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Difficulty: HardCauses of World War II

"I assert that the problem submitted to the Assembly today is a much wider one. It is not merely a question of the settlement of Italian aggression. It is collective security: it is the very existence of the League of Nations. It is the confidence that each State is to place in international treaties. It is the value of promises made to small States that their integrity and their independence shall be respected and assured. . . . It is international morality of which we are discussing. . . . Should a strong Government find that it may with impunity destroy a weak people, then the hour strikes for that weak people to appeal to the League of Nations to give its judgment in all freedom. God and history will remember your judgment."

—Haile Selassie, Emperor of Ethiopia, address to the League of Nations, June 1936

Which of the following best explains how the situation described in the excerpt contributed to the outbreak of the Second World War?

  1. A
    It triggered the immediate assassination of European leaders, which served as the primary catalyst for the system of alliances.
  2. B
    It marked a shift from direct colonial rule in East Africa to informal economic imperialism by European powers.
  3. It demonstrated the failure of the League of Nations to enforce collective security, which emboldened revisionist powers to pursue aggressive expansion.Answer
  4. D
    It led to the immediate dissolution of the League of Nations and the transfer of East African territories to British and French mandate control.

Answer

The situation described contributed to the war by demonstrating the failure of the League of Nations to enforce collective security, which emboldened revisionist powers to pursue aggressive expansion.
The correct answer explains that Italy's successful conquest of Ethiopia and the League's ineffective response proved that collective security was non-functional. This failure signaled to other expansionist regimes, particularly Germany and Japan, that they could violate international treaties and launch military invasions without facing coordinated international military resistance.

Step-by-Step Solution

1
Analyze the source document.
Haile Selassie argues that the League of Nations' failure to stop Italian aggression in Ethiopia threatens the concept of collective security and international law.
Understanding the core message of the stimulus is necessary to connect it to broader historical developments.
2
Connect the failure of collective security to the causes of the Second World War.
When the League proved unable to enforce collective security, expansionist regimes (Germany, Italy, Japan) realized that international treaties would not be backed by military force.
This establishes the direct causal link between the events of 1935–1936 and the escalation of global aggression in the late 1930s.
3
Evaluate the choices and eliminate common misconceptions.
The correct option identifies the failure of collective security as the key factor. Other options incorrect because they conflate the First World War's trigger, the post-WWI mandate system, or economic imperialism.
This confirms the validity of the selected answer by systematically ruling out plausible distractors based on historical errors.

Key Concept

Failure of collective security and the League of Nations as a cause of World War II
Estimated Time:2m 0s
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Topics

Causes of World War II

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