Moscow Conferences: October 18- November 11 1943

     For the first time since the start of the war, the foreign ministers of the US, UK and USSR along with the Chinese Ambassador to USSR sat down to discuss a definitive plan for a post- war world. By this time, the Allied forces had set their sight on total victory. The conferences in Moscow allowed the Allied foreign ministers to sit down and discuss the establishment of a new world order after they defeat the Axial forces. 

     The most important event of this conference was the agreement with the United States and the USSR to establish a world organisation as soon as the war was over. This marked the beginning of a strong alliance that would eventually win the Second World War. 

     The conference resulted in the signing of the Joint Four- Nation Declaration, the Declaration Regarding Italy, the Declaration on Austria, and the Statement On Atrocities. These documents were signed by the governments of the USA, the UK, and USSR. 

     This conference was an important step in the establishment of the United Nations since the declaration signed at the end of this conference pledged that the foreign ministers recognise '...the necessity of insuring a rapid and orderly transition from war to peace and of establishing and maintaining international peace and security with the least diversion of the world's human and economic resources for armaments.' 

For further reading:
The Avalon Project: The Moscow Conference; October 1943 (http://avalon.law.yale.edu/wwii/moscow.asp)
Moscow and Teheran Conferences (http://www.un.org/en/aboutun/history/moscowteheran.shtml)

Declaration by the United Nations: 1 January 1942

     The United Nations Declaration, signed originally by the representatives of the United States of America, the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, the Republic of China and the Soviet Union, served as a uniting factor for all the allied countries against Germany and Japan. Signed by the 'Big Four' on the first day of the year 1942, it was signed by twenty two other countries on the next day. 

     The declaration united these 26 countries in the common war against Germany and Japan. Furthermore, it forbade these countries from making separate peace. The latter clause was a simple reiteration of the reforms that were to be followed post- 1919 after the first great war. Now, the allied forces had one and only on purpose; to defeat the Axis powers in order to safeguard its own peoples. 

     The principles of the declaration were based on the principles put down in the Atlantic Charter. It is clearly stated in the text that the signatories of the declaration have 'subscribed to a common program of purposes and principles embodied in the Joint Declaration of the President of the United States of America and the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland dated August 14, 1941, known as the Atlantic Charter.' 

     At the San Francisco Conference, three years later, only the nations that had declared war on Germany and Japan were invited to take part in order to unite only those with similar ideologies. The declaration can be credited with bringing together all countries that had the same mission into one joint force that proved to be fatal for the enemy. 

For further reading: 

The Declaration by United Nations (http://www.un.org/en/aboutun/history/declaration.shtml)

A Decade of American Foreign Policy: Declaration by the United Nations, January 1, 1942 (http://avalon.law.yale.edu/20th_century/decade03.asp)