Founding the United Nations

The idea of a new world organization grew during the war itself. In January 1942, 26 nations signed the Declaration by United Nations, pledging to fight the Axis together. Plans for a permanent organization were drafted at Dumbarton Oaks in Washington in 1944 and refined at Yalta. From April to June 1945, delegates from 50 countries met in San Francisco and signed the UN Charter on 26 June; Poland signed later, making 51 original members. The Charter came into force on 24 October 1945.

Learning from the League of Nations' failures, the UN included all the major powers and gave five permanent members of the Security Council, the US, USSR, Britain, France and China, a veto. Supporters argue the veto kept great powers inside the system; critics argue it often paralyzes action. The UN's founding, together with the 1948 Universal Declaration of Human Rights, reflected the hope that the catastrophe of World War II would never be repeated.