Walter Alexander Riddell

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Walter Alexander Riddell
Born(1881-08-05)5 August 1881
Stratford, Ontario, Canada
Died27 July 1963(1963-07-27) (aged 81)
Toronto, Ontario, Canada
OccupationDiplomat
Known forProposing sanctions against Mussolini

Walter Alexander Riddell (5 August 1881 – 27 July 1963) was a Canadian civil servant, diplomat, and academic. He was the Canadian Advisory Officer to the League of Nations from 1924 to 1937.

Born in

High Commissioner to New Zealand. He later taught International Relations at the University of Toronto.[1]

At the League of Nations, he is responsible for what is known as The Riddell Incident, where he tried, oblivious to the desires of

Mackenzie King, to place sanctions on Italy led by Benito Mussolini. The sanctions came to be known in the international press as the Canadian proposal, whereupon the government blanched because they were unready to occupy the centre of the world diplomatic stage, and Mackenzie King feared that sanctions on Italy would offend voters in Quebec, where Mussolini was popular with the right-wing Catholic intelligentsia.[2] He ultimately failed when the Mackenzie King government decided to repudiate the sanctions that he had proposed. The Minister of Justice, Ernest Lapointe, reported to Parliament on 2 December 1935 that:[3]

[Riddell] represented only his personal opinion, and his views as a member of the committee and not the views of the Canadian government.

Later that month, the Hoare–Laval Pact damaged the image of the League. Mussolini finished the conquest of Ethiopia.

In 1936, King all but declared the death of the League, after Emperor Haile Selassie's plea for help from foreign nations in his 7 June 1936 address to League of Nations.[3]

The British later evicted the Italians during the

East African campaign of World War II
to protect their position in Egypt.

References

  1. ^ Bothwell 2007
  2. ^ Morton 1999, p. 175
  3. ^ a b Creighton 1970, p. 222

Sources

  • Bothwell, Robert (2 December 2007). "Walter Alexander Riddell". The Canadian Encyclopedia.
  • Creighton, Donald (1970). Canada's First Century. Macmillan of Canada.
  • Morton, Desmond (1999). A Military History of Canada. McCllelland & Stewart.
  • In Defence of Canada: Appeasement and Rearmament, James Eayrs
  • Walter Alexander Riddell fonds

External links

Diplomatic posts
Preceded by
None
 Canadian Advisory Officer to the League of Nations
1924–1937 		Succeeded by
Preceded by
None
 Canadian High Commissioner to New Zealand
1940–1946 		Succeeded by
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