The twentieth-century world, Year 10: Manchuria, Abyssinia and the collapse of the League (Inter-war years option)

An explosion on the South Manchurian Railway near Mukden

HintJapanese soldiers staged it themselves and blamed China.

The whyJapan controlled the railway and kept an army in the region to guard it. That army acted first and the government in Tokyo followed. Within months Japanese forces held the whole of Manchuria.

The Lytton Commission

HintNamed after the British lord who led it.

The whyIts report was not published until October 1932, more than a year after the invasion. It concluded that Japan had acted wrongly and that Manchuria should remain under Chinese sovereignty.

It walked out and left the League

HintIt chose Manchuria over membership.

The whyThe Assembly's vote went overwhelmingly against Japan. No sanctions followed: Japan's main trading partner, the USA, was not a member, and Britain and France would not risk a war in the Far East.

Manchukuo

HintChina's last emperor, Puyi, was installed as its figurehead.

The whyJapan claimed that it was an independent country that had asked for Japanese protection. The Lytton Commission rejected that claim, and the League refused to recognise the new state.

They would not give up trade while their own economies were struggling

HintSanctions cost the country that imposes them too.

The whyThe slump also brought aggressive governments to power or strengthened them. Japan's army argued that conquest would secure raw materials and markets for a country whose exports had collapsed.

October 1935

HintTen months after a border clash at Wal Wal.

The whyMussolini wanted an empire in Africa and revenge for Italy's defeat by Abyssinia at Adowa in 1896. Abyssinia, now called Ethiopia, was a member of the League, and its emperor appealed for help.

Oil

HintMembers feared the USA would simply sell it to Italy instead.

The whyFifty member states voted for economic sanctions, but coal and steel were left out as well. Members reasoned that Italy could simply buy such supplies from the USA, which was outside the League.

The Suez Canal

HintIt was Italy's shortest sea route to East Africa.

The whyClosing it would have cut off Mussolini's army from its supplies. Britain and France would not take the risk of war with Italy.

The Hoare-Laval Pact

HintNamed after the two ministers who drew it up.

The whyIt was leaked to the press and caused an outcry, and Hoare had to resign. The two leading members of the League had been caught planning to reward an aggressor behind the League's back.

Haile Selassie

HintHis capital, Addis Ababa, had fallen to Italian troops the month before.

The whyHe warned the delegates that if the League abandoned one small country, others would follow. Sanctions against Italy were dropped within weeks. After this few governments trusted the League for their security.

They wanted to keep him as an ally against Hitler

HintThink of the Stresa Front, agreed that spring.

The whyThe result was the worst of both worlds. The League was discredited, and Mussolini, angered by the sanctions, moved towards Hitler anyway.