HISTORY

HISTORY - the knowledge of and study of the past. It is the story of the past and a form of
collective memory. History is the story of who we are, where we come from, and can potentially
reveal where we are headed.
History is the study and documentation of the human past.
The period of events before the invention of writing systems is considered prehistory. "History" is
an umbrella term comprising past events as well as the memory, discovery, collection,
organization, presentation, and interpretation of these events. Historians seek knowledge of the
past using historical sources such as written documents, oral accounts, art and material artifacts,
and ecological markers.[5] History is incomplete and still has debatable mysteries.
Herodotus – known as the Father of History. He is known for having written the Histories – a
detailed account of the Greco-Persian Wars. Herodotus was the first writer to perform systematic
investigation of historical events. Herodotus is most well known for his historical accounts. He is
remembered as being arguably the very first historian ever.

THEORIES ON THE ORIGIN OF MAN

Divine creation - The belief that humanity, life, the Earth, or the universe as a whole was specially
created by God. - BIBLE
Evolution - the lengthy process of change by which people originated from apelike ancestors.
Scientific evidence shows that the physical and behavioral traits shared by all people originated
from apelike ancestors and evolved over a period of approximately six million years. – CHARLES
DARWIN

STAGES OF HUMAN EVOLUTION

Ramapithecus - it is named from Rama + Greek pithēkos 'ape'. Ape like hairy arms
and legs of the same length, large brain, ate soft fruits and leaves, walked like gorillas
and chimpanzees.
Australopithecus - they were bipedal (that is, they walked on two legs), but, like apes,
they had small brains , and a long jaw .Their canine teeth were smaller than those found
in apes, and their cheek teeth were larger than those of modern humans.
Homo Erectus - had smaller, more primitive teeth, a smaller overall size and thinner.
The species also had a large face compared to modern humans. Home erectus was a
human of medium stature that walked upright.
Homo Sapiens - sapiens have distinctive "modern" physical characteristics: a large
rounded braincase, lack of a brow-ridge, a chin (even in infancy) and a narrow
pelvis compared to other species in the Homo genus.

THE RACES OF MAN

In former times, many people divided human beings into four races. These races were called
Australoid, Mongoloid, Caucasoid, and Negroid.
Australoid race was a word for the aboriginal people of Australia, Melanesia, and parts of
Southeast Asia.
Caucasoid are people from the Caucasus mountain region, which includes Georgia, Armenia,
Azerbaijan, parts of north Iran, and central southern Russia.
Negroid (less commonly called Congoid) is an obsolete racial grouping of various people
indigenous to Africa south of the area which stretched from the southern Sahara desert in the
west to the African Great Lakes in the southeast, but also to isolated parts of South and Southeast
Asia (Negritos).
Mongoloids are a cluster of all or few individuals aboriginal to East Asia, Southeast Asia, North
Asia, the Arctic, Central Asia, the Americas, and the Pacific Islands. This population frequently
share specified traits, such as epicanthic folds, sino- or sundadonty, shovel-shaped incisors, and
neoteny.

HISTORY
Prehistoric Period
The Prehistoric Period also known as pre-literary history —or when there was human life before
records documented human activity. Divided into three periods: Paleolithic (or Old Stone Age),
Mesolithic (or Middle Stone Age), and Neolithic (or New Stone Age)

Palaeolithic Period or Old Stone Age is a period in human prehistory that is distinguished by
the original development of stone tools, and which represents almost the entire period of
human prehistoric technology.
Mesolithic Period or Middle Stone Age is an archaeological term used to describe specific
cultures that fall between the Paleolithic and the Neolithic Periods. The use of small chipped stone
tools called microliths and retouched bladelets are the key factors in identifying the Mesolithic as
a prehistoric period. Mesolithic Period was associated with the origin of fire.
Neolithic Period or New Stone Age, is the final stage of cultural evolution or technological
development among prehistoric humans.
Historic Period
Bronze Age is a historic period, lasting approximately from 3300 BC to 1200 BC, characterized
by the use of bronze, the presence of writing in some areas, and other early features of urban
civilization.
Iron Age was a period in human history that started between 1200 B.C. and 600 B.C., depending
on the region, and followed the Stone Age and Bronze Age. During the Iron Age, people across
much of Europe, Asia and parts of Africa began making tools and weapons from iron and steel.

PERIODS OF HISTORY

• Ancient Period
• Medieval Period
• Modern Period

ANCIENT TIMES
The 6 Earliest Human Civilizations

1. Mesopotamia
2. Ancient Egypt
3. Ancient India
4. Ancient China
5. Ancient Peru
6. Ancient Mesoamerica

1. Mesopotamia, 4000-3500 B.C.

Meaning “between two rivers” in Greek, Mesopotamia (located in modern-day Iraq,

Kuwait and Syria) is considered the birthplace of civilization. The culture that grew
up between the Tigris and Euphrates rivers is noted for important advancements in
literacy, astronomy, agriculture, law, astronomy, mathematics, ar chitecture and more,
despite near-constant warfare. Mesopotamia was also home to the world’s first urban
cities, including Babylon, Ashur and Akkad.

Ancient Mesopotamia is considered the birthplace of writing and with it, recorded
history. Its people also built the world's first cities and developed the oldest known
political and administrative systems.

“Mesopotamia is the earliest urban literate civilization on the globe—and the

Sumerians, who established the civilization, established the ground rules,”

The cuneiform writing system, used to establish the Code of Hammurabi, is among
the most famous Mesopotamian advancements. They also created the base 60 numeric
system, which led to the 60-second minute, 60-minute hour and 360-degree circle. And
it was Babylonian astronomy that first divided the year into 12 periods named after
constellations—what the Greeks would later evolve into the zodiac.

Persia eventually conquered Mesopotamia in 539 B.C. Centuries of upheaval followed.

SUMER
Sumer is the earliest known civilization in the historical region of southern Mesopotamia
(south-central Iraq), emerging during the Chalcolithic and early Bronze Ages between
the sixth and fifth millennium BC. It is one of the cradles of civilization in the world,
along with ancient Egypt, Elam, the Caral -Supe civilization, Mesoamerica, the Indus
Valley civilisation, and ancient China. Living along the valleys of the Tigris and
Euphrates rivers, Sumerian farmers grew an abundance of grain and other crops, the
surplus from which enabled them to form urban settlements. Proto -writing dates back
before 3000 BC. The earliest texts come from the cities of Uruk and Jemdet Nasr, and
date to between c. 3500 and c. 3000 BC.

AKKAD
The Akkadian Empire was the first ancient empire of Mesopotamia after the long -lived
civilization of Sumer. It was centered in the city of Akkad and its surrounding region.
The empire united Akkadian and Sumerian speakers under one rule. The Akkadian
Empire exercised influence across Mesopotamia .

The Akkadian Empire reached its political peak between the 24th and 22nd centuries
BC, following the conquests by its founder Sargon of Akkad. Under Sargon and his
successors, the Akkadian language was briefly imposed on neighboring conquered
states such as Elam and Gutium. Akkad is sometimes regarded as the first empire in
history, though the meaning of this term is not precise, and there are earlier Sumerian
claimants.

BABYLON
Babylon is the name of an ancient city located on the lower Euphrates river in southern
Mesopotamia. Babylon functioned as the main cultural and political centre of the
Akkadian-speaking region of Babylonia, with its rulers establishing two importa nt
empires in antiquity, namely the 18th century BC Old Babylonian Empire and the 7th -
6th century BC Neo-Babylonian Empire, and the city would also be used as a regional
capital of other empires, such as the Achaemenid Empire. Babylon was one of the most
important urban centres of the ancient Near East until its decline during the Hellenistic
period.

HITTITE
The Hittites were an ancient Anatolian (modern -day Turkey) people who formed an
empire between 1600-1180 BCE. The Hittites manufactured advanced iron goods, ruled
over their kingdom through government officials with independent authority over
various branches of government, and worshipped storm gods. The Hittites were an
ancient group of Indo-Europeans who moved into Asia Minor and formed an empire at
Hattusa in Anatolia (modern Turkey) around 1600 BCE.

ASSYRIA
Assyria was a major ancient Mesopotamian civilization which existed as a city-state from the 21st
century BC to the 14th century BC, then to a territorial state, and eventually an empire from the
14th century BC to the 7th century BC.

Spanning from the early Bronze Age to the late Iron Age, modern historians typically divide ancient
Assyrian history into the Early Assyrian (c. 2600–2025 BC), Old Assyrian (c. 2025–1364 BC),
Middle Assyrian (c. 1363–912 BC), Neo-Assyrian (911–609 BC) and post-imperial (609 BC–c. AD
240) periods, based on political events and gradual changes in language. Assur, the first Assyrian
capital, was founded c. 2600 BC but there is no evidence that the city was independent until the
collapse of the Third Dynasty of Ur in the 21st century BC, when a line of independent kings
beginning with Puzur-Ashur I began ruling the city. Centered in the Assyrian heartland in northern
Mesopotamia, Assyrian power fluctuated over time. The city underwent several periods of foreign
rule or domination before Assyria rose under Ashur-uballit I in the early 14th century BC as the
Middle Assyrian Empire. In the Middle and Neo-Assyrian periods Assyria was one of the two
major Mesopotamian kingdoms, alongside Babylonia in the south, and at times became the
dominant power in the ancient Near East. Assyria was at its strongest in the Neo-Assyrian period,
when the Assyrian army was the strongest military power in the world[6] and the Assyrians ruled
the largest empire then yet assembled in world history,[6][7][8] spanning from parts of modern-
day Iran in the east to Egypt in the west.

CHALDEA
The Chaldean dynasty, also known as the Neo -Babylonian dynasty was the ruling
dynasty of the Neo-Babylonian Empire, ruling as kings of Babylon from the ascent of
Nabopolassar in 626 BC to the fall of Babylon in 539 BC. The dynasty, as connected
to Nabopolassar through descent, was deposed in 560 BC by the Aramean offi cial
Neriglissar (r. 560–556 BC), though he was connected to the Chaldean kings through
marriage and his son and successor, Labashi -Marduk (r. 556 BC), might have
reintroduced the bloodline to the throne. The final Neo -Babylonian king, Nabonidus
(r. 556–539 BC), was genealogically unconnected to the previous kings, but might, like
Neriglissar, also have been connected to the dynasty through marriage.

2. Ancient Egypt, 3100 B.C.

The pyramids of Giza, c. 2600 B.C. They are the oldest of the so-called Seven Wonders
of the Ancient World.

Egypt- (Hikuptah) home of the gods

Perhaps the most romanticized of past civilizations, ancient Egypt stood as one of
history’s most powerful empires for more than 3,000 years. Set along the fertile Nile
River and at one time extending from today’s Syria to Sudan, the civilization is most
known for its pyramids, tombs and mausoleums and the practice of mummification to
prepare corpses for the afterlife.

Egyptians developed and utilized a form of water management known a s basin

irrigation. This practice allowed them to control the rise and fall of the river to best
suit their agricultural needs. A crisscross network of earthen walls was formed in a field
of crops that the river would flood.

The ancient Egyptians also left a legacy of monumental writing and mathematics
systems. The cubit, a measure of length roughly the span of a forearm, was key to
designing the pyramids and other structures. They developed the 24-hour day and
356-day calendar during this time. And they established the hieroglyphic pictorial
writing system, followed by the hieroglyphic system that used ink on papyrus paper.
The civilization came to an end in 332 B.C. when it was conquered by Alexander the
Great.
Old Kingdom – Age of the Pyramids
The Old Kingdom of Egypt is also known as the 'Age of the Pyramids' or 'Age of the
Pyramid Builders' as it includes the great 4th Dynasty when King Sneferu perfected the
art of pyramid building and the pyramids of Giza were constructed under the kings
Khufu, Khafre, and Menkaure.
During the Old Kingdom (also called the Pyramid Age) the power of the Egyptian
monarchy reached its zenith. The king was powerful enough to mobilize a significant
percentage of the population to move to Giza during the farming off -season and help
to build a pyramid.
Middle Kingdom – Period of Reunification
The Middle Kingdom also known as the Period of Reunification was a time of
achievements for the ancient Egyptians. Art took on new styles and techniques, like
the block style, where art was produced from large blocks of stone. Irrigation projects
at the Faiyum, a large oasis on the west bank of the Nile in Lower Egypt, increased
harvests.
New Kingdom – The Egyptian Empire
The Middle Kingdom also called as the Egyptian Empire is known especially for
monumental architecture and statuary honoring the gods and pharaohs, the New
Kingdom, a period of nearly 500 years of political stability and economic prosperity,
also produced an abundance of artistic masterpieces created for use by nonroyal
individuals.

3. Ancient India, 3300 B.C.

In ancient India, where Hinduism was founded, religion held great importance, along
with great literary traditions and incredible architecture. The Upanishads, or sacred
Hindu texts, include the ideas of reincarnation and the caste system based on
birthright, both of which have endured into modern times.

Unlike other ancient civilizations, the Indus River Valley Civilization, built in the Indus
River Valley (modern-day India, Afghanistan and Pakistan) does not appear to have
been war-torn.

The collapse of the Indus Valley, around 1700 B.C., is often credited to migration
prompted by climate change or possible tectonic movement that caused the Saraswati
River to dry out. Others cite a great flood.

MOHENJO-DARO
The name Mohenjo-daro is reputed to signify “the mound of the dead.” It was the largest
settlement of the ancient Indus Valley Civilisation, and one of the world's earliest major
cities. It had the world’s best-channeled drainage system.

HARAPPA
The modern historians also call it the Harappan Civilisation because Harappa was the
first city to be discovered. Harappan civilization is known for developing the first
accurate system of standardised measures and weights. They were also known for their
seals, pottery, sculptures, terracotta, drainage system, the way houses were built,
planning of the cities, etc. Many historians believe the Indus civilisation collapsed
because of changes to the geography and climate of the area. Movements in the E arth's
crust (the outside layer) might have caused the Indus river to flood and change its
direction.

ARYAN
Said to be derived from the Sanskrit word "Arya" which means "a person of a noble
race". The ancient Aryans were a group of people who were origina lly from central
Asia. Three thousand years ago, these Aryans settled in India, where they established
the language of Vedic Sanskrit, founded the Vedic religion, and established a caste
system of hierarchical classes.
In contrast to the city-dwelling Harappans, the Aryans were nomads who raised
livestock, rode chariots, and loved to gamble. They lived in simple homes. They
grouped in clans, and herded sheep and goats. They were ruled by warrior chiefs called
rajas.

4. Ancient China, 2000 B.C.

The ancient Chinese are credited with inventions including the abacus and the sundial.

Protected by the Himalayan Mountains, Pacific Ocean and Gobi Desert, and situated
between the Yellow and Yangtze rivers, the earliest Chinese civilizations flourished in
isolation from invaders and other foreigners for centuries. To stop Mongols from the
north, they built barriers seen by some as early precursors to the Great Wall of China,
built later in 220 B.C.

Generally divided into four dynasties—Xia, Shang, Zhou and Qin—ancient China was
ruled by a succession of emperors. The civilization is credited with developing the
decimal system, abacus and sundial, as well as the printing press, which allowed for
the publication and distribution of Sun Tzu’s The Art of War, still relevant more than
2,500 years later.

Like the Egyptians, the ancient Chinese were able to mobilize populations to build
massive infrastructure projects. The construction of the 5th century -era Grand Canal,
which links the Yellow and Yangtze rivers, for example, allowed vast numbers of
military forces and goods to move across the country.

“China is perhaps the most successful centralized state in human history. And at
several points in human history is without a doubt the greatest civilization that stayed
on the globe.”

5. Ancient Peru, 1200 B.C.

Peru served as the cradle of civilization to a number of cultures, including the Chavín,
Paracas, Nazca, Huari, Moche and Inca. Archaeologists have unearthed evidence of
metallurgy, ceramics and advanced medical and agricultural practices from within
these groups.
The civilization culminated with the great Inca Empire, which stretched from today’s
Colombia to Chile and is noted for the Andean city of Machu Picchu, with its elaborate
urban grid.
The Incas did not develop a writing system; instead they used pictures and symbols.
But they did use a knot-based accounting system, built paved roads on rugged terrain
connecting towns and settlements and created sophisticated agricultural and
architectural innovations.
Smallpox and other diseases, introduced to South America by the Spaniards, ravaged
the Inca populations, causing an internal weakening that helped the Francisco
Pizarro-led conquest of 1532. “So many people were being carried off by disease —
they had no immunity,” So rather than the state itself weakening in any significant way,
it was disease introduced by the outside that helped prepare for the Inca toppli ng of
civilization in Peru.”

6. Ancient Mesoamerica, 1200 B.C.

What Tenochtitlan may have looked like in the 14th century. Today it is the site of
Mexico City.
Parts of today’s Mexico and Central America were once home to a number of
Indigenous cultures, beginning with the Olmec around 1200 B.C., followed by the
Zapotec, Maya, Toltec and, ultimately, the Aztecs.

Fertile farmland led to agricultural adva nces, with corn, beans, vanilla, avocado,
peppers, squashes and cotton becoming important crops. Pyramid -style temples,
intricate pottery, stone monuments, turquoise jewelry and other fine arts have been
uncovered. Scholars believe the Zapotec developed Me soamerica’s first written
calendar and writing system, while the Mayans are noted for their advancements in
mathematics, hieroglyphics, architecture and astronomy.

The nomadic Aztecs founded Tenochtitlan (today’s Mexico City) in 1325 on small
islands in Lake Texcoco, and the city became a booming market for trade. The Aztecs
used a 365-solar calendar along with a 260-day ritual calendar, practiced human
sacrifice and bloodletting, used a form of picture writing and created works of art with
terracotta, feathers, mosaics and stone.

The Hernán Cortéz-led 1519 Spanish invasion, aided by Mesoamerican foes of the
Aztecs, brought the Aztec civilizatio n to an end by 1521. “When Cortez showed up, the
Aztecs were having great difficulty maintaining control over their subject tribes,” Harl
says. "They were greatly hated, and Cortez gave enough advantage to all those
disadvantaged subjects to topple the Aztec Empire."

MIDDLE AGES – MEDIEVAL TIMES

The Middle Ages was the period in European history from the collapse of Roman civilization in
the 5th century CE to the period of the Renaissance (variously interpreted as beginning in the
13th, 14th, or 15th century, depending on the region of Europe and other factors).This was a time
of castles and peasants, guilds and monasteries, cathedrals and crusades.
Dark Age
The Middle Ages, the medieval period of European history between the fall of the Roman Empire
and the beginning of the Renaissance, are sometimes referred to as the "Dark Ages."
The Dark Ages is a term for the Early Middle Ages, or occasionally the entire Middle Ages, in
Western Europe after the fall of the Western Roman Empire that characterizes it as marked by
economic, intellectual and cultural decline.
The Catholic Church straddled the world of medieval Europe. Every king, queen, knight, serf and
soldier lived and died within the embrace of the Catholic faith. The church was not simply a religion
and an institution; it was a category of thinking and a way of life.
CRUSADES - Military expeditions of Christians to take back the Holy land from the Muslims
(Reconquista). The Crusades were a series of religious wars initiated, supported, and sometimes
directed by the Latin Church in the medieval period. The best known of these Crusades are those
to the Holy Land in the period between 1095 and 1291 that were intended to recover Jerusalem
and its surrounding area from Islamic rule.
The Renaissance—which means "rebirth"—was a period of European history after the Middle
Ages. During this period, scholars sought to revitalize science and the arts. The Renaissance is
a period in European history marking the transition from the Middle Ages to modernity.
The Age of Exploration (also called the Age of Discovery) was a period of time when the
European nations began exploring the world. They discovered new routes to India, much of the
Far East, and the Americas. This allowed the mapping of the world, resulting in a new worldview
and distant civilizations coming into contact. The Age of Exploration led to the mass migration of
peoples to the New World. After exploring and establishing early settlements in the New World,
European nations next established colonies along the Atlantic coastline of the New World.
The Reformation was a religious reform movement that swept through Europe in the 1500s. It
resulted in the creation of a branch of Christianity called Protestantism, a name used collectively
to refer to the many religious groups that separated from the Roman Catholic Church due to
differences in doctrine.
The Age of Revolution – The societies underwent a series of revolutions in almost all theatres
of life: political, war, social and cultural, and economic and technological. The period is noted for
the change from absolutist monarchies to representative governments with a written constitution,
and the creation of nation states. Influenced by the new ideas of the Enlightenment, the American
Revolution (1765–1783) is usually considered the starting point of the Age of Revolution.
American Revolution
American Revolution, also called United States War of Independence or American Revolutionary
War, insurrection by which 13 of Great Britain's North American colonies won political
independence and went on to form the United States of America.

French Revolution

The French Revolution was a period of major social upheaval that began in 1787 and ended in
1799. It sought to completely change the relationship between the rulers and those they governed
and to redefine the nature of political power.

The French Revolution not only brought a new age to France but also influenced the other nations.
The ideals of nationalism resonated among other nations giving way for people to revolt against
unjust rule. The revolution also introduced the concept of democracy to other nations.

WORD WARS
WORLD WAR I
The assassination of Austrian Archduke Franz Ferdinand (June 28, 1914) was the main catalyst
for the start of the Great War (World War I). After the assassination, the following series of events
took place.
Over 30 nations declared war between 1914 and 1918. The majority joined on the side of the
Allies, including Serbia, Russia, France, Britain, Italy and the United States. They were opposed
by Germany, Austria-Hungary, Bulgaria and the Ottoman Empire, who together formed the
Central Powers.
The alliance of Germany, Austria-Hungary, Bulgaria and the Ottoman Empire as the 'Central
Powers'. The name referred to the geographical location of the two original members of the
alliance, Germany and Austria-Hungary, in central Europe.
The major Allied powers in World War I were Great Britain (and the British Empire), France, and
the Russian Empire, formally linked by the Treaty of London. The Allied Powers were largely
formed as a defense against the aggression of Germany and the Central Powers. They were also
known as the Entente Powers because they began as an alliance between France, Britain, and
Russia called the Triple Entente.
The Treaty of Versailles was the primary treaty produced by the Paris Peace Conference at the
end of World War I. It was signed on June 28, 1919, by the Allied and associated powers and by
Germany in the Hall of Mirrors in the Palace of Versailles and went into effect on January 10,
1920. The treaty gave some German territories to neighboring countries and placed other German
territories under international supervision. In addition, Germany was stripped of its overseas
colonies, its military capabilities were severely restricted, and it was required to pay war
reparations to the Allied countries. The treaty also created the League of Nations.
The predecessor of the United Nations was the League of Nations, established in 1919, after
World War I, under the Treaty of Versailles "to promote international cooperation and to achieve
peace and security."
The League of Nations was the first worldwide intergovernmental organization whose principal
mission was to maintain world peace. It was founded on 10 January 1920 by the Paris Peace
Conference that ended the First World War.
WORLD WAR II
Hitler's invasion of Poland in September 1939 drove Great Britain and France to declare war on
Germany, marking the beginning of World War II. Over the next six years, the conflict would take
more lives and destroy more land and property around the globe than any previous war.
6 million Jews murdered in Nazi concentration camps as part of Hitler’s diabolical “Final
Solution,” now known as the Holocaust.

The three principal partners in what was eventually referred to as the Axis alliance were Germany,
Italy, and Japan. These countries were led by German dictator Adolf Hitler, Italian dictator Benito
Mussolini, and Japanese Emperor Hirohito.

AXIS POWER
Rome - Germany
Berlin - Italy
Tokyo - Japan

Five other nations joined the Axis during World War II: Hungary, Romania, Bulgaria, Slovakia,
and Croatia.

In World War II, the three great Allied powers—Great Britain, the United States, and the Soviet
Union—formed a Grand Alliance that was the key to victory.

On January 1, 1942, representatives of 26 nations at war with the Axis powers met in Washington
to sign the Declaration of the United Nations endorsing the Atlantic Charter, pledging to use their
full resources against the Axis and agreeing not to make a separate peace.
At the Quebec Conference in August 1943, Secretary of State Cordell Hull and British Foreign
Secretary Anthony Eden agreed to draft a declaration that included a call for “a general
international organization, based on the principle sovereign equality of all nations.” An agreed
declaration was issued after a Foreign Ministers Conference in Moscow in October 1943. When
President Franklin D. Roosevelt met with Soviet Premier Joseph Stalin in Tehran, Iran, in
November 1943, he proposed an international organization comprising an assembly of all
member states and a 10-member executive committee to discuss social and economic issues.
The United States, Great Britain, Soviet Union, and China would enforce peace as “the four
policemen.” Meanwhile Allied representatives founded a set of task-oriented organizations: the
Food and Agricultural Organization (May 1943), the United Nations Relief and Rehabilitation
Administration (November 1943), the United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural
Organization (April 1944), the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank (July 1944), and
the International Civil Aviation Organization (November 1944).
Representatives of 50 nations met in San Francisco April-June 1945 to complete the Charter of
the United Nations. In addition to the General Assembly of all member states and a Security
Council of 5 permanent and 6 non-permanent members, the Charter provided for an 18-member
Economic and Social Council, an International Court of Justice, a Trusteeship Council to oversee
certain colonial territories, and a Secretariat under a Secretary General. The Roosevelt
administration strove to avoid Woodrow Wilson’s mistakes in selling the League of Nations to the
Senate. It sought bipartisan support and in September 1943 the Republican Party endorsed U.S.
participation in a postwar international organization, after which both houses of Congress
overwhelmingly endorsed participation. Roosevelt also sought to convince the public that an
international organization was the best means to prevent future wars. The Senate approved the
UN Charter on July 28, 1945, by a vote of 89 to 2. The United Nations came into existence on
October 24, 1945, after 29 nations had ratified the Charter.
The United Nations is an international organization founded in 1945 and committed to maintaining
international peace and security; developing friendly relations among nations; promoting social
progress, better living standards and human rights.
COLD WAR
Cold War, the open yet restricted rivalry that developed after World War II between the
United States and the Soviet Union and their respective allies. The Cold War was waged on
political, economic, and propaganda fronts and had only limited recourse to weapons.
As World War II was ending, the Cold War began. This was to be a long lasting and continuing
confrontation between the Soviet Union and the United States, lasting from 1945 to 1989. It was
called the Cold War because neither the Soviet Union nor the United States officially
declared war on each other.