Study this source carefully. Source C The following data shows changes in the membership of the League of Nations during the 1930s. From a study of internat...

This is a source utility question worth [8 marks] asking how far the source proves the League was weakened during the 1930s. You must evaluate what the data shows and what it cannot show.

Evidence of weakening [up to 4 marks]:

The source shows that several important member states left the League during the 1930s:

• Japan (1933) withdrew after the League condemned its invasion of Manchuria. Japan's departure showed that a major military power could defy the League without consequences.
• Germany (1933) withdrew shortly after Hitler came to power, as part of his rejection of the post-war settlement. Germany's exit removed one of Europe's most powerful states from the League.
• Italy (1937) left following the Abyssinian Crisis, in which the League had attempted (and failed) to impose sanctions on Italy for invading Ethiopia. Italy's departure meant that three of the world's most aggressive and militarily powerful states were now outside the League.
• The total of 14 "other states" also leaving indicates a broader loss of confidence in the organisation, suggesting that smaller nations no longer believed the League could protect them.
• Spain (1939) and Hungary (1939) departed as they aligned more closely with the fascist powers.

Limitations as proof [up to 4 marks]:

• Departures were symptoms, not causes: The source shows that states left, but it does not explain why. The departures of Japan, Germany, and Italy were symptoms of the League's inability to prevent aggression, not the cause of its weakness. The League was already weak before these states left.
• Structural weaknesses predated the 1930s: The League was weakened from birth by the absence of the United States, which never joined. It also had no army of its own, required unanimous agreement for major decisions, and depended entirely on member states' willingness to act.
• Remaining membership: The source does not show that the League still had over 40 members in the late 1930s. However, these were mostly smaller nations without the military power to enforce League decisions. Numbers alone did not equal strength.
• British and French policy: The League's weakness in the 1930s was driven primarily by the policies of its two remaining major powers, Britain and France, which pursued appeasement rather than collective security. Their unwillingness to confront aggressors was more damaging than the departure of those aggressors from the League.
• The source cannot show context: Data on departures alone does not capture the full picture of League failure, including the failed sanctions against Italy, the failure to respond to Hitler's remilitarisation of the Rhineland (1936), or the broader collapse of the international order in the late 1930s.

Exam technique: When evaluating statistical or tabular data, always ask two questions: (1) What does this data actually measure? (2) What does it not measure that would be needed to answer the question fully? Here, the data measures membership changes but cannot measure the League's effectiveness, which is what "weakened" really means.