what the heck is up with the United Nations
which countries are actually in the United
Nations who came up with the idea in the first
place and what do they actually do well
-here's the story of you guessed it the United
Nations
-once upon a time there was a horrible war
called world war 1 it was devastating it was
horrible all of the world's superpowers were at it
and it was supposed to be the war to end all
wars after Germany was defeated to decide the
one known as the Allied powers got together
and came up with an organization
-called the League of Nations it was the first
international organization to have a main goal of
creating world peace
-in order to achieve world peace the league
agreed to avoid war at all cost create open and
respectable relations between nations establish
international law and strictly honor treaty
-at its peak 58 countries had joined the League
of Nations however it ended up epically failing at
presenting some of its own members from trying
to take over the entire world you know countries
like Germany Italy and Japan when countries
like Britain and France call them out on it they
got all offended basically saying well you did it
so why can't we
-soon after the three countries and several
others left the league in the league crumbled as
it ultimately failed to prevent what became
known as World War two so much for world
peace and that ladies and gentlemen was the
worst word history it's estimated that between 60
million and 70 million people died because of it
basically 12% of all human beings who ever died
in a war died in that one
-but Germany Italy and Japan more commonly
known as the Axis powers would go down and
World War two is a big reason why is because a
bunch of countries United to stop known as the
allies
-two of the allies the United States and the
United Kingdom led the way in August 1941 the
American President Franklin Roosevelt in the
British Prime Minister Winston Churchill met
up in Newfoundland to create the antic Charter it
stated new idealistic goals for the world after the
war was over such as an end to countries
conquering for new territory self-determination or
the rights for countries to govern themselves a
reduction of trade restrictions freedom of the
ocean and taking away weapons from
aggressive nation
-on New Year's Day 1942 as the Arcadia
conference in Washington DC 26 different
countries from around the world agreed to sign
the Declaration by United Nations the document
pledged that the 26 countries led by the quote
big for the United States United Kingdom Soviet
Union and China what join forces to defeat
totalitarianism specifically quote Hitlerism
-the document stated that victory over the Axis
powers was necessary to defend human rights
everywhere and it helps turn World War two into
a war of ideals
-by the end of the war 21 other countries had
agreed to the Declaration even countries who
were formerly friends of the Axis powers wish to
sign a declaration but were not allowed to and
while the violence raged on across Europe and
the Pacific Ocean heads of states diplomats
generals and government officials met several
times with the goal of creating another
international organization to keep the peace
-at the Dumbarton Oaks conference in 1944
leaders from the big four met again to lay out the
plans for such an organization
-in February of 1945 the big three China was not
represented this time met the solidified plans on
how the organization was vote at the United
Nations conference on international organization
in San Francisco in April 1945 representatives
from 50 countries came together to create the
United Nations Charter which officially created
the United Nations
- it was signed on June 26, 1945 and went into
effect on October 24th unfortunately Franklin
Roosevelt never lived to see this happen he
had died in April of the new president Harry
Truman had pushed forward with making it
happen and Truman appointed Eleanor
Roosevelt Franklin's wife as a delegate to the
United Nations General Assembly which I will
explain more about in a moment
=I will now read the entirety of the United
Nations Charter just kidding that would take a
while the Charter created six organs or
branches that all had different responsibilities
that General Assembly see I promise you have
come back to it well simply put the General
Assembly makes the big decisions called
resolutions they vote on stuff there the decider
-the Secretariat sets the agenda basically
carrying out what decisions to be voted on and
then carrying out their implementation it's led by
the secretary-general who is currently Antonio
Guterres
-the International Court of Justice settles legal
disputes between countries the Security Council
is made up of the peacekeepers but that's a bit
misleading because they authorize military
attacks and resolutions that can punish countries
acting up
- the Economic and Social Council just like the
name says organizes all economic and social
matters and finally
-the trustee ship council used to manage
colonial possessions but it hasn't been active
since 1994 because you know colonialism is not
cool anymore
-here is what the structure of the United Nations
system looks like notice something here there
are five countries that permanently have the
power of the veto that essentially means that
any of those five countries can single-handedly
block a big decision in the United Nations
Security Council good for them not too good for
all the other United Nations members
-because of this veto power these five China
cranes we showed you at Union now Russia the
United Kingdom and the United States have
quite a bit of power critics say this veto power
has led to some inaction to war crimes across
the world it's worth noting that the United States
wouldn't join the United Nations unless it was
given veto power
-the General Assembly and Security Council met
for the first few times in London in January 1946
52 countries showed up the General Assembly
decided to build a headquarters in New York
City which was completed in 1952
-later UN headquarters were added in Geneva
Switzerland, Vienna, Austria in Nairobi, Kenya
all these places are designated as international
territory where international law applies
-during the Cold War the coldness that made the
United States and the Soviet Union all mad at
and threatened by each other usually hurt the
United Nations
-in 1956 the UN created its first peacekeeping
force to end the Suez Crisis yep I have a video
for that check it in the 1960s as colonialism
rapidly declined the United Nations dramatically
grew
-in 1960 alone 17 new countries joined all but
one of them from Africa still the UN had a hard
time trying to make the peace they usually
stayed out of many conflicts by the 1970s it was
spending much more energy and resources on
social and economic development rather than
peacekeeping
-however this changed once the Cold War
ended between 1988 and 2000 the Security
Council sent soldiers to El Salvador, Namibia,
South Africa, Cambodia, Kuwait, Somalia, and
Bosnia to name a few still they were unable to
intervene in places like Rwanda where up to a
million people were killed due to the genocide
against a Tutsi in the 21st century
-the UN has continued to struggle to prevent
conflict around the world in 2003 the United
States tried to get a Security Council resolution
to invade Iraq didn't get it and invaded Iraq
anyway in other conflicts the UN has struggled
to be effective at all instead the organization has
found more success with helping prevent the
spread of epidemics, expanding women's rights,
and fighting poverty
-but joining up South Sudan to the United
Nations in July 2011 increased the number of
members to 193 that's almost every country on
the plain countries like Palestine and Taiwan
who others say are not really legitimate
countries are not members
- instead there is a small list of quote
unrecognized States and quote partially
recognized States the General Assembly still
meets every year from September to
December in New York City the United
Nations continues to serve as the world's
largest alliance there to prevent World War three
protect human rights in poverty and basically
makes the planet better today it's mostly funded
by the United States and the United States
pretty much yields great power within the
organization but it really is incredible how 193
tremendously diverse countries can come
together with common goals

-sure there are critics who say the organization

is undemocratic or is just part of the new world
order that wants to reduce the global population

-but overall it has been viewed as a force for

good that doesn't appear to be going anywhere
soon