Abyssinian Crisis

December 1934

Wal Wal incident

• Dispute between Abyssinia and Italy over watering holes.
• some Italian soldiers killed
• Italy demanded apology from Abyssinia
• Abyssinia referred issue to the League
• Mussolini prepares for war
• Memo from Mussolini to General Badoglio "I decide on this war, the object of which is nothing more or less than the complete destruction of the Abyssinian army and the total conquest of Abyssinia".

January 1935

• France gave Italy part of French Somaliland which bordered Abyssinia as well as French shares in the Abyssinian railway.
• France anxious to keep Italy in the Stresa Front against Germany.

July 1935

• Results of Peace Ballot in Britain announced. Showed that British public opinion strongly supported the League and most supported the use of economic sanctions against aggressors.
• Dilemma for the British Government was either to back the League against Italy which would destroy the Stresa Front or turn a blind eye to Italian aggression and seal the League's demise.

October 1935

• Italy invaded Abyssinia - captured Adowa.
• League announced economic sanctions against Italy.

December 1935

Hoare-Laval Pact

• Italy to get the northern province of Tigre and also the Ogaden area of Abyssinia
• Italy to get economic rights in southern Abyssinia
• Secret (Hoare-Laval) Pact revealed in press
• Outrage in Britain
• League had been by-passed
• British. Public more willing to use and put faith in the League than Government were.
• Hoare forced to resign.
• League fatally damaged.

May 1936

• Italy had defeated Abyssinia which was incorporated into the Italian Empire

June 1936

• Britain ended economic sanctions against Italy

Sanctions failed because:

• Coal and oil were not banned
• Mussolini said oil sanctions would have stopped the Italian war effort.
• Italy had neither of these vital war materials
• Britain and France allowed Italy to use the Suez Canal to ship war materials to Abyssinia
• Several countries did not comply with sanctions (Russia, Austria )

Abyssinia was disastrous for Britain and France because:

• It destroyed the Stresa Front and drew Germany and Italy closer together.
• Disastrous for the League as collective security and sanctions had been totally discredited. Benefited Germany as Hitler reoccupied the Rhineland in March 1936 while the world's attention was focused on Italy.