from League in 1937

Question 26

Abyssinia: what did this reveal about League and collective security?

Answer 26

exposed as entirely hollow, as leading powers in league were unwilling and unable to apply it

Question 27

Abyssinia: what does AJP Taylor state as to impact of it?

Answer 27

“this was the death blow to the League as well as to Abyssinia”

Question 28

Abyssinia: what did it symbolise end of?

Answer 28

Stressa Front

Question 29

Abyssinia: what was Stressa Front?

Answer 29

Italy shared with Britain and France to stand up to future German aggression

Question 30

Abyssinia: what did end of Stresa Front encourage Hitler to believe?

Answer 30

believe he could get away with acts of aggression = March 1936, his troops invaded Rhineland

Question 31

Abyssinia: what does Graham Ross say about relation between Italy and Germany?

Answer 31

“…there was now no obstacle to a general improvement in relations with Italy”

Question 32

Spanish Civil War: origin?

Answer 32

July 1936 General Franco raised revolt from Spanish morocco

Question 33

Spanish Civil War: what were the 2 sides?

Answer 33

On one side were nationalists such as landowners and the church

other side were republicans which comprised of socialists and communists

Question 34

Spanish Civil War: what resulted in victory of General Franco’s Nationalist forces in 1939?

Answer 34

German, Italian (Franco’s side) and Soviet Union (gov/republic) intervention was countered with Britain and France’s utter refusal to arbitrate

Question 35

Spanish Civil War: what did the League prove and what did many ppl view this war as?

Answer 35

League proved totally ineffectual and many people viewed the Civil War as rehearsal for greater conflict to come

Question 36

Spanish Civil War: what does AJP Taylor say when stating that by time civil war, league not active, principle of collective security forgotten ?

Answer 36

“…when foreign powers intervened in Spanish Civil War, the Spanish gov appealed to the League. The council first ‘studied the question’; then expressed its ‘regrets’ and agreed to house the pictures from the Prado at Geneva”

Question 37

Spanish Civil War: what did Britain and France resort to without collective security?

Answer 37

Britain and France resorted to appeasement