Historical Investigation - League of Nations - Abyssinian crisis

Britain and France’s hesitations to oppress Mussolini

On 6 April, it was informed that the military situation in Abyssinia was desperate and the closure of Suez Canal was the only effective action to be taken. Hoare was afraid to provoke Mussolini in the Mediterranean Sea where Britain had two large naval bases. British and French overestimated Italian navy and their fear made Britain not to close the Suez Canal. If it is not for Suez Canal, Italy would have had difficulties supplying armed forces during the conflict. Both Britain and France were not prepared to risk their naval power in the Mediterranean for the sake of Ethiopia. The protest caused Hoare to drop the plan since he needed popularity for the election. Mussolini still wanted to compromise because he thought Hoare only made his statement to talk tough to satisfy the public.

3. Evaluation of Sources

Haile Selassie, "Appeal to the League of Nations," June 1936.

This speech “Appeal to the League of Nations,” obtained from the reliable online sourcebook, was stated by Haile Selassie I, Emperor of Ethiopia on June 1936 Geneva, Switzerland, asking the members of the LON for its assistance. The value of the speech for this investigation is that the perspective and the condition of Ethiopia on the crisis can be found. The speech is generally about the suffering of Ethiopians and the Emperor’s emphasis on the collective security. His continuous emphasis on the collective security and the violations of the covenants show that LON did not take significant actions to support Ethiopia in preventing the war and the unreliability of the LON. The speech was written by the steuographer and was recorded for history records of LON. The limitation the reactions of the League members after the speech is not recorded so the impact of the speech is unknown.

Birn, Donald. League of Nations Union, 1918-1945. 

This book was written by Donald Birn that contains the history of LON from 1918 to 1945 and the chapters are divided into important events. It is a good source because all of the important events that happened in the LON are recorded in detail, including the quotes by previous members of the LON. Birn states the perspectives of different historians on the actions of LON in resolving the Abyssinian Crisis, which gives different perspectives on this crisis. This makes it easier to find out whether historians thought of the Abyssinian Crisis as a major factor that led to the failure of LON or not. The limitation of this book is that this book gives too much detail on the oil sanction and gives brief information on public opinions. The lack of information on the public opinions makes it hard to analyze what the public thought of the LON’s action taken in resolving the Abyssinian Crisis.

4. Analysis

The Abyssinian Crisis occurred because the pride of Italy was hurt when it was defeated by Ethiopia at the Battle of Adowa. Italy’s accusation of Ethiopia on aggression of Wal Wal might be intentional to make an excuse of breaking the treaty and attacking Ethiopia and regain its lost pride.

Britain and France did not want to provoke Italy because they were afraid of wars. In private, Hoare wanted to negotiate with Mussolini to stop wars; however, he wanted to satisfy the public opinion of Britain that supported collective security. The speech that Samuel made to the League in 1935 shows that he tried to satisfy the Britain by making a statement to support the collective security fully. It was more likely for Hoare to turn down the Hoare-Laval Plan because he needed popularity for his election year. The fact that the two major European power of the LON tried to negotiate with the Mussolini, the aggressor of the crisis, was the biggest factor that made the LON to lose its credibility drastically. Donald Birn, a historian, argues that to follow the LON’s aim of collective security, all the countries should have expected a risk of war with Italy to protect Abyssinia. He criticized the LON and stated that the existence of LON is meaningless if the collective security cannot be followed by the other countries, especially the leading powers. The LON should have expected a war and support the weaker countries that are being oppressed to prevent wars. Instead, the LON tried to sell off the weaker country to gain peace. Additionally, the LON was aiming for collective security where all countries contribute to keep the peace; however, other countries were too weak to support Britain and France, which were the only two major European powers in the LON. Britain and France could not be relied on because they were already weakened by the First World War. Also, Great Powers like Germany and United States did not join the LON. The LON tried to help Ethiopia by pulling off sanctions against materials; however, the LON took over six weeks to get sanctions but three of the league members did not even carry out the sanctions. This means that the LON did not have enough power even to control the members of the League to reach its goal. The LON’s lack of power and control affected its credibility.

Italy definitely has felt that the LON will not last because of its lack of power and lack of credibility. The LON did not even have an army to put a force on the country of the aggressor. This might have led Italy to move away from Anglo-French relation and move closer to Nazi Germany. This affected the LON once again because instead of keeping the strong nation to its side, the LON’s decisions made one of the great powers to join its enemy.

Historians like AP Adamthawaite and JR Western thought that the Abyssinian Crisis led the LON to fail. Adamthawaite mentioned the Abyssinian to bring “a death blow to the League.” In 1971, Western stated that “the crisis was fatal to the League.”  On the other hand, in 2004, a modern historian states that it was not the Abyssinian Crisis but the absence of United States, more specifically LON that led the LON to fail.

Haile Selassie’s speech shows that the LON uselessness in following the collective security. Selassie continuously mentions the violated covenants, which questions the credibility of LON and its ability to handle the international dispute. The LON has so far attempted to negotiate with the aggressor and could not control the actions of its member, which included Italy as well. The LON could not even handle its aim of collective security. The LON’s drastic fall of credibility led to the beginning of the end for the LON.

5. Conclusion

In conclusion, the beginning of the failure of the LON was preceded by the failure to resolve the Abyssinian Crisis of 1935. The crisis was led by pre-existing political conditions between Ethiopia and Italy. At the time, the LON had power of fifty two nations but they did not provide Ethiopia with adequate support. The power of the LON depended on the two major European powers, which were Britain and France that were already weakened by First World War. The LON’s lack of power to take control of other league members, lack of power to oppress the aggressor and lack of ability to make firm decisions shown in the process of attempting to resolve the crisis casted doubt on the LON’s existence. The LON’s inadequate support of Abyssinian Crisis drastically abased the LON’s credibility. As a result, the failure of Abyssinian Crisis questioned the public of the LON’s credibility which also forced the LON to think of its reform.

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F. Sources and Word Limit

Birn, Donald. League of Nations Union, 1918-1945. (New York: Oxford University Press, 1981)

Brailsford, Henry Noel. A League of Nations. (Ashford: Headley Brothers: 1917)

Cheesman, R. E. "International Affairs." Royal Institute of International Affairs (1937): 317-18.

Jstor.Jstor. 2 Apr. 2009 <http://www.jstor.org/stable/2602540>.

"Haile Selassie, "Appeal to the League of Nations," June 1936." Mount Holyoke College, South

Hadley, Massachusetts. 11 Apr. 2009 <http://www.mtholyoke.edu/acad/intrel/selassie.htm>.

"How Strong was the League?" GCSE Modern World History Revision Site. 31 Mar. 2009

<http://www.johndclare.net/league_of_nations3.htm>.

"League of Nations, Links,." Northwestern University Library. 4 Apr. 2009

<http://www.library.northwestern.edu/govinfo/collections/league/links.html>.

McDonough, Frank. Nevile Chamberlain, Appeasement and the British Road to War. (New York:

Manchester University Press, 1988)

Neville, Peter. Hitler and Appeasement: The British Attempt to Prevent the Second World War.

(London: Hambledon Continvum, 2006)

Oppenheim, Lassa Francis Lawrence. The League of Nations and Its Problems, Three Lectures. 

(Oxford: Longmans, 1919)

Pankhurst, Richard. The Ethiopians: A History (Oxford: Blackwell, 1998), 191.

Rose, N. Vansittart, Study of a Diplomat (London, 1978) 165.

Shepherd, Robert. A Class Divided: Appeasement and the Road to Munich 1938. (London:

Macmillian, 1988).

Word Count: 1995

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