The Atlantic Charter: 14 August 1941

     The location: Somewhere at Sea. The date: 14 August 1941. Aboard the U.S.S Augusta, US President Franklin D Roosevelt and British Prime Minister Winston Churchill issued a joint statement that is known today as the Atlantic Charter. The statement declared aims and objectives for the post- war world. It was, later, approved by all Allied Powers.
     The statement was issued when the Axis powers were very much in the ascendant and the United States was yet to formally enter the war. Neither was the statement a formal treaty nor was it a final expression of peace aims. As the document stated, it was an affirmation "of certain common principles in the national policies of their respective countries on which they based their hopes for a better future for the world."
     The 8 points of the Atlantic Charter, when simplified, would read as follows:

1. No territorial gains would be sought by the United States or the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland.
2. Territorial adjustments be made in accord with the wishes of the people concerned.
3. All the peoples have the right to self-determination.
4. Trade barriers were to be lowered. 
5. There was to be global economic cooperation and advancement of social welfare.
6. Freedom from want and fear;
7. Freedom of the seas;
8. Disarmament of aggressor nations, post-war common disarmament.

     The sixth clause bears directly on world organisation; a sign that the founding of the United Nations never lost importance. It reads, "After the final destruction of the Nazi tyranny, they (the US and Great Britain) hope to see established a peace which will afford to all nations the means of dwelling in safety within their boundaries, and which will afford assurance that all the men in the lands may live out their lives in freedom from fear and want."

     The Atlantic Charter, additionally, lay the foundation of the Charter of the United Nations. The similarity between the two can be noticed very clearly even today. The document reflected the optimism and hope of the two greatest democratic leaders of the day along with far sighted diplomacy and sense of international cooperation. 

     A few days after the rendezvous at sea, ten governments met at London on 24 September 1941, to pledge their cooperation to the Charter. This gave the Charter the sanctity it needed to be put into action in the post- war scenario. USSR, along with nine governments of occupied Europe* attended the signing. 

     On 7 December 1941, the Imperial Japanese Navy conducted a military strike against the United States' naval base at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii. The attack was justified as a preventive attack to keep the United States from interfering in the Japanese operations in south east Asia.

    188 US air crafts and 2,402 American lives later, on 8 December 1941, the United States declared war on the Empire of Japan, marking their formal entry into the World War II. 

The Inter Allied Declaration: 12 June 1941

     Early in the World War II, the representatives of 9 countries fled to London. These leaders had been driven out of their homes by the Nazi regime. The Governments of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, Canada, Australia, New Zealand and South Africa, the Government of Belgium, the Provisional Czechoslovak Government, the Governments of Greece, Luxemburg, the Netherlands, Nonvay, Poland and Yugoslavia, and the Representatives of General de Gaulle, leader of Free Frenchmen met in London several times with the regard to a proposal to establish an international organisation which would aim to maintain international peace and security.
     On the fateful day of June 12, 1941, a declaration pledging to work for an independent and secure world was signed by these nations/ representatives. Since all signatories were a part of the Allied block, the declaration came to be known as the 'Inter- Allied Declaration'. That day when the signatories signed the declaration, little did they know that they had just taken the first step towards the founding of a legacy that were to later step out of the shadow of the failure of its predecessor, the League of Nations, and become a hallmark of peace and security for all even 71 years later. That legacy is today known as the United Nations.
     In a time of secret treaties and pacts, the nations went a step ahead of everyone by pledging to not sign any other peace document than the Inter- Allied Declaration. The declaration stated that "The only true basis of enduring peace is the willing cooperation if free peoples in a world in which, relieved of the menace of aggression, all may enjoy economic and social security...". Leaving no room for ambiguity, the leaders said that it was "their intention to work together, and with other free peoples both in war and peace". The meeting also developed a broad consensus among the signatories concerning the possibility of action against German political and military leaders were the Allies to prove victorious. The declaration committed to "...the punishment, through the channel of organised justice, of those guilty of or responsible for" crimes committed against the signatories.
     Only ten days later, on 22 July 1941, Adolf Hitler launched his attack against the Soviet Union. Code named 'Barbarossa', it was the largest German military operation in the World War II.
 


Sources:
http://avalon.law.yale.edu/imt/imtjames.asp
http://www.un.org/en/aboutun/history/1941-1950.shtml
http://unyearbook.un.org/1946-47YUN/1946-47_P1_CH1.pdf
http://www.ushmm.org/wlc/en/article.php?ModuleId=10005164

An Introduction.

     The United Nations was established after a long series of meetings, conferences and declarations by the Allied Powers post-World War II. The process began in 1941 with the London Declaration that first proposed for the establishment of an international organisation to maintain world peace and prevent a third World War from ever taking place.
     With 26 signatories and 5 permanent members, the United Nations gave the world its much needed ray of hope. As the years passed by the United Nations grew in strength, taking on board all countries willing to comply with the principles of the organisation. The strength of the General Assembly of the UN stands at a staggering 193 member states.
     Since it's founding, the United Nations has worked tirelessly to serve the global community. The UN Channel traces the works of the United Nations since 1945 and its impact internationally. The blog attempts to timeline the ups and the downs of the United Nations right from its first resolution, through the Cold War and into the 21st century.  
     For the next post, keep watching this space!