Transcript Subject 1 Study Guide

Subject 1 Study Guide
IB 20th Century World History
Topics
 1.
What were the aims of the participants
and peacemakers of the Paris Peace
Settlement? Wilson and the Fourteen
Points?
Paris Peace Conference
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The Paris Peace Conference was the meeting of the
Allied victors in World War I to set the peace terms for
Germany and other defeated nations, and to deal with
the empires of the defeated powers following the
Armistice of 1918.
They met, discussed and came up with a series of
treaties (Peace of Paris Treaties) in an attempt to
maintain a lasting peace throughout the world.
At its center were the leaders of the three "Great
Powers": President Woodrow Wilson of the United
States, Prime Minister David Lloyd George of Britain,
and Georges Clemenceau of France. Russia and
Germany were not allowed to attend, but thousands of
others came, each with a different agenda.
Georges Clemenceau
 The
chief goal of the French leader,
Georges Clemenceau, was to weaken
Germany militarily, strategically, and
economically. In particular, Clemenceau
sought an American and British guarantee
of French security in the event of another
German attack. Clemenceau also
expressed skepticism and frustration with
Wilson's Fourteen Points.
Vittorio Orlando
 Vittorio
Orlando was sent as the
Italian representative with the aim of
gaining as much territory as possible.
The loss of 700,000 Italians and a
budget deficit of 12,000,000,000 Lire
during the war made the Italian
government and people feel entitled
to territories.
England
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Goals of England: David Lloyd George
wanted to maintain the British Empire's unity,
holdings and interests, but it entered the
conference with the more specific goals of:
Ensuring the security of France
Removing the threat of the German Fleet
Settling territorial contentions
Supporting the Wilsonian League of Nations
with that order of priority.
Wilson’s Fourteen Points
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1. Open covenants of peace.
2. Absolute freedom of navigation upon
the seas.
3. Removal all economic barriers.
4. Reduce armaments.
5. An adjustment of all colonial claims,
based upon popular soveriegnty.
Wilson’s Fourteen Points
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6. The evacuation of all Russian territory and settle all questions
affecting Russia.
7. Belgium, the whole world will agree, must be evacuated and
restored.
8. All French territory should be freed and the invaded portions
restored.
9. A readjustment of the frontiers of Italy should be effected along
clearly recognizable lines of nationality.
10. The peoples of Austria-Hungary, should be accorded the freest
opportunity to autonomous development.
11. Romania, Serbia, and Montenegro should be evacuated;
occupied territories restored; Serbia accorded free and secure
access to the sea.
12. The Turkish portion of the present Ottoman Empire should be
assured a secure sovereignty.
13. An independent Polish state should be erected which should
include the territories inhabited by indisputably Polish populations.
Wilson’s Fourteen Points
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6-13. Specific territorial adjustments
14. A general association of nations (League of
Nations) must be formed under specific covenants
for the purpose of affording mutual guarantees of
political independence and territorial integrity to
great and small states alike.
 2.
What were the terms of the Paris
Peace Treaties 1919-20: Versailles,
St. Germain, Trianon, Neuilly,
Sèvres/Lausanne 1923?
Treaty of Versailles
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The Treaty of Versailles was one of the peace
treaties at the end of World War I. It ended the state of
war between Germany and the Allied Powers. It was
signed on 28 June 1919. Although the armistice signed
on 11 November 1918 ended the actual fighting, it took
six months of negotiations at the Paris Peace
Conference to conclude the peace treaty.
Of the many provisions in the treaty, one of the most
important and controversial required Germany to accept
sole responsibility for causing the war (later known as
the War Guilt clauses), to disarm, make substantial
territorial concessions and pay reparations to the
Entente powers. The total cost of these reparations was
assessed at 132 billion marks ($31.5 billion, £6,600
million) in 1921.
Treaty of Versailles
 Article
227 charges former German
Emperor, Wilhelm II with supreme
offence against international morality.
He is to be tried as a war criminal.
 The Rhineland will become a
demilitarized administered by Great
Britain and France jointly.
 German armed forces will number no
more than 100,000 troops, and
conscription will be abolished.
Treaty of Versailles
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German naval forces will be limited to 15,000
men, 6 battleships, 6 cruisers, 6 destroyers and
12 torpedo boats. No submarines are to be
included.
The manufacture, import, and export of weapons
and poison gas is prohibited.
Armed aircraft, tanks and armored cars are
prohibited.
Blockades on ships are prohibited.
Restrictions on the manufacture of machine
guns and rifles.
Treaty of Saint Germain
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The Treaty of Saint Germain, was signed on 10
September 1919 by the victorious Allies and by the new
Republic of Austria. It was not ratified by the United
States.
The treaty declared that the Austro-Hungarian
Empire was to be dissolved. The new Republic of
Austria, consisting of most of the German-speaking
Alpine part of the former Austrian Empire, recognized the
independence of Hungary, Czechoslovakia, Poland, and
the State of Slovenes, Croatians and Serbs. The treaty
included war reparations of large sums of money,
directed towards the allies, to pay for the costs of the
war.
Treaty of Trianon
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The Treaty of Trianon was the peace treaty
concluded in 1920 at the end of World War I by
the Allies and Hungary, seen as a successor of
Austria-Hungary. The treaty established the
borders of Hungary. Hungary lost over 72% of
the territory it had previously controlled, which
left 64% of the inhabitants, including 3.3 out of
10.7 million (31%) ethnic Hungarians, living
outside Hungary.
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In addition, the newly established nation of
Hungary had to pay war reparations to its
neighbors.
Treaty of Neuilly
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The Treaty of Neuilly, dealing with Bulgaria for its
role as one of the Central powers in World War I, was
signed on Nov. 27, 1919 at Neuilly, France.
The treaty required Bulgaria to cede Western Thrace
to Greece, thereby cutting off its direct outlet to the
Aegean Sea. The treaty also forced Bulgaria to return
Southern Doubria, which had been captured during the
war.
Bulgaria was also required to reduce its army to
20,000 men, pay reparations exceeding $400 million,
and recognize the existence of the Kingdom of Serbs,
Croats and Slovenes.
Treaty of Severes
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Treaty of Sèvres (10 August 1920)
was the peace treaty between the
Ottoman Empire and Allied at the end of
World War I. The treaty nullified the
territorial gains of the empire during the
war.
 3.
What were the geopolitical and
economic impact of the treaties on
Europe; the establishment and impact of
the mandate system?
Impact of the Treaty of Versailles
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Treaty of Versailles: Clemenceau had failed to
achieve all of the demands of the French people,
and he was voted out of office in the elections of
January 1920. French Field Marshal Ferdinand
Foch, declared, "This is not Peace. It is an Armistice
for twenty years."
After Wilson's successor Warren Harding
continued American opposition to the League of
Nations, Congress passed the Knox-Porter
Resolution bringing a formal end to hostilities
between the United States and the Central Powers.
Treaty of Versailles impact on
Germany
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Germans of all political shades denounced the treaty—particularly
the provision that blamed Germany for starting the war—as an insult
to the nation's honor. They referred to the treaty as "the Diktat" since
its terms were presented to Germany on a take-it-or-leave-it basis.
Germany's first democratically elected Chancellor, Phillip
Schneidmann refused to sign the treaty and resigned.
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The German economy was so weak that only a small percentage
of reparations was paid in hard currency. Nonetheless, even the
payment of this small percentage of the original reparations (132
billion Gold Reich marks) still placed a significant burden on the
German economy.
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The economic strain eventually reached the point where
Germany stopped paying the reparations agreed in the Treaty of
Versailles. As a result French and Belgian forces invaded and
occupied the Ruhr, a heavily industrialized part of Germany along the
French-German border.
Impact of Treaty of Saint Germain
 Treaty
of St. Germain: The vast reduction
of population, territory and resources of
the new Austria relative to the old empire
wreaked havoc on the economy of the
new nation.
Impact of the Treaty of Trianon
Although the treaty addressed some
nationality issues, it also sparked new ones at
the same time.
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After the new borders had been established,
a majority of the 3.3 million Hungarians who
lived in now-foreign lands were situated just
outside the new border lines and were not given
the option of self-determination and were
unhappy.
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Mandate System
A League of Nations mandate refers to
certain territories transferred from the control of
one country to another following World War I.
Which included a minority rights clause and an
International Court. The mandate system was
established under Article 22 of the League of
Nations.
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All the territories subject to League of
Nations mandates were previously controlled by
states defeated in World War I, principally
Germany and the Ottoman Empire.
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Class A Mandates
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The mandates were divided into three distinct
groups based upon the level of development
each population had achieved at that time.
 Class A mandates
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The first group or Class A mandates were
areas formerly controlled by the Ottoman Empire
that were deemed to have reached a stage of
development where their existence as
independent nations can be provisionally
recognized subject to a lead country until they
are able to stand alone.
Class B Mandates
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Class B mandates
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The second group or Class B mandates were
all former German territories in the Sub-Saharan
regions of West and Central Africa, which were
deemed to require a greater level of control by
the mandatory power: "...the Mandatory must be
responsible for the administration of the territory
under conditions which will guarantee freedom
of conscience and religion." The mandatory
power was forbidden to construct military or
naval bases within the mandates.
Class C mandates
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Class C mandates
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A final group, the Class C mandates,
including South-West Africa and the South
Pacific Islands, were considered to be "best
administered under the laws of the Mandatory
as integral portions of its territory“.
 They essentially became colonies of the
Mandates.
 The Class C mandates were former German
possessions.
 4.
What were the mechanisms used for
the enforcement of the provisions of the
treaties: US isolationism—the retreat from
the Anglo–American Guarantee;
disarmament—Washington, London,
Geneva conferences.
US Isolationism
In the wake of the First World War, the isolationist
tendencies of US foreign policy were in full force. First,
the United States Congress rejected president
Woodrow Wilson’s League of Nations.
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Although the United States was unwilling to
commit to the League of Nations, they were willing to
engage in foreign affairs on their own terms. In August
1928, fifteen nations signed the Kellogg-Briand Pact,
brainchild of American Secretary of State Frank
Kellogg and French Foreign Minister Aristide Briand.
This pact that was said to have outlawed war and
showed the United States commitment to international
peace.
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Anglo-American Guarantee
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The French still regarded the Germans as a major threat to
their security after WWI. They wanted Germany divided into
separate states, or, failing that, they wanted extensive
precautions against future German aggression. The French
were promised an Anglo-American guarantee of French
borders.
Without consulting their militaries, Lloyd George and
Wilson offered the Treaty to the French as a means to head off
the separation of the Rhineland from Germany. The Treaty of
Guarantee achieved widespread bipartisan support in the
United States Senate and in the British Parliament. When the
Versailles Treaty failed to achieve ratification in the Senate,
however, the Treaty of Guarantee sank with it. This led Lloyd
George to renege on his commitment, too.
Washington Naval Conference
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The Washington Naval Conference also called the
Washington Arms Conference, was a military conference
called by President Harding and held in Washington D.C.
from Nov. 12 1921 to Feb. 6, 1922. Conducted outside
the auspices of the League of Nations, it was attended
by nine nations having interests in the pacific ocean and
east Asia.
The Washington Naval Treaty led to an effective end
to building new battleship fleets and those few ships that
were built were limited in size and armament. Numbers
of existing capital ships were scrapped. Some ships
under construction were turned into aircraft carriers
instead.
London Naval Treaty
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The London Naval Treaty was an
agreement between the United Kingdom,
Japan, France, Italy and the United States,
signed on April 22, 1930, which regulated
submarine warfare and limited naval
shipbuilding.
Geneva Naval Conference
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The Geneva Naval Conference was a
conference held to discuss naval arms limitation,
held in Geneva, Switzerland, in 1927.
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Badly needed restraints were applied to the
naval arms race by the treaties stemming from
the Washington Conference (1921-22), but those
agreements were largely confined to limitations
on battleships and aircraft carriers.
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Talks dragged on for nearly six weeks during
which tensions rose among the former Allies. In
early August, the delegates adjourned without
reaching any agreement.
 5.
Explain the role of the League of
Nations: effects of the absence of major
powers; the principle of collective security
and early attempts at peacekeeping
(1920-5).
League of Nations
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The League of Nations was an inter-governmental
organization founded as a result of the Treaty of Versailles in
1919–1920. The League's goals included upholding the new
found rights of man, rights of women, rights of soldiers,
disarmament, preventing war through collective security,
settling disputes between countries through negotiation,
diplomacy and improving global quality of life.
The diplomatic philosophy behind the League represented
a fundamental shift in thought from the preceding hundred
years. The League lacked its own armed force and so
depended on the Great Powers to enforce its resolutions,
keep to economic sanctions which the League ordered, or
provide an army, when needed, for the League to use.
Weaknesses of the League
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The origins of the League as an organization created
by the Allied Powers as part of the peace settlement to
end the First World War led to it being viewed as a
"League of Victors". It also tied the League to the Treaty of
Versailles, so that when the Treaty became discredited
and unpopular, this reflected on the League of Nations.
The League's supposed neutrality tended to manifest
itself as indecision. It required a unanimous vote of its
nine, later fifteen, member Council to enact a resolution;
hence, conclusive and effective action was difficult, if not
impossible. It was also slow in coming to its decisions as
certain decisions required the unanimous consent of the
entire Assembly.
Absence of Major Powers
Representation at the League was often a problem.
Though it was intended to encompass all nations, many
never joined, or their time as part of the League was short.
Most notably missing was America who was supposed to
help ensure world peace and security but also in financing
the League.
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Some have suggested that, had the United States been a
member of the League, it would have also provided backup
to France and Britain, possibly making France feel more
secure and so encouraging France and Britain to co-operate
more regarding Germany and so made the rise to power of
the Nazi party less likely.
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Some also acknowledge that if America had been a
member of the League, its reluctance to engage in war with
European states and to enact economic sanctions may have
hampered the ability of the League to deal with international
incidents.
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Failure of Collective Security
Another important weakness grew from the contradiction between
the idea of collective security and international relations between
individual states. The collective security system the League used
meant that nations were required to act against states they
considered friends, and in a way that might endanger their national
interests, to support states that they had no affinity with.
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This weakness was exposed during the Abyssinia Crisis when
Britain and France had to balance attempts to maintain the security
they had attempted to create for themselves in Europe, in which
Italy's support played a pivotal role, with their obligations to Abyssinia
as a member of the League.
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On 23 June 1936, British Prime Minister Stanley Baldwin told the
House of Commons that collective security had "failed ultimately
because of the reluctance of nearly all the nations in Europe to
proceed to what I might call military sanctions ... The real reason, or
the main reason, was that we discovered in the process of weeks that
there was no country except the aggressor country which was ready
for war.”
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Resolving territorial disputes
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The aftermath of World War I left many issues to be
settled between nations, including the exact position of
national boundaries and which country particular regions
would join. Most of these questions were handled by the
victorious Allied in bodies such as the Allied Supreme
Council.
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The Allies tended to refer only particularly difficult
matters to the League. This meant that, during the first
three years of the 1920s, the League played little part in
resolving the turmoil that resulted from the war.
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The questions the League considered in its early
years included those designated by the Paris Peace
treaties.
Upper Silesia
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After the First World War, Poland laid claim to Upper
Silesia, which had been part of Prussia. The Treaty of
Versailles had recommended a plebiscite in Upper Silesia to
determine whether the territory should be part of Germany or
Poland.
Complaints about the attitude of the German authorities led
to rioting and eventually to the first two Silesian Uprisings (1919
and 1920).
In November 1921 a conference was held in Geneva to
negotiate a convention between Germany and Poland. A final
settlement was reached, in which most of the area was given to
Germany but with the Polish section containing the majority of
the region's mineral resources and much of its industry.
When this agreement became public in May 1922, bitter
resentment was expressed in Germany, but the treaty was still
ratified by both countries.
Albania
The frontiers of Albania had not been set during the Paris Peace
Conference in 1919 and had not yet been determined by September
1921. This created an unstable situation with Greek troops repeatedly
crossing into Albanian territory on military operations.
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The League sent a commission of representatives to the region
and in November 1921, the League decided that the frontiers of
Albania should be the same as they had been in 1913 with three
minor changes that favored Yugoslavia. Yugoslav forces withdrew a
few weeks later, albeit under protest.
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The borders of Albania again become the cause of international
conflict when Italian General Tellini and four of his assistants were
ambushed and killed on 24 August 1923 while marking out the newly
decided border between Greece and Albania.
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Mussolini was incensed, and demanded that a commission be set
up to investigate the incident and that the Greek government should
pay Italy fifty million lira reparations. The Greeks said they would not
pay unless it was proved that the crime was committed by Greeks.
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Albania Cont.
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Mussolini sent a warship to shell the Greek
island of Corfu and Italian forces occupied Corfu
on 31 August 1923. Greece appealed to the
League to deal with the situation.
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Greece was forced to pay fifty million lira to
Italy even though those who committed the
crime were never discovered. Mussolini was
able to leave Corfu in triumph.
Mukden Incident
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The Mukden Incident, also known as the "Manchurian
Incident", was one of the League's major setbacks and acted
as the catalyst for Japan's withdrawal from the organization.
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Under the terms of an agreed lease, the Japanese
government had the right to station its troops around the South
Manchurian Railway, in the Chinese region of Manchuria.
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In September 1931, a section of the railway was lightly
damaged by officers and troops of the Japanese Kwantung
Army as a pretext for an invasion of Manchuria.
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The Japanese army, however, claimed that Chinese
soldiers had sabotaged the railway and in apparent retaliation
(acting contrary to the civilian government's orders) occupied
the entire region of Manchuria.
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They renamed the area Manchukuo, and on 9 March 1932
set up a puppet government.
Mukden Incident Cont.
The League of Nations agreed to help the Chinese government,
but the long voyage by ship delayed League officials from
investigating the matter.
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The Lytton Report declared Japan to be the aggressor and
demanded Manchuria be returned to the Chinese. Before the report
could be voted on by the Assembly, Japan announced its intention to
push further into China. The report passed 42-1 in the Assembly in
1933 (only Japan voted against), but instead of withdrawing its troops
from China, Japan withdrew its membership from the League.
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The League should have responded by placing economic
sanctions on Japan, or gathered an army and declared war. Neither
of these actions was undertaken, however. The League could have
assembled an army, but major powers like Britain and France were
too preoccupied with their own affairs, such as keeping control of
their extensive colonies, especially after the turmoil of World War I.
Japan was therefore left in control of Manchuria, until the Soviet
Union’s Red Army took over the area and returned it to China at the
end of World War II.
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6. What was the Ruhr Crisis (1923);
Locarno and the “Locarno Spring”
(1925)?
Ruhr Crisis (1923-24)
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The Occupation of the Ruhr, by troops from France
and Belgium, was a response to the failure of the
German Weimar Republic to pay reparations in the
aftermath of World War I.
By late 1922, the German defaults on payments had
grown so serious and regular that French and Belgian
delegates were urging the seizure of the Ruhr as a way
of encouraging the Germans to make more effort to pay,
and the British delegate urging a lowering of the
payments.
As a consequence of an enormous German default
on timber deliveries in December 1922, the Reparations
Commission declared Germany in default, which led to
the Franco-Belgian occupation of the Ruhr in January
1923.
Ruhr Crisis Cont
French Prime Minister Poincaré decided to occupy the Ruhr
in 11 January 1923 to extract the reparations himself.
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Poincaré often argued to the British that if the Germans could
get away with defying Versailles in regards to the reparations,
then a precedent would be created, and inevitably the Germans
would proceed to dismantle the rest of the Versailles treaty.
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Finally, Poincaré argued that once the chains that had bound
Germany in Versailles had been destroyed, then it was
inevitable that Germany would once more plunge the world
back into another world war.
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The invasion took place on January 11, 1923, with the aim of
occupying the centre of German coal, iron and steel production
in the Ruhr area valley, in order to gain the money that
Germany owed. France had the iron ore and Germany had the
coal.
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Locarno Treaties
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The Locarno Treaties were seven agreements negotiated
at Locarno, Switzerland on Oct. 5 – 16, 1925 and formally
signed in London on Dec. 1, in which the Western European
Allied powers and the new states of central and Eastern Europe
sought to secure the post-war territorial settlement, normalizing
relations with defeated Germany (which was, by this time, the
Weimar Republic).
Locarno divided borders in Europe into two categories:
western, which were guaranteed by Locarno treaties, and
eastern borders (of Germany), which were open for revision.
The principal treaty concluded at Locarno was the
"Rhineland Pact" between Germany, France, Belgium, Britain,
and Italy. The first three signatories undertook not to attack
each other, with the latter two acting as guarantors. In the event
of aggression by any of the first three states against another, all
other parties were to assist the country under attack.
Locarno Spring (1925)
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The Locarno Treaties were regarded as the
keystone of the improved western European
diplomatic climate of 1924-1930, introducing a
hope for international peace, typically called the
"spirit of Locarno". This spirit was seen in
Germany's admission to the League of Nations,
the international organization established under
the Versailles treaty to promote world peace and
co-operation, and in the subsequent withdrawal
(completed in June 1930) of Allied troops from
Germany's western Rhineland.
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7. What were the effects of the Great
Depression and threats to international
peace and collective security: Manchuria
(1931-3) and Abyssinia (1935-6)?
Effects of Great Depression
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The majority of countries set up relief programs,
and most underwent some sort of political upheaval,
pushing them to the left or right. In some states, the
desperate citizens turned toward nationalist
demagogues—the most infamous being Adolf Hitlersetting the stage for World War II in 1939.
Germany's Weimar Republic was hit hard by the
depression, as American loans to help rebuild the
German economy now stopped. Unemployment
soared, especially in larger cities, and the political
system veered toward extremism.
The unemployment rate reached nearly 30% in
1932.
Effects of Great Depression
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Japan
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The Great Depression did not strongly affect
Japan. The Japanese economy shrank by 8%
during 1929–31.
 Soviet Union
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Having removed itself from the capitalist
world system both by choice and as a result of
efforts of the capitalist powers to isolate it, the
Great Depression had little effect on the Soviet
Union.
Effects of Great Depression
 United
Kingdom
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The effects on the industrial areas of
Britain were immediate and devastating,
as demand for British products collapsed.
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By the end of 1930 unemployment had
more than doubled from 1 million to 2.5
million (20% of the insured workforce), and
exports had fallen in value by 50%.
Manchurian Invasion
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The Japanese invasion of Manchuria by the Kwantung
Army of Japan, beginning on September 19, 1931,
immediately followed the Mukden Incident. The Japanese
occupation of Manchuria lasted until the end of World War II.
In violation of orders from Tokyo, Kwantung Army
commander in chief General Shigeru Honjo ordered that his
forces rapidly proceed to expand operations all along the
South Manchurian Railway.
The Japanese civilian government was thrown into
disarray by this massive act of insubordination, but as reports
of one quick victory after another began to pour in, it was
powerless to oppose the Army, and its decision was to
immediately send three more infantry divisions from Japan,
beginning with the 14th Mixed Brigade of the IJA 7th Division.
A.J.P. Taylor wrote that "In the face of its first serious
challenge", the League buckled and capitulated.
Abyssinia Crisis
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The Abyssinia Crisis was a diplomatic crisis
originating in the "Walwal incident." This incident
resulted from the ongoing conflict between the
Kingdom of Italy and Ethiopia (then commonly known
as "Abyssinia").
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Both Italy and Ethiopia were members of the
League of Nations. Italy was a founding member of
the League. Ethiopia joined September 28, 1923. The
League had Article X, rules forbidding aggression
among members.

On August 2, 1928, in addition to abiding by Article
X, Italy and Ethiopia signed the Italo–Ethiopian Treaty
of Friendship. This treaty declared a 20-year
friendship between the two nations.
Abyssinia Crisis
In 1930, Italy built a fort at Walwal. The fort was in clear violation
of the Italo–Abyssinian Treaty of Friendship. The Italians built the fort
as part of a gradual encroachment into Ethiopian territory.
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On September 29, 1934, Italy and Abyssinia released a joint
statement refuting any aggression between each other. However, on
November 23, an Anglo–Ethiopian boundary commission discovered
the Italian force at Walwal.

On December 5, 1934, for reasons which have never been
clearly determined there was a skirmish between the garrison of
Somalis who were in Italian service and a force of armed
Abyssinians. According to the Italians, the Ethiopians attacked the
Somalis with machine guns. According to the Ethiopians, the Italians
attacked them. In the end, approximately 150 Ethiopians and 50
Italians were killed.
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On December 6, 1934, Emperor Haile Selassie of Ethiopia
protested Italian aggression at Walwal. On December 8, Italy
demanded an apology and, on December 11, followed up this
demand with a demand for financial and strategic compensation.
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Abyssinia Crisis
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On January 3, 1935, Ethiopia appealed to the League of
Nations for arbitration in the Walwal incident. But the League's
response was dull and sluggish.
On February 23, Mussolini began to send large numbers of
troops to Eritrea and Italian Somaliland. These were the Italian
colonies that bordered Ethiopia to the northeast and southeast.
There was little international protest to this build-up.
On October 3, 1935, shortly after the League exonerated both
parties in the Walwal incident, Italian armed forces from Eritrea
invaded Ethiopia without a declaration of war. In response, Ethiopia
declared war on Italy and the two nations were at war.
On October 7, the League of Nations declared Italy the
aggressor and started the slow process of imposing sanctions.
However, these sanctions did not extend to several vital materials,
such as oil and were not carried out by all members of the League.
Even actions such as the Italian use of chemical weapons and
the massacre of civilians did little to change the League's passive
approach to the situation.