The League of Nations and the OAU: Africa's First International Bodies
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Flip to reveal answersWhat was the Wal-Wal Incident (1934)?
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Question
What was the Wal-Wal Incident (1934)?
Answer
A clash between Italian and Abyssinian troops at the Wal-Wal oasis, inside Abyssinian territory, killing over 100 Abyssinians — Mussolini used it as a pretext to invade in 1935.
Question
Why did Mussolini want to invade Abyssinia?
Answer
To build an East African empire linking Italian Somaliland and Eritrea, avenge Italy's 1896 defeat at Adwa, and win a cheap colonial victory to boost his popularity at home.
Question
What loopholes weakened League sanctions against Italy (1935–36)?
Answer
Oil, coal and steel were left off the sanctions list, and Britain kept the Suez Canal open to Italian troop ships.
Question
What was the Hoare-Laval Pact (1935)?
Answer
A secret Anglo-French plan to give Mussolini two-thirds of Abyssinia to keep Italy as an ally against Hitler; it leaked and both foreign ministers resigned in disgrace.
Question
What did Haile Selassie say to the League in 1936?
Answer
'It is us today, it will be you tomorrow' — a warning that the League's failure to protect Abyssinia would embolden aggressors against other states too.
Question
Give three causes of the League's failure over Abyssinia.
Answer
No independent army to enforce decisions; Britain and France prioritized keeping Italy as an ally against Hitler over defending Abyssinia; the USA was never a League member so could trade freely with Italy.
Question
When and where was the OAU founded, and by how many states?
Answer
25 May 1963, in Addis Ababa, by 32 founding member states.
Question
What was the OAU's compromise between Nkrumah's vision and others'?
Answer
Kwame Nkrumah wanted full political union (Pan-Africanism); other leaders preferred looser cooperation respecting new sovereignty; the OAU chose loose cooperation over full union.
Question
What did the Cairo Declaration (1964) establish?
Answer
That OAU members would respect the colonial-era borders they inherited at independence, to prevent border wars between new states.
Question
Name two OAU successes and two OAU failures.
Answer
Successes: gave Africa a unified diplomatic voice; supported liberation movements (e.g. in Angola, Mozambique). Failures: non-interference rule blocked action on abuses (e.g. Idi Amin); no peacekeeping force meant it could not stop the Nigerian Civil War or the Rwandan Genocide.
Question
What replaced the OAU, and why?
Answer
The African Union (AU) in 2002, created with a stronger mandate including the right to intervene in cases of genocide — a direct response to the OAU's failure over Rwanda.
Question
What structural weakness did the League and the OAU share?
Answer
Neither had an independent enforcement force; both depended on voluntary cooperation from member states, which collapsed when powerful members prioritized their own interests (League) or non-interference norms blocked action (OAU).
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Topic 21.14 hub
Africa, international organizations and the international community (20th century)
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