Setting the Scene
📖 Setting the Scene
History glossary
- What was the Hoare-Laval Pact?
- Secret deal to give Italy 2/3 of Abyssinia — leaked, both ministers resigned
This secret deal killed the League's credibility:
Earn the mark scheme marks
🧠 Memory Device — Which is Which?
The "M&A" trick:
- Manchuria = Mukden trigger + March 1933 Japan leaves + Military clique in Japan
- Abyssinia = Africa + Appeasement + Axis (Rome-Berlin, the consequence)
The dates: 1931 = Manchuria (M = 13th letter, 1+3=4, closer to 1931). 1935 = Abyssinia (A = 1st letter, comes after M just as Abyssinia came after Manchuria).
The "WAL-MUK" rule: Wal-Wal = Abyssinia. Mukden = Manchuria. Two very different-sounding incident names — learn both.
Exam Tip: Same Pattern, Different Evidence
Examiners love questions like: "Explain why the failure of the League in Manchuria encouraged further aggression" or "Write an account of how the Abyssinian Crisis showed the failure of collective security."
The pattern of failure is identical in both crises: aggressor creates pretext → invades → League investigates slowly → response is too weak → aggressor succeeds → dictators learn lesson → further aggression follows. But you must use the RIGHT specific evidence for the RIGHT crisis. Mixing up Mukden with Wal-Wal, or the Lytton Report with the Hoare-Laval Pact, will cost you marks at every level.
The Bigger Story — How They Connect
Together, Manchuria (1931) and Abyssinia (1935) proved beyond doubt that the League could not enforce collective security. This created a direct chain of consequences: Manchuria showed Mussolini that aggression worked, so he invaded Abyssinia. Abyssinia showed Hitler that Britain and France would not resist determined action, so he remilitarised the Rhineland (March 1936) — and then moved systematically through Austria, Czechoslovakia, and finally Poland. The road from Manchuria to September 1939 runs through Abyssinia. The steps to war are not independent events — they are a single chain, with each unpunished aggression making the next one more likely.