DSE History: the League of Nations and collective security (tutor lesson plan)

2026-11-03

Tutor lesson-prep guides · Secondary History

Asked why the League failed, most students write one line about the United States staying out. This lesson splits that line into machinery, membership and circumstances.

Objectives — Students can: (1) name the three main organs of the Covenant and the two crippling limits, no standing force and decisions by unanimity; (2) show with Manchuria in 1931 and Abyssinia in 1935 to 1936 exactly which step of the machinery broke; (3) sort the causes into structural, membership and circumstantial levels and use two of them to support a judgement in a how-far question.

01 Prerequisites (3-minute check)

If any of these fails, fix it before the lesson starts.

Skill	Quick check	Pass mark
Treaty of Versailles	What military limits did the treaty place on Germany?	An army of 100,000 and no air force
Social impact of 1916-18	What pressure did four years of war create in Europe?	Heavy casualties, war weariness, hostility to war
Source question wording	What does a how-far question require?	A clear judgement plus evidence on both sides

02 Lesson flow (45 minutes)

Time	Stage	Tutor does	Student does
0-5 min	Draw the machinery	Three boxes for Assembly, Council and Secretariat	Diagram with the limits written in
5-15 min	The crippling limits	No force, unanimity, American absence	42 founding members
15-28 min	Two failed sanctions	Manchuria then Abyssinia, traced step by step	The exact step that broke
28-40 min	Three levels of cause	Structural, membership, circumstantial with evidence	3 questions in 18 minutes
40-45 min	Exit check	One machinery, one case, one level	Three out of three

03 Teaching script (read it out)

Scene 1: Machinery first: three organs, two fatal limits

The Covenant set up three main organs: the Assembly, the Council and the Secretariat, with the Permanent Court of International Justice alongside. At its foundation in 1920 it had 42 member states. The United States Senate refused to join, and Germany and the Soviet Union were excluded at first.
Two limits crippled it. The League had no standing force, so sanctions depended on members volunteering troops; and decisions in the Assembly and Council required unanimity, so a single member could block any action. Write both onto the diagram and every case can be hung back on them.
Stress that these were design choices, not accidents. The founders believed world opinion would restrain an aggressor, which is why they provided neither an army nor majority voting.

Ask the student: if sanctions need volunteer troops, which sort of country will never send them?

Scene 2: Two sanctions that failed at different steps

Manchuria in 1931 broke at unanimity: Japan sat on the Council and could veto action against itself, the Lytton inquiry took most of a year, and by the time the report arrived Japan had installed a puppet state. The League ended with a statement of non-recognition.
Abyssinia in 1935 to 1936 broke at scope: economic sanctions were imposed, but oil, coal and steel were left out and the Suez Canal stayed open, so Italian supply lines were intact and the sanctions bit nothing.
The teaching point is that the two failures are different in kind, one procedural and one about scope. A student who writes only that the League was weak cannot reach the analysis marks in a how-far question.

Ask the student: which step of the machinery failed in Manchuria, and which failed in Abyssinia?

Scene 3: Three levels of cause: structure, membership, circumstances

Structural: no standing force, unanimity, no enforcement tools. This explains why agreement, even when reached, produced no action.
Membership: the United States stayed out and took the strongest economy with it; Germany and the Soviet Union were excluded and then turned hostile; Japan and Germany left in 1933 and Italy in 1937. This explains why agreement was hard to reach at all.
Circumstantial: the Depression made every government put its own unemployment first, and economic sanctions hurt the sanctioning country too, so members preferred not to enforce. This explains why even workable measures went unused.
One sentence and one piece of evidence per level scores far better than a paragraph on incompetence.

Ask the student: why did the Depression make economic sanctions harder to enforce?

04 Question types and worked steps

Type	Example	Steps	Answer
Source evidence	How do the two sources show the League was weak?	Quote one line, then tie it to one part of the machinery	Quote on no force, quote on unanimity
Comparison	Compare the reasons the two sanctions failed	Set a criterion first, then compare	Procedure versus scope
How far	How far did the League fail because of its own design?	Judge, give structural evidence, concede membership, qualify with circumstances	Mainly design, amplified by the Depression
Causation	Why did collective security collapse in the 1930s?	Three levels, one cause and one proof each	Structure, membership, circumstances

Sanity check (teach this): Check the numbers and the clock: 4 sources of about 90 words each make 360 words, and 3 questions at 6 minutes each make 18 minutes, which with two minutes of reading leaves 25 minutes of teaching and practice. The figure of 42 members is the 1920 foundation number; writing “over fifty” uses a later figure and loses marks.

05 Independent practice (3 questions)

Question	Answer	What to watch
Using one source, explain why the League could not act over Manchuria.	Japan held a Council seat and could veto any decision against itself.	Whether the answer quotes and links to the machinery rather than saying the League was weak
Compare the two sanctions on scope.	Manchuria never reached sanctions; Abyssinia had economic sanctions but no oil or steel embargo.	Whether both cases are measured against one criterion
“The League failed mainly because of its own design.” Do you agree?	Largely agree: no force and unanimity were structural; but the Depression raised the cost of sanctions.	Whether a judgement is stated and then qualified

06 Common mistakes and what to say

Mistake	Student writes	Say this
One-line causation	“It failed because the United States did not join.”	“That is the membership level. Add structure and circumstances, one line each.”
Mixing up the two cases	“Manchuria was sanctioned but not hard enough.”	“Manchuria never reached sanctions; Abyssinia did.”
Wrong foundation year	Writing that the League was founded in 1919	“1919 is the Covenant; the League began on 1 January 1920.”
No judgement in a how-far answer	Listing causes and stopping	“A how-far question needs one clear judgement, or it has not been answered.”

07 Homework (paper, section and question numbers)

DSE History source question paper — Source questions 1 to 3, parts (a) and (b) only: six minutes each, and every answer must quote one line and name one part of the machinery.
Essay question in the same paper — Question 5 (how far): one paragraph each on structure, membership and circumstances, closing with a concession and a revised judgement, in 20 minutes.

08 Exit check (last 5 minutes)

Question	Answer	Decision
Three main organs of the Covenant	Assembly, Council, Secretariat	Two correct means secure
Which step failed over Manchuria	Unanimity, since Japan could veto	Answering “no army” means reteach the case
Founding membership in 1920	42 states, without the United States	Answering “over fifty” means the figures are mixed

09 Tutor FAQ

Must every article of the Covenant be memorised?

No. Three organs, two limits, two sanctions and the withdrawal years cover most source questions.

Was the League a total failure?

No. Mandates, refugee relief, health and labour standards were real achievements and make useful balance in an essay.

Can a how-far answer say both sides equally?

It can, but it must still say which side weighs more and support that with two levels of evidence.

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A TutorZone lesson-prep guide. Written by the TutorZone team; questions and lesson flow are original and are not taken from any school or publisher material.