FROM THE LEAGUE OF NATIONS

TO THE UNITED NATIONS

troop buildup
President Wilson’s Foreign Policy
Wilson`s dream- a new
world order.
The US should promote
democracy around the
world to insure peace.
Nations could work
together to end war
Foreign policy decisions
should be based on
honesty
President Wilson's Fourteen Points

January 1918
President Wilson speech

The Fourteen Points as the basis for

peace and the establishment of a
better post-war world.
 President Wilson’s Foreign Policy

A new world order had to be constructed based on

Respect for law

Shared universal values
The development of international
organizations
 President Wilson’s 14 Points: ideas to “end all war”.

Open diplomacy - no secret

treaties.
Freedom of the seas.
Free trade.
Countries reduce colonies and
weapons
14. A general association of
nations must be formed under
specific covenants for the
purpose of affording mutual
guarantees of political
independence and territorial
integrity to great and small
states alike.
Formation of new
countries with self-
government as a goal.
(Democracy)
A “league of nations”
to guarantee peace
among nations.
(Collective Security)
14 pts
 Treaty of Versailles
big4

• Wilson - “end all war”

with his 14 points for
world peace.
• Allied countries - own
self-interest and
agendas in mind.
• Wilson had to
compromise most of his
14 points to get his
“league of nations”

• Wilson warned Allies not to be to harsh on Germany

because it could lead to future problems.
 Wilson’s Fourteen Points
Allies

• Secret wartime agreements to distribute among

themselves territories and possessions of the
defeated nations
• Defeated powers
• The harsh treaties imposed upon them violated
the spirit of the Fourteen Points
 Treaty of Versailles
Open diplomacy or no secret treaties. Not included
Freedom of the seas. Not included
Removal of tariff and other economic
barriers or free trade. Not included
Reduction of land and weapons Germany disarmed and forced to pay
reparations of $53 billion
International control of colonies, with
self-government as the goal. Germany looses colonies. Given to
Allied victors.
Self-determination of ethnic groups to
decide in which country they wish to New countries form democracies based
live. on ethnic groups

A “general association of nations” to League of Nations - Organization of

guarantee peace and the larger nations to maintain world peace
independence of all nations.

versailles1
 Treaty of Versailles
ARTICLE 119 Germany renounces in favour of the Principal Allied and
Associated Powers all her rights and titles over her oversea possessions.

ARTICLE 231 … Germany accepts the responsibility of Germany and her

allies for causing all the loss and damage to which the Allied and
Associated Governments and their nationals have been subjected as a
consequence of the war imposed upon them by the aggression of
Germany and her allies

ARTICLE 232
The Allied and Associated Governments require, and Germany
undertakes, that she will make compensation for all damage done to
the civilian population of the Allied and Associated Powers and to their
property

versailles1
New Countries
Czechoslovakia
Austria
Hungary
Yugoslavia
Poland
Lithuania
Finland
Latvia
Estonia
Turkey
Iraq
 The League of Nations
• Purpose:
• Eliminate international anarchy
• Prevent war by encouraging disarmament and
settling the international disputes that may
occur in a peaceful manner
• Solve economic and social problems through
international cooperation
The Covenant of the League of Nations
• THE HIGH CONTRACTING PARTIES,
• In order to promote international co-operation and to
achieve international peace and security
by the acceptance of obligations not to resort to war,
by the prescription of open, just and honourable relations between
nations,
by the firm establishment of the understandings of international law
as the actual rule of conduct among Governments, and
by the maintenance of justice and a scrupulous respect for all treaty
obligations in the dealings of organised peoples with one another,
Agree to this Covenant of the League of Nations.
 The Covenant of the League of Nations
(Institutions)
• ARTICLE 2.
• The action of the League under this Covenant shall be
effected through the instrumentality of an Assembly
and of a Council, with a permanent Secretariat.
• ARTICLE 3.
• The Assembly shall consist of Representatives of the
Members of the League.
…. At meetings of the Assembly each Member of the
League shall have one vote…
 The Covenant of the League of Nations
(Institutions)
ARTICLE 4.
• The Council shall consist of Representatives of the
Principal Allied and Associated Powers, together
with Representatives of four other Members of the
League. These four Members of the League shall
be selected by the Assembly from time to time….
The Council may deal at its meetings with any
matter within the sphere of action of the League
or affecting the peace of the world.
 The Covenant of the League of Nations
(Institutions)
• ARTICLE 6.
• The permanent Secretariat shall be
established at the Seat of the League. The
Secretariat shall comprise a Secretary General
and such secretaries and staff as may be
required.
 The Covenant of the League of Nations
(Institutions)
• ARTICLE 14.
• The Council shall formulate and submit to the Members of
the League for adoption plans for the establishment of a
Permanent Court of International Justice. The Court shall be
competent to hear and determine any dispute of an
international character which the parties thereto submit to it.
The Court may also give an advisory opinion upon any dispute
or question referred to it by the Council or by the Assembly.
Note: The Court could not force members to accept its
decisions
 The Assembly The Council
•Each country sent a representative •Contained the most powerful
to the assembly. members of the league.
•Discussions to avoid war. •Took final decisions on peace
keeping.

The league of nations

The Secretariat Permanent Court of

International Justice
Provided secretaries,
Acted as a judge in the case of
translators etc. international disputes.
 The League of Nations

The Council The Assembly

• Britain, France, Italy, Japan and •Met once a year.
Germany (1926) had a permanent •Each member country had 1 vote.
seat.
• It debated and decided on
•Met regularly to make decisions
general policy
about peace keeping.
•The Assembly elected 4 other
temporary members

The Secretariat
Permanent Court of •Carried out various administrative duties

International Justice •Recorded decisions of the Assembly and

council.
•Sat at the Hague in Holland.
•Settled legal disputes over Commissions
boundaries.
•On disarmament, slavery, refugees,
•Gave advice on matters of minorities, mandates, working conditions
international law and health.
• Met regularly
 The Covenant of the League of Nations
(decision-making process)

• ARTICLE 5.
• Decisions at any meeting of the Assembly or
of the Council shall require the agreement of
all the Members of the League represented at
the meeting.
 The Covenant of the League of Nations
(Disarmament)

ARTICLE 8.
The Members of the League recognise that the maintenance of
peace requires the reduction of national armaments to the
lowest point consistent with national safety and the
enforcement by common action of international obligations…
The Members of the League undertake to interchange full and
frank information as to the scale of their armaments, their
military, naval and air programmes…

The arms race was a critical factor in causing the First World War.
Therefore, it was hoped, disarmament would reduce the threat of war.
The Covenant of the League of Nations
(Collective Security)
ARTICLE 10.
The Members of the League undertake to respect and
preserve against external aggression the territorial integrity
and existing political independence of all Members of the
League.
In case of any such aggression or in case of any threat or
danger of such aggression the Council shall advise upon the
means by which this obligation shall be fulfilled.
 The Covenant of the League of Nations
(Collective Security )

• ARTICLE 11.
• Any war or threat of war, whether
immediately affecting any of the Members of
the League or not, is hereby declared a matter
of concern to the whole League, and the
League shall take any action that may be
deemed wise and effectual to safeguard the
peace of nations.
The Covenant of the League of Nations
(Collective Security )
Collective Security
Participants agree that any "breach of the peace is to be
declared to be of concern to all the participating states,” and
will result in a collective response.

Collective security instead of military alliances

 League of Nations
Collective Security and USA

Why the USA didn’t join the League?

•To preserve Congress power to declare war.

•To avoid US involvement in a war with no self-interest.

•Isolationism.

• Public opinion in America was against US involvement in European affairs.

 Members of the League of Nations

Afghanistan—1934 Luxembourg--1920
Albania—1920 (taken over by Italy Mexico--1930
in 1939) Netherlands
Argentina New Zealand
Australia Nicaragua (withdrew, 1936)
Germany—1926, withdrew,
Austria (taken over by Germany Norway
1933
In 1938) Panama
Greece
Belgium Paraguay (withdrew, 1936)
Guatemala (withdrew, 1936)
Bolivia Persia
Haiti (withdrew, 1942)
Brazil (withdrew, 1926) Peru (withdrew,1939)
Honduras, (withdrew, 1936)
Bulgaria---1920 Poland
Hungary—1922, withdrew,
Canada Portugal
1939
Chile (withdrew, 1938) Romania (withdrew, 1940)
India
China Siam
Iraq—1932
Colombia Spain (withdrew, 1939)
Ireland—1923
Costa Rica—1920, withdrew, 1925 Sweden
Italy (withdrew, 1937)
Cuba Switzerland
Japan (withdrew, 1933)
Czechoslovakia Turkey--1932
Latvia—1921
Denmark Union of South Africa
Liberia
Dominican Republic—1924 USSR—1934, expelled, 1939
Lithuania—1921
Ecuador—1934 United Kingdom
Egypt—1937 Uruguay
El Salvador (withdrew, 1937) Venezuela (withdrew, 1938)
Estonia—1921 Yugoslavia
Ethiopia—1923
Finland—1920
France
league
 League of Nations
Romania Yugoslavia
(Cr oatia, Slove n ia, M ace d on ia, an d
Finland Poland Bo s n ia & He rz og o ve n ia)
Czechoslovakia
Luxembourg
Sweden
Norway
Denmark Estonia
Netherlands Latvia
Ireland UK Lithuania
Canada Hungary
Belgium
Austria France
Switzerland
Spain Italy Japan
Portugal Greece
Bulgaria Albania
China
Cuba
Haiti
Dominican Republic Persia
Guatemala (Ir a n ) India
Honduras
El Salvador Venez uela Siam
Nicaragua (Tha ila nd)
Panama Liberia Ethiopia
Colombia

y 1925 Peru
Bolivia
Brazil

Paraguay

Chile Uruguay South Africa

Australia
Argentina
New Zealand
 League of Nations

• Idealist to the end

• When Wilson was questioned about the practicality

of the League of Nations, he declared:

“If it won’t work, it must be made to work.”

How Successful was League?
• From its inception it faced a number of problems:
1. The USA refused to join.
2. Russia, too, was out. In 1919 no state in the world
recognised Lenin’s Communists as a lawful
government. Russia not invited to sign up for
League.
3. Germany was also excluded (they had started WWI).
4. The league had no standing army of its own to settle
international disputes.
5. Relied on British and French support, both lacked
enthusiasm to make it work
 How Successful was League?
• Some success in 1920s.
• It successfully made Danzig a free city.
• 1921 settled dispute between Sweden and
Finland over the Aaland Islands.
• 1922 saved Austria from economic collapse.
• 1923 limited but did not prevent, Italian
aggression against Greece over Corfu.
• 1925 it halted a Greek invasion of Bulgaria.
 How Successful was League?
• Insuccess in 1930s
• 1931 its authority was challenged by Japan who
invaded Chinese Manchuria. The League voted in
China’s favour but Japan continued the invasion and
left the League.
• European dictators, Hitler and Mussolini took note of
Japan’s success in getting away with aggression.
How Successful was League?
Manchuria
• Cartoon of 1933:
Japanese actions
destroying international
agreements such as the
Kellogg Pact and the
League of Nations
Covenant.  
 How Successful was League?

Totalitarian Nations defy the League of Nations

1931 – Japan invades Manchuria

1935 – Italy invades Abyssinia
1936 – Germany militarises the Rhineland
1936 – Spain accepts military support from Germany
1937 – Japan invades China
1938 – Germany invades Austria
 How Successful was League?
• The ultimate failure - the League was unable
to stop aggressions from happening in Europe
and the start of World War II.

• At the end of WWII, US President Franklin D.

Roosevelt and Britain Prime Minister Winston
Churchill kept the idea of the League alive by
creating the Atlantic Charter.
How Successful was League?
The main members The League of
put self-interest Nations was not a It was too
before collective League of ALL idealistic
security Nations
Politicians worried By 1935 ‘League The League was
about the cost of action’ meant what “fatally flawed from
action and votes. Britain and France the outset”. It
Would the British would do. Germany, believed all countries
public accept British Italy and Japan had would be peace-
soldiers dying in the left- USSR suspicious loving and
cause of ‘peace’ if it of League intentions; democratic. Never
was not a vital the US had never prepared to face
British interest? joined. war-loving
dictatorships.
 League of Nations
• The League of Nations was ineffective because of two
flaws:
– No power to enforce its decisions
– Collective security never materialized because at any given
time one or more of the great powers did not belong to
the League

• Nonetheless it established the pattern for and

served as a model for the United Nations
The Atlantic Charter
 The Atlantic Charter

President Roosevelt and Prime Minister Churchill were in conference “somewhere at sea”
The Atlantic Charter included the first formal use of the term “United Nations” coined by
President Roosevelt.

“… common principles in the national policies of their respective countries on which they based
their hopes for a better future for the world.”

Sixth clause: “After the final destruction of Nazi tyranny, they hope to see established a peace
which will afford to all nations the means of dwelling in safety within their own boundaries, and
which will afford assurance that all the men in all the lands may live out their lives in freedom
from fear and want.”
 The Atlantic Charter
Art. 8 :

“…all of the nations of the world, for realistic as well as spiritual reasons,
must come to the abandonment of the use of force.
Since no future peace can be maintained if land, sea or air armaments
continue to be employed by nations which threaten, or may threaten,
aggression outside of their frontiers, they believe, pending the
establishment of a wider and Permanent system of general security,
that the disarmament of such nations is essential.

They will likewise aid and encourage all other practicable measures
which will lighten for peace-loving peoples the crushing burden of
armaments.”
 The United Nations Declaration

New Year’s Day 1942, President Roosevelt, Prime Minister

Churchill, Maxim Litvinov, of the USSR, and T. V. Soong, of
China, signed a short document which later came to be
known as the United Nations Declaration.
First clause: the signatory nations had “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.”
•The United Nations Declaration
 The Moscow Declaration
1943
The principal Allied nations were committed to outright victory and, to
create a world in which “men in all lands may live out their lives in
freedom.”
.

On October 30, the Moscow Declaration was signed by Molotov,

Anthony Eden, Cordell Hull and Foo Ping Shen, the Chinese Ambassador
to the Soviet Union.
 The Moscow Declaration

Clause 4:

“That they [the Foreign Ministers] recognize the necessity of

establishing at the earliest practicable date a general
international organization, based on the principle of the
sovereign equality of all peace-loving states, and open to
membership by all such states, large and small, for the
maintenance of international peace and security.”
 Dumbarton Oaks
Four principal bodies were to constitute the organization to be
known as the United Nations.
A General Assembly composed of all the members.
A Security Council of eleven members. Five of these were to be
permanent.
An International Court of Justice
A Secretariat.
An Economic and Social Council, working under the authority of
the General Assembly.
The actual method of voting in the Security Council -- an all-
important question – was left open at Dumbarton Oaks for future
discussion.
 Dumbarton Oaks

Important feature of the Dumbarton Oaks plan:

Member states were to place armed forces at the disposal of
the Security Council to prevent war and suppressing acts of
aggression.
The absence of such force, it was generally agreed, had been
a fatal weakness in the older League of Nations machinery for
preserving peace.
 Yalta

The voting procedure in the Security Council - Yalta

February 11, 1945, the conference announced that this question had
been resolved, and it summoned the San Francisco Conference.

“We are resolved …of a general international organization to maintain

peace and security…”

“We have agreed that a Conference of United Nations should be called

to meet at San Francisco in the United States on the 25th April, 1945, to
prepare the charter of such an organization, along the lines proposed in
the formal conversations of Dumbarton Oaks.”
 San Francisco
President Truman :

"The Charter of the United Nations which you have just signed is a
solid structure upon which we can build a better world. History
will honor you for it. Between the victory in Europe and the final
victory, in this most destructive of all wars, you have won a victory
against war itself. . . . With this Charter the world can begin to
look forward to the time when all worthy human beings may be
permitted to live decently as free people."
 San Francisco

October 24, 1945 - the United Nations came into existence

with 50 member nations. Four years of planning and the
hope of many years had materialized in an international
organization designed to end war and promote peace, justice
and better living for all mankind.
 The United Nations Charter
The Charter has four main purposes:
1. To maintain international peace and security.
2. To develop friendly relations among nations.
3. To cooperate in solving international problems
and in promoting respect for human rights.
4. To be a center for harmonizing the acts of
nations.
 The United Nations Charter
PREAMBLE
WE THE PEOPLES OF THE UNITED NATIONS DETERMINED
• to save succeeding generations from the scourge of war,
which twice in our lifetime has brought untold sorrow to
mankind, and
• to reaffirm faith in fundamental human rights, in the dignity
and worth of the human person, in the equal rights of men
and women and of nations large and small, and
• to establish conditions under which justice and respect for
the obligations arising from treaties and other sources of
international law can be maintained, and
• to promote social progress and better standards of life in
larger freedom,
 The United Nations Charter
AND FOR THESE ENDS
• to practice tolerance and live together in peace with one
another as good neighbors, and
• to unite our strength to maintain international peace and
security, and
• to ensure, by the acceptance of principles and the institution
of methods, that armed force shall not be used, save in the
common interest, and
• to employ international machinery for the promotion of the
economic and social advancement of all peoples,
 The United Nations Charter
HAVE RESOLVED TO COMBINE OUR EFFORTS TO ACCOMPLISH
THESE AIMS
• Accordingly, our respective Governments, through
representatives assembled in the city of San Francisco, who
have exhibited their full powers found to be in good and due
form, have agreed to the present Charter of the United
Nations and do hereby establish an international
organization to be known as the United Nations.

• Charter of the United Nations - Preamble

 The United Nations Charter
• As a result of the UN Charter, the United
– Protect human rights and the
environment
Nations has created 30 smaller
– Reduce organizations.
Poverty
Both the UN and these organizations
– Set standards forare
efficient air travel
safe and

known together as the “UN– Improve

System”. They
telecommunications
work to: – Lead campaigns against drug
trafficking and terrorism
– Assist refugees
– Clear landmines
– Help expand food production
– Prevent the spread of diseases
(i.e. AIDS)
 The United Nations Charter
• The United Nations is not a world government. It
does, however, provide the means to help resolve
international conflicts and formulate policies on
matters affecting all of us. At the UN, all the Member
States — large and small, rich and poor, with differing
political views and social systems — have a voice and
a vote in this process.
 Six Divisions of the United Nations
• There are six main organs to the United Nations.
• Five of them (General Assembly, Security Council,
Economic and Social Council, Trusteeship Council and
the Secretariat) are based at UN Headquarters in
New York, NY.
• The sixth (International Court of Justice) is housed at
The Hague in the Netherlands.
 Six Divisions of the United Nations
1. Keys to the General Assembly:
– Meets regularly and in special sessions to consider the
world’s most important current problems.
– Annual regular sessions are held from September to
December.
– Each member nation has one vote.
– Issues (i.e. International Peace and Security, letting new
members join, etc.) are decided by 2/3 majority vote.
Other matters are decided by simple majority.
– It does not force its opinion on nations, but their
recommendations are seen as an indication of world
opinions and to represent a moral thought of the nations
around the world.
 Six Divisions of the United Nations
2. Keys to the Security Council:
– Responsible for overseeing International Peace
and Security.
– May meet at any time (esp. when peace is
threatened). All unit members must carry out the
council’s decisions.
– Made up of 15 council member countries (5 are
permanent: China, France, Russian Federation,
UK, US; the other 10 are elected in General
Assembly for 2 year terms).
– Any decisions made require a vote of yes from 9
nations.
 Six Divisions of the United Nations
3. Keys to the Economic and Social Council
– Coordinates economic and social work of the UN and its family of
organizations.
– 54 member nations elected by the General Assembly for 3 year terms.
– Meets throughout the year, with its major session in July.
– Creates policy recommendations, formulates cooperation of countries
around the world and is a link between the UN and the rest of civil
society.
– Major topics can include: status of women, crime prevention and
narcotic drugs to name just a few.
 Six Divisions of the United Nations
4. Keys to the Trusteeship Council:
– Was established to help 11 “Trust Territories” make the
transition to self-territories, or independent nations.
– All of these territories are now independent nations. The
last one was Palau, which became the 185th member of
the UN!
– With its work complete, the council now is made up of
the 5 permanent member nations of the Security Council.
– It now meets on an as-needed basis.
 Six Divisions of the United Nations
5. Keys to the International Court of Justice:
– Also known as the World Court. This is the main judicial
branch of the UN.
– Has 15 judges elected by General Assembly and Security
Council.
– Jobs are to decide disputes between countries (if the
countries are willing to participate and then must follow
the courts decisions) and give opinions to the UN and its
special organizations.
 Six Divisions of the United Nations
6. Keys to the Secretariat:
– Carries out the administrative part of the United
Nations.
– Its head is the Secretary General.
– Has departments and offices of about 7,500 staff
members from over 170 different countries.
– Work stations include New York, Geneva, Nairobi,
Vienna and many other locations.