This source analysis covers Source Analysis Practice within Abyssinia Crisis for GCSE History. Revise Abyssinia Crisis in Conflict and Tension 1918-1939 for GCSE History with 8 exam-style questions and 15 flashcards. This topic appears regularly enough that it should still be part of a steady revision cycle. It is section 7 of 15 in this topic. Use this source analysis to connect the idea to the wider topic before moving on to questions and flashcards.
📜 Source Analysis Practice
Applying NOP Analysis:
Nature: A formal diplomatic speech — delivered in person by a head of state to the League's full Assembly, the first such address in League history.
Origin: Haile Selassie, Emperor of Abyssinia, speaking in June 1936, after Abyssinia had fallen and he had gone into exile in Britain.
Purpose: To shame the League's members into upholding collective security and to warn other small nations of the consequences of the League's failure.
Grade 9 Model Paragraph:
This source is useful for studying the Abyssinian Crisis because it captures the moment the League's moral failure was exposed by its own victim. Selassie's warning — "It is us today. It will be you tomorrow" — directly challenges the League's remaining members to apply collective security before it was too late. The source is particularly valuable because Selassie was an eyewitness to the League's failure: Italy had used mustard gas, the Suez Canal had stayed open, and the Hoare-Laval Pact had betrayed Abyssinia behind closed doors. However, its utility is limited because Selassie had an obvious personal purpose — to secure military intervention — which means his account, while accurate in its facts, is deliberately framed to generate maximum sympathy and pressure rather than provide a balanced assessment of why collective security failed.
Practice questions for Abyssinia Crisis
What was the Wal-Wal Incident of December 1934?
What did the Hoare-Laval Pact propose?