The Collapse of the League Flashcards
All 16 cards in this deck
Give one effect of the Great Depression on the League of Nations.
Member countries put their own economies first, so they were unwilling to use trade sanctions or risk war to uphold the Covenant.
What was the Manchurian crisis (1931)?
Japan invaded Manchuria in China; the League had neither the military nor the economic power to stop it.
What was the Lytton report, and what did Japan do about it?
A League report (1932) condemning Japan's invasion of Manchuria; Japan ignored it and left the League in 1933.
What was the Abyssinian crisis (1935)?
Mussolini invaded Abyssinia; the League issued moral condemnation and limited economic sanctions, which Mussolini ignored.
True or false? The League's economic sanctions on Italy in 1935–36 included a ban on oil and coal.
False. Oil and coal were not banned, so Mussolini's military capability was not compromised.
What was the Hoare–Laval Pact (1935)?
A secret plan by the British and French foreign ministers to give Mussolini much of Abyssinia; when it leaked it showed Britain and France put self-interest and keeping Mussolini as an ally above the Covenant.
Which major powers had left the League of Nations by 1937?
Japan and Germany (both 1933) and Italy (1937).
Give one reason the League of Nations failed to avert war in 1939.
Its leading members, Britain and France, acted in their own interests rather than enforcing the Covenant, and the League had no army to stop aggressors.
What was the Wall Street Crash (October 1929)?
The collapse of share prices on the New York stock market, which began the Great Depression.
What was the Mukden Incident (September 1931)?
An explosion on the Japanese-run South Manchurian Railway near Mukden, staged by Japanese army officers, who blamed China and used it as an excuse to invade Manchuria.
What was Manchukuo?
The puppet state Japan created in Manchuria in 1932, officially ruled by the last Chinese emperor, Puyi, but really controlled by Japan.
Give one reason League members did not impose sanctions on Japan over Manchuria.
Many members, including Britain, traded heavily with Japan, and during the Depression they would not risk losing that trade.
Give one consequence of the Manchurian crisis after Japan left the League.
Japan kept expanding unchecked: it took Jehol province in 1933 and launched a full invasion of China in 1937.
Give one reason Mussolini invaded Abyssinia.
Revenge: Italy had been defeated by Abyssinia at Adowa in 1896.
Why did keeping the Suez Canal open weaken the League's response to Abyssinia?
Britain and France let Italian ships keep using it, so Italy's troops and supplies still reached East Africa.
Who was Haile Selassie?
The Emperor of Abyssinia, who appealed to the League for help against Italy and spoke to it in person in June 1936 after his country was conquered.