The Magna Carta

Magna Carta, also called Magna Carta Libertatum (the Great Charter of Freedoms), is an English legal charter,
originally issued in the year 1215. It was written in Latin and is known by its Latin name. The usual English
translation of Magna Carta is Great Charter.

Magna Carta required King John of England to proclaim certain rights (pertaining to freemen), respect certain
legal procedures, and accept that his will could be bound by the law. It explicitly protected certain rights of the
King's subjects, whether free or fettered — and implicitly supported what became the writ of habeas corpus,
allowing appeal against unlawful imprisonment.

Magna Carta was arguably the most significant early influence on the extensive historical process that led to
the rule of constitutional law today in the English speaking world. Magna Carta influenced the development of
the common law and many constitutional documents, including the United States Constitution.[1] Many
clauses were renewed throughout the Middle Ages, and continued to be renewed as late as the 18th century.
By the second half of the 19th century, however, most clauses in their original form had been repealed from
English law.

Magna Carta was the first document forced onto an English King by a group of his subjects (the barons) in an
attempt to limit his powers by law and protect their privileges. It was preceded by the 1100 Charter of
Liberties in which King Henry I voluntarily stated that his own powers were under the law.

In practice, Magna Carta in the medieval period mostly did not limit the power of Kings; but by the time of the
English Civil War it had become an important symbol for those who wished to show that the King was bound
by the law.
Magna Carta is normally understood to refer to a single document, that of 1215.

Bill of Rights of 1689

The Bill of Rights laid out certain basic rights for (at the time) all Englishmen. These rights continue to apply
today, not only in England, but in each of the jurisdictions of the Commonwealth realms as well. The people,
embodied in the parliament, are granted immutable civil and political rights through the act, including:

▪ Freedom from royal interference with the law. Though the sovereign remains the fount of justice,
he or she cannot unilaterally establish new courts or act as a judge.
▪ Freedom from taxation by Royal Prerogative. The agreement of parliament became necessary for
the implementation of any new taxes.
▪ Freedom to petition the monarch.
▪ Freedom from the standing army during a time of peace. The agreement of parliament became
necessary before the army could be moved against the populace when not at war.
▪ Freedom for Protestants to bear arms for their own defence, as suitable to their class and as
allowed by law.
▪ Freedom to elect members of parliament without interference from the sovereign.
Freedom of speech and debates; or proceedings in Parliament ought not to be impeached or questioned in
any court or place out of Parliament.

Oliver Cromwell

Lord Protector -   · Title Cromwell received in 1653, effectively granting him the position of ruler of England.
As Lord Protector, Cromwell had complete control of the army, as well as the power to call and dissolve
Parliament. In many ways, the office of Lord Protector gave Cromwell as much power as the kings he
replaced.

English soldier and statesman who helped make England a republic and then
ruled as lord protector from 1653 to 1658.

Oliver Cromwell was born on 25 April 1599 in Huntingdon, Cambridgeshire into

a family of minor gentry and studied at Cambridge University. He became
member of parliament for Huntingdon in the parliament of 1628 - 1629. In the
1630s Cromwell experienced a religious crisis and became convinced that he
would be guided to carry out God's purpose. He began to make his name as a
radical Puritan when, in 1640, he was elected to represent Cambridge, first in
the Short Parliament and then in the Long Parliament.

Civil war broke out between Charles I and parliament in 1642. Although
Cromwell lacked military experience, he created and led a superb force of
cavalry, the 'Ironsides', and rose from the rank of captain to that of lieutenant-
general in three years. He convinced parliament to establish a professional
army - the New Model Army - which won the decisive victory over the king's
forces at Naseby (1645). The king's alliance with the Scots and his subsequent
defeat in the Second Civil War convinced Cromwell that the king must be
brought to justice. He was a prime mover in the trial and execution of Charles I
in 1649 and subsequently sought to win conservative support for the new
republic by suppressing radial elements in the army. Cromwell became army
commander and lord lieutenant of Ireland, where he crushed resistance with
the massacres of the garrisons at Drogheda and Wexford (1649).

Cromwell then defeated the supporters of the king's son Charles II at Dunbar
(1650) and Worcester (1651), effectively ending the civil war. In 1653,
frustrated with lack of progress, he dissolved the rump of the Long Parliament
and, after the failure of his Puritan convention (popularly known as Barebones
Parliament) made himself lord protector. In 1657, he refused the offer of the
crown. At home Lord Protector Cromwell reorganised the national church,
established Puritanism, readmitted Jews into Britain and presided over a certain
degree of religious tolerance. Abroad, he ended the war with Portugal (1653)
and Holland (1654) and allied with France against Spain, defeating the Spanish
at the Battle of the Dunes (1658). Cromwell died on 3 September 1658 in
London. After the Restoration his body was dug up and hanged.

Cromwell's son Richard was named as his successor and was lord protector of
England from September 1658 to May 1659. He could not reconcile various
political, military and religious factions and soon lost the support of the army on
which his power depended. He was forced to abdicate and after the restoration of
the monarchy in 1660 he fled to Paris. He returned to England in 1680 and lived
quietly under an assumed name until his death in 1712.

Henry VIII
Henry VIII, born in 1491, was the second son of Henry VII and Elizabeth of York. The significance of Henry's
reign is, at times, overshadowed by his six marriages: dispensing with these forthwith enables a deeper search
into the major themes of the reign. He married Catherine of Aragon (widow of his brother, Arthur) in 1509,
divorcing her in 1533; the union produced one daughter, Mary. Henry married the pregnant Anne Boleyn in
1533; she gave him another daughter, Elizabeth, but was executed for infidelity (a treasonous charge in the
king's consort) in May 1536. He married Jane Seymour by the end of the same month, who died giving birth to
Henry's lone male heir, Edward, in October 1536. Early in 1540, Henry arranged a marriage with Anne of
Cleves, after viewing Hans Holbein's beautiful portrait of the German princess. In person, alas, Henry found
her homely and the marriage was never consummated. In July 1540, he married the adulterous Catherine
Howard - she was executed for infidelity in March 1542. Catherine Parr became his wife in 1543, providing for
the needs of both Henry and his children until his death in 1547.

The court life initiated by his father evolved into a cornerstone of Tudor government in the reign of Henry VIII.
After his father's staunch, stolid rule, the energetic, youthful and handsome king avoided governing in person,
much preferring to journey the countryside hunting and reviewing his subjects. Matters of state were left in
the hands of others, most notably Thomas Wolsey, Archbishop of York. Cardinal Wolsey virtually ruled England
until his failure to secure the papal annulment that Henry needed to marry Anne Boleyn in 1533. Wolsey was
quite capable as Lord Chancellor, but his own interests were served more than that of the king: as powerful as
he was, he still was subject to Henry's favor - losing Henry's confidence proved to be his downfall. The early
part of Henry's reign, however, saw the young king invade France, defeat Scottish forces at the Battle of
Foldden Field (in which James IV of Scotland was slain), and write a treatise denouncing Martin Luther's
Reformist ideals, for which the pope awarded Henry the title "Defender of the Faith".

The 1530's witnessed Henry's growing involvement in government, and a series of events which greatly
altered England, as well as the whole of Western Christendom: the separation of the Church of England
from Roman Catholicism. The separation was actually a by-product of Henry's obsession with producing a
male heir; Catherine of Aragon failed to produce a male and the need to maintain dynastic legitimacy forced
Henry to seek an annulment from the pope in order to marry Anne Boleyn. Wolsey tried repeatedly to
secure a legal annulment from Pope Clement VII, but Clement was beholden to the Charles V, Holy Roman
Emperor and nephew of Catherine. Henry summoned the Reformation Parliament in 1529, which passed 137
statutes in seven years and exercised an influence in political and ecclesiastic affairs which was unknown to
feudal parliaments. Religious reform movements had already taken hold in England, but on a small scale: the
Lollards had been in existence since the mid-fourteenth century and the ideas of Luther and Zwingli circulated
within intellectual groups, but continental Protestantism had yet to find favor with the English people. The
break from Rome was accomplished through law, not social outcry; Henry, as Supreme Head of the Church
of England, acknowledged this by slight alterations in worship ritual instead of a wholesale reworking of
religious dogma. England moved into an era of "conformity of mind" with the new royal supremacy (much
akin to the absolutism of France's Louis XIV): by 1536, all ecclesiastical and government officials were required
to publicly approve of the break with Rome and take an oath of loyalty. The king moved away from the
medieval idea of ruler as chief lawmaker and overseer of civil behavior, to the modern idea of ruler as the
ideological icon of the state.

The remainder of Henry's reign was anticlimactic. Anne Boleyn lasted only three years before her execution;
she was replaced by Jane Seymour, who laid Henry's dynastic problems to rest with the birth of Edward VI.
Fragmented noble factions involved in the Wars of the Roses found themselves reduced to vying for the king's
favor in court. Reformist factions won the king's confidence and vastly benefiting from Henry's dissolution of
the monasteries, as monastic lands and revenues went either to the crown or the nobility. The royal staff
continued the rise in status that began under Henry VII, eventually to rival the power of the nobility. Two men,
in particular, were prominent figures through the latter stages of Henry's reign: Thomas Cromwell and Thomas
Cranmer. Cromwell, an efficient administrator, succeeded Wolsey as Lord Chancellor, creating new
governmental departments for the varying types of revenue and establishing parish priest's duty of recording
births, baptisms, marriages and deaths. Cranmer, Archbishop of Canterbury, dealt with and guided changes in
ecclesiastical policy and oversaw the dissolution of the monasteries.
Henry VIII built upon the innovations instituted by his father. The break with Rome, coupled with an increase
in governmental bureaucracy, led to the royal supremacy that would last until the execution of Charles I and
the establishment of the Commonwealth one hundred years after Henry's death. Henry was beloved by his
subjects, facing only one major insurrection, the Pilgrimage of Grace, enacted by the northernmost counties in
retaliation to the break with Rome and the poor economic state of the region. History remembers Henry in
much the same way as Piero Pasqualigo, a Venetian ambassador: "... he is in every respect a most
accomplished prince."

Edward VI

Edward VI, son of Henry VIII and Jane Seymour, was born in 1537. He ascended the throne at age nine, upon the
death of his father. He was betrothed to his cousin, Mary Queen of Scots, but deteriorating English-Scot relations
prohibited their marriage. The frail, Protestant boy died of consumption at age sixteen having never married.
Edward's reign was beset by problems from the onset. Ascending the throne while stillin his minority presented a
backdrop for factional in fighting and power plays. Henry VIII, in his last days, sought to eliminate this potential
problem by decreeing that a Council of Regency would govern until the child came of age, but Edward Seymour
(Edward VI's uncle) gained the upper hand. The Council offered Seymour the Protectorship of the realm and the
Dukedom of Somerset; he genuinely cared for both the boy and the realm, but used the Protectorship, as well as
Edward's religious radicalism, to further his Protestant interests. The Book of Common Prayer, the eloquent work
of Archbishop Thomas Cranmer, was instituted in 1549 as a handbook to the new style of worship that skated
controversial issues in an effort to pacify Catholics. Henrician treason and heresy laws were repealed, transforming
England into a haven for continental heretics. Catholics were pleased with the softer version of Protestantism, but
radical Protestants clamored for further reforms, adding to the ever-present factional discord.Economic hardship
plagued England during Edward's rule and foreign relations were in a state of disarray. The new faith and the
dissolution of the monasteries left a considerable amount of ecclesiastical officials out of work, at a time when
unemployment soared; enclosure of monastic lands deprived many peasants of their means of subsistence. The
coinage lost value as new coins were minted from inferior metals, as specie from the New World flooded English
markets. A French/Scottish alliance threatened England, prompting Somerset to invade Scotland, where Scottish
forces were trounced at Pinkie. Then general unrest and factional maneuvering proved Somerset's undoing; he was
executed in September 1552. Thus began one of the most corrupt eras of English political history.

Queen Mary I
Mary I, daughter of Henry VIII and Catherine of Aragon, was born in 1516 and suffered through a
terrible childhood of neglect, intolerance, and ill-health. She was a staunch catholic from birth, constantly resisting
pressure from others to renounce her faith, a request she steadfastly refused. She married Philip II of Spain in
1555, but was unable to produce a child.Mary began her tumultuous reign at 37 years of age, arriving in London
amid a scene of great rejoicing. Following the disarray created by Edward VI's passing of the succession to Lady
Jane Grey (Jane lasted only nine days), Mary's first act was to repeal the Protestant legislation of her brother,
Edward VI, hurling England into a phase of severe religious persecution. Her major goal was the re-establishment
of Catholicism in England, a goal to which she was totally committed. Persecution came more from a desire for
purity in faith than from vengeance, yet the fact remains that nearly 300 people (including former Archbishop of
Canterbury, Thomas Cranmer and many of the most prominent members of society) were burned at the stake
for heresy, earning Mary the nickname, "Bloody Mary."Mary's marriage to the militant Catholic Philip was again
designed to enforce Roman Catholicism on the realm. Unfortunately for Mary, two factors compelled opposition to
her plans: the English people hated foreigners - especially the Spanish - and twenty years of Protestantism had
soured the English on popery. She met with resistance at every level of society, and, unlike her father and brother,
failed to conform society into one ideological pattern. Philip II, cold and indifferent to both Mary and her realm,
remained in England for only a short time. He coerced Mary to enter into war with France, resulting in defeat and
the loss of the last English continental possession, Calais. With the retirement of his father, Charles V of the Holy
Roman Empire, Philip returned to Spain; Mary died a mere ten months later.England suffered during the reign of
Mary I: the economy was in ruin, religious dissent reached a zenith and England lost her last continental territory.
Jane Austen wrote this rather scathing commentary about Mary: "This woman had the good luck of being advanced
to the throne of England, in spite of the superior pretensions, Merit and Beauty of her Cousins Mary Queen of
Scotland and Jane Grey. Nor can I pity the Kingdom for the misfortunes they experienced during her reign, since
they fully deserved them..."
Queen Elizabeth I
The first Queen Elizabeth, whose name has become a synonym for the era which she dominated (1558-1603), was
born in 1533 to Henry VIII and Anne Boleyn. Called "Gloriana" by Edmund Spenser in "The Faerie Queene",
Elizabeth's deft political skills and strong personal character were directly responsible for putting England (at the
time of her accession in 1558 a weak, divided backwater far outside the mainstream of European power and
cultural development) on the road to becoming a true world economic and political power and restoring the
country's lost sense of national pride. Although she entertained many marriage proposals and flirted incessantly
(her closest brush with marriage came with Robert Dudley, earl of Leicester), she never married or had children.

Elizabeth inherited a tattered realm: dissension between Catholics and Protestants tore at the very foundation of
society; the royal treasury had been bled dry by Mary and her advisors, Mary's loss of Calais left England with no
continental possessions for the first time since the arrival of the Normans in 1066 and many (mainly Catholics)
doubted Elizabeth's claim to the throne. Continental affairs added to her problems - France had a strong foothold
in Scotland, and Spain, the strongest European nation at the time, posed a threat to the security of the realm.
Elizabeth proved most calm and calculating (even though she had a horrendous temper), employing capable and
distinguished men to carrying out royal prerogative.

Her first order of business was to eliminate religious unrest. Elizabeth lacked the fanaticism of her siblings (Edward
VI favored Protestant radicalism, Mary I, conservative Catholicism), which enabled her to devise a compromise
that, basically, reinstated Henrician reforms. She was, however, compelled to take a stronger pro-Protestant stance
when events demanded it, for two reasons: the machinations of Mary Queen of Scots and persecution of
continental Protestants by the two strongholds of Orthodox Catholicism, Spain and France.

The persecution of continental Protestants forced Elizabeth into war, a situation which she desperately tried to
avoid. She sent an army to aid French Huguenots (Calvinists who had settled in France) after a 1572 massacre
wherein over three thousand Huguenots lost their lives. She sent further assistance to Protestant factions on the
continent and in Scotland following the emergence of radical Catholic groups and assisted Belgium in their bid to
gain independence from Spain.
The situation came to head in 1588 after Elizabeth rejected a marriage proposal from Philip II of Spain. The
indignant Spanish King, incensed by English piracy and forays in New World exploration, sent his much-feared
Armada to raid England, inadvertently providing Elizabeth with an opportunity to put on public display those
qualities of heart that one might not expect to find in those days, in a small, frail woman.
As they say, the rest is history. The English won the naval battle handily, aided by some fortuitous inclement English
Channel weather, and emerged as the world's strongest naval power, setting the stage for later English imperial
designs.

Elizabeth was a master of political science. She inherited her father's supremacist view of the monarchy, but
showed great wisdom by refusing to directly antagonize Parliament. She acquired undying devotion from her
advisement council, who were constantly perplexed by her habit of waiting to the last minute to make decisions
(this was not a deficiency in her makeup, but a tactic that she used to advantage). She used the various factions
(instead of being used by them), playing one off another until the exhausted combatants came to her for resolution
of their grievances. Few English monarchs enjoyed such political power, while still maintaining the devotion of the
whole of English society.

THE MONROE DOCTRINE/ROOSEVELT COROLLARY

The Monroe Doctrine (1823)

Monroe Doctrine established U.S. policy of opposing European intervention or new colonization in Western
Hemisphere.

In his December 2, 1823, address to Congress, President James Monroe articulated United States' policy
on the new political order developing in the rest of the Americas and the role of Europe in the Western
Hemisphere. The statement, known as the Monroe Doctrine, was little noted by the Great Powers of Europe, but
eventually became a longstanding tenet of U.S. foreign policy. Monroe and his Secretary of State John Quincy
Adams drew upon a foundation of American diplomatic ideals such as disentanglement from European affairs and
defense of neutral rights as expressed in Washington's Farewell Address and Madison's stated rationale for waging
the War of 1812. The three main concepts of the doctrine--separate spheres of influence for the Americas and
Europe, non-colonization, and non-intervention--were designed to signify a clear break between the New World
and the autocratic realm of Europe. Monroe's administration forewarned the imperial European powers against
interfering in the affairs of the newly independent Latin American states or potential United States territories.
While Americans generally objected to European colonies in the New World, they also desired to increase United
States influence and trading ties throughout the region to their south. European mercantilism posed the greatest
obstacle to economic expansion. In particular, Americans feared that Spain and France might reassert colonialism
over the Latin American peoples who had just overthrown European rule. Signs that Russia was expanding its
presence southward from Alaska toward the Oregon Territory were also disconcerting.
For their part, the British also had a strong interest in ensuring the demise of Spanish colonialism, with all the trade
restrictions mercantilism imposed. Earlier in 1823 British Foreign Minister George Canning suggested to Americans
that two nations issue a joint declaration to deter any other power from intervening in Central and South America.
Secretary of State John Quincy Adams, however, vigorously opposed cooperation with Great Britain, contending
that a statement of bilateral nature could limit United States expansion in the future. He also argued that the
British were not committed to recognizing the Latin American republics and must have had imperial motivations
themselves.
The bilateral statement proposed by the British thereby became a unilateral declaration by the United
States. As Monroe stated: "The American continents are henceforth not to be considered as subjects for future
colonization by any European powers." Monroe outlined two separate spheres of influence: the Americas and
Europe. The independent lands of the Western Hemisphere would be solely the United States' domain. In
exchange, the United States pledged to avoid involvement in the political affairs of Europe, such as the ongoing
Greek struggle for independence from the Ottoman Empire, and not to interfere in the existing European colonies
already in the Americas.
By the mid-1800s, Monroe's declaration, combined with ideas of Manifest Destiny, provided precedent
and support for U.S. expansion on the American continent. In the late 1800s, U.S. economic and military power
enabled it to enforce the Monroe Doctrine. The doctrine's greatest extension came with Theodore Roosevelt's
Corollary, which inverted the original meaning of the doctrine and came to justify unilateral U.S. intervention in
Latin America.

The Roosevelt Corollary (1904)

What is a “corollary”?? A doctrine?
Officially, “A corollary is a statement which follows readily from a previous statement.”
A doctrine is: “a particular principle, position, or policy taught or advocated, as of a religion or government.”

President Theodore Roosevelt's assertive approach to Latin America and the Caribbean has often been
characterized as the "Big Stick," and his policy came to be known as the Roosevelt Corollary to the Monroe
Doctrine. Although the Monroe Doctrine of 1823 was essentially passive (it asked that Europeans not increase their
influence or recolonize any part of the Western Hemisphere), by the 20th century a more confident United States
was willing to take on the role of regional policeman. In the early 1900s Roosevelt grew concerned that a crisis
between Venezuela and its creditors could spark an invasion of that nation by European powers. The Roosevelt
Corollary of December 1904 stated that the United States would intervene as a last resort to ensure that other
nations in the Western Hemisphere fulfilled their obligations to international creditors, and did not violate the
rights of the United States or invite "foreign aggression to the detriment of the entire body of American nations."
As the corollary worked out in practice, the United States increasingly used military force to restore internal
stability to nations in the region. Roosevelt declared that the United States might "exercise international police
power in 'flagrant cases of such wrongdoing or impotence.'" Over the long term the corollary had little to do with
relations between the Western Hemisphere and Europe, but it did serve as justification for U.S. intervention in
Cuba, Nicaragua, Haiti, and the Dominican Republic.
The Monroe Doctrine had originally been intended to keep European nations out of Latin America, but
the Roosevelt corollary was used as a justification for U.S. intervention in Latin America.

“Big Stick Policy”: The term originated from the phrase “Speak softly and carry a big stick." The idea of negotiating
peacefully, simultaneously threatening with the “big stick”, or the military
LEAGUE OF NATIONZ

The League of Nations came into being after the end of World War One. The League of Nation's task was
simple - to ensure that war never broke out again. After the turmoil caused by the Versailles Treaty, many
looked to the League to bring stability to the world.

America entered World War One in 1917. The country as a whole and the president - Woodrow Wilson in
particular - was horrified by the slaughter that had taken place in what was meant to be a civilised part of the
world. The only way to avoid a repetition of such a disaster, was to create an international body whose sole
purpose was to maintain world peace and which would sort out international disputes as and when they
occurred. This would be the task of the League of Nations.

After the devastation of the war, support for such a good idea was great (except in America where isolationism
was taking root).

The organisation of the League of Nations

The League of Nations was to be based in Geneva, Switzerland. This choice was natural as Switzerland was a
neutral country and had not fought in World War One. No one could dispute this choice especially as an
international organisation such as the Red Cross was already based in Switzerland.

If a dispute did occur, the League, under its Covenant, could do three things - these were known as its
sanctions:

It could call on the states in dispute to sit down and discuss the problem in an orderly and peaceful manner.
This would be done in the League’s Assembly - which was essentially the League’s parliament which would
listen to disputes and come to a decision on how to proceed. If one nation was seen to be the offender, the
League could introduce verbal sanctions - warning an aggressor nation that she would need to leave another
nation's territory or face the consequences.
If the states in dispute failed to listen to the Assembly’s decision, the League could introduce economic
sanctions. This would be arranged by the League’s Council. The purpose of this sanction was to financially hit
the aggressor nation so that she would have to do as the League required. The logic behind it was to push an
aggressor nation towards bankruptcy, so that the people in that state would take out their anger on their
government forcing them to accept the League’s decision. The League could order League members not to do
any trade with an aggressor nation in an effort to bring that aggressor nation to heel.
if this failed, the League could introduce physical sanctions. This meant that military force would be used to put
into place the League’s decision. However, the League did not have a military force at its disposal and no
member of the League had to provide one under the terms of joining - unlike the current United Nations.
Therefore, it could not carry out any threats and any country defying its authority would have been very aware
of this weakness. The only two countries in the League that could have provided any military might were Britain
and France and both had been severely depleted strength-wise in World War One and could not provide the
League with the backing it needed. Also both Britain and France were not in a position to use their finances to
pay for an expanded army as both were financially hit very hard by World War One.
The League also had other weaknesses :
The country, whose president, Woodrow Wilson, had dreamt up the idea of the League - America - refused to
join it. As America was the world’s most powerful nation, this was a serious blow to the prestige of the League.
However, America’s refusal to join the League, fitted in with her desire to have an isolationist policy throughout
the world.
Germany was not allowed to join the League in 1919. As Germany had started the war, according to the Treaty
of Versailles, one of her punishments was that she was not considered to be a member of the international
community and, therefore, she was not invited to join. This was a great blow to Germany but it also meant that
the League could not use whatever strength Germany had to support its campaign against aggressor nations.

Russia was also not allowed to join as in 1917, she had a communist government that generated fear in
western Europe, and in 1918, the Russian royal family - the Romanovs - was murdered. Such a country could
not be allowed to take its place in the League.

Therefore, three of the world’s most powerful nations (potentially for Russia and Germany) played no part in
supporting the League. The two most powerful members were Britain and France - both had suffered
financially and militarily during the war - and neither was enthusiastic to get involved in disputes that did not
affect western Europe.

Therefore, the League had a fine ideal - to end war for good. However, if an aggressor nation was determined
enough to ignore the League’s verbal warnings, all the League could do was enforce economic sanctions and
hope that these worked as it had no chance or enforcing its decisions using military might.

THE UNITED NATIONZ

The name "United Nations", coined by United States President Franklin D. Roosevelt, was first used in the
"Declaration by United Nations" of 1 January 1942, during the Second World War, when representatives of
26 nations pledged their Governments to continue fighting together against the Axis Powers.
States first established international organizations to cooperate on specific matters. The International
Telecommunication Union was founded in 1865 as the International Telegraph Union, and the Universal
Postal Union was established in 1874. Both are now United Nations specialized agencies.
In 1899, the International Peace Conference was held in The Hague to elaborate instruments for settling
crises peacefully, preventing wars and codifying rules of warfare. It adopted the Convention for the Pacific
Settlement of International Disputes and established the Permanent Court of Arbitration, which began work in
1902.
The forerunner of the United Nations was the League of Nations, an organization conceived in similar
circumstances during the first World War, and established in 1919 under the Treaty of Versailles "to promote
international cooperation and to achieve peace and security." The International Labour Organization was
also created under the Treaty of Versailles as an affiliated agency of the League. The League of Nations
ceased its activities after failing to prevent the Second World War.
In 1945, representatives of 50 countries met in San Francisco at the United Nations Conference on
International Organization to draw up the United Nations Charter. Those delegates deliberated on the basis
of proposals worked out by the representatives of China, the Soviet Union, the United Kingdom and the
United States at Dumbarton Oaks, United States in August-October 1944. The Charter was signed on 26
June 1945 by the representatives of the 50 countries. Poland, which was not represented at the Conference,
signed it later and became one of the original 51 Member States.
The United Nations officially came into existence on 24 October 1945, when the Charter had been ratified by
China, France, the Soviet Union, the United Kingdom, the United States and by a majority of other
signatories. United Nations Day is celebrated on 24 October each year.

The structure of the United Nations is based around its charter. The United Nations Charter consists of 111
articles. These articles explain how the United Nations works.
The charter established six parts of the United Nations:

General Assembly Security Council Economic and Social Council Trusteeship Council International
Court of Justice Secretariat
The General Assembly has the brief to discuss and decide on issues of international peace and security. All
members of the United Nations are represented in the General Assembly. It can make recommendations to
promote international peace; international economic and social co-operation and it can promote human rights.
The General Assembly is expected to meet on a regular basis and when a vote is taken it needs a two-thirds
majority for it to be passed.
The Security Council consists of eleven members. Five of these are permanent (USA, USSR, GB, China,
France). The General Assembly appoints another six members who are non-permanent members. The
Security Council is given the primary task by the United Nations of maintaining peace and security at an
international level. Each member of the Security Council is given one vote and a vote of seven members is
needed for action to be taken. All five permanent members have to agree with the course of action. The
Security Council can recommend the use of a blockade or other financial impositions for any nation that is
deemed as breaking international law. If these do not work, then the Security Council can call on the United
Nations to use military force to enforce its will. This is the major difference to the League of Nations – the
United Nations has the ability to enforce its decisions as each member state has to pledge to provide a
military component dependent on its national wealth and capability.
The main task of the Economic and Social Council is to promote and improve the economic and social well-
being of those living in the member states. This council deals with human rights and seeks to develop a
greater understanding of cultures throughout the world. An improvement in world health is also in its remit.
Article 57 gives a clear indication of the areas this council covers: health, education, economic, social and
cultural issues and the promotion of the position of women in the world. Each member of the Council has one
vote.
The International Court of Justice (ICJ) is the main judicial body of the United Nations. All members of the
United Nations are party to the International Court. The ICJ consists of 15 members and only two members
come from the same country at any one time. All members of the United Nations have to agree to abide by
the decisions of the ICJ.
The Secretariat comprises of a Secretary-General and it is the body that runs the United Nations. The
Secretary-General is appointed by the General Assembly which receives recommendations from the Security
Council. The Secretary-General is the United Nations’ chief administrative officer.
Since 1945, the United Nations has been involved as a peacekeeper in Iran and the Balkans, Indonesia,
Palestine and the Middle East in general, Korea and the Congo.

I’m not including any info on WWI (Britain/America) or the US Civil War because I figure that those are pretty
easy to look up yourselves. And I’m sick of making this review sheet.

GOOD LUCK!!!!