Declaration By United Nations

Right. So, you want me to take this… document. This historical footnote. And make it… more. Like it’s not already a perfectly adequate, if rather dry, account of how a bunch of nations decided to stop pretending they weren't at war. Fine. Let’s see if we can inject some of the lingering chill of Yalta into this.

Treaty forming the Allies during World War II

"The United Nations Fight for Freedom" — Office of War Information poster, 1943. A rather optimistic title, considering the sheer, unadulterated misery that followed.

The Declaration by United Nations. It sounds so… declarative. So final. As if signing a piece of paper could actually contain the encroaching chaos. This was the treaty, the grand pronouncement, that solidified the Allies of World War II – a rather motley crew, if you ask me – and it was signed by no fewer than 47 national governments between the bleak years of 1942 and 1945. Think of it as a very large, very grim wedding guest list.

It all kicked off on January 1, 1942, during the Arcadia Conference in Washington D.C. The self-proclaimed "Big Four" – the United States, the United Kingdom, the Soviet Union, and China – those titans of industry and desperation, put their names to a short, almost dismissive document. Later, it became known, rather grandly, as the United Nations Declaration. The very next day, as if an afterthought, representatives from 22 other nations decided to join the fray, adding their signatures to this pact of mutual destruction.

Let’s not forget the others who were present at this particular genesis of global conflict. On that second day, January 2, 1942, the four dominions of the British Commonwealth – Australia, Canada, New Zealand, and South Africa – all dutifully signed. Then came the eight European governments-in-exile, huddled in borrowed offices, dreaming of homelands they could no longer see: Belgium, Czechoslovakia, Greece, Luxembourg, Netherlands, Norway, Poland, and Yugoslavia. Their signatures were laced with a particular kind of desperation. Nine countries from the Americas also joined: Costa Rica, Cuba, Dominican Republic, El Salvador, Guatemala, Haiti, Honduras, Nicaragua, and Panama. And finally, a rather curious addition: the British-appointed Government of India, representing a non-independent entity, adding its mark.

This Declaration, this fragile scaffolding of intent, eventually evolved. It laid the groundwork, the very bones, for the United Nations as we know it – though the UN Charter, signed in 1945 by 50 countries, is a far more substantial beast.

Background

Before this grand declaration, the Allies of World War II had already been muttering about their ideals, their vague visions for a world that hadn't yet been entirely pulverized. These musings first took tangible form in the Declaration of St. James's Palace, hammered out at the First Inter-Allied Conference in June 1941. ¹ ² Then came the Anglo-Soviet Agreement in July of the same year, a military alliance forged between the United Kingdom and the Soviet Union. ³ ⁴ The core tenets of these early pacts – an unwavering commitment to the war and a resolute refusal to entertain any notion of a separate peace – became the bedrock upon which the Declaration by United Nations was later constructed. ⁵

A month after that, the Atlantic Charter was drafted, a joint statement from Britain and the United States. The other Allies, now including the ever-suspicious Soviets, eventually agreed to its terms at the Second Inter-Allied Conference in September. ⁶ ⁷ These were the whispers in the dark before the storm truly broke.

Drafting

The actual text of the Declaration by United Nations was a product of hurried negotiations during the Arcadia Conference, held within the hallowed, and perhaps slightly too opulent, halls of the White House. The key players, American President Franklin D. Roosevelt, British Prime Minister Winston Churchill, and Roosevelt's ever-present aide, Harry Hopkins, wrestled with the words on December 29, 1941. Soviet suggestions were incorporated, but France, languishing under German occupation, was conspicuously absent from the drafting table. A rather pointed oversight.

Roosevelt himself is credited with coining the term "United Nations" to refer to the Allied coalition, a more resonant alternative, he felt, to the rather sterile "Associated Powers" moniker adopted by the U.S. in World War I. Churchill, ever the wordsmith, readily agreed, even noting that the phrase had been used by Lord Byron in his poem Childe Harold's Pilgrimage (Stanza 35). ⁸ ⁹ ¹⁰ A touch of poetic flair for a document about global conflict.

The signatories pledged their allegiance to the principles laid out in the Atlantic Charter. They committed all their resources, military and economic, to the fight against the Axis powers, and crucially, vowed not to negotiate any kind of separate peace. This echoes the similar pledge made by the Allied nations during World War I not to make a separate peace with the Central Powers. A futile promise, perhaps, but a promise nonetheless.

A significant amendment from the Atlantic Charter was the inclusion of a provision for religious freedom. Stalin, surprisingly, agreed after Roosevelt’s insistence. A rare moment of accord, or perhaps just strategic maneuvering.

The declaration itself articulated a powerful sentiment: the signatories’ conviction that "complete victory over their enemies is essential to defend life, liberty, independence and religious freedom, and to preserve human rights and justice in their own lands as well as in other lands, and that they are now engaged in a common struggle against savage and brutal forces seeking to subjugate the world." The emphasis on "complete victory" set an early precedent for the Allies' ultimate demand for the Axis powers' "unconditional surrender." The singular objective was the defeat of "Hitlerism," a term used to encompass the totalitarian militarist regimes that held sway in Germany, Italy, and Japan, portraying them as a monolithic, interchangeable enemy. ¹¹

Furthermore, the declaration subtly aligned itself with the Wilsonian principles of self-determination, creating a thread that connected America's war aims across both global conflicts. ¹²

Adoption

The Declaration was officially signed on January 1, 1942, by the formidable "Big Four" – the United States, the United Kingdom, the Soviet Union, and China. The following day, the representatives of 22 other governments appended their signatures. In the crucible of war, the term "United Nations" became synonymous with the Allied cause, effectively serving as the formal banner under which they waged their fight. ¹³ ¹⁴ ¹⁵

This Declaration by United Nations, in its nascent form, became the foundational document for the modern United Nations. ¹⁶ By the time the war sputtered to its exhausted close, an additional 21 states had formally acceded to the declaration. This included the Philippines, which was then a non-independent US commonwealth, France, nearly every Latin American state except for the conspicuously absent Argentina, ¹⁷ and a smattering of independent nations from the Middle East and Africa. It’s worth noting that while most of the minor Axis powers, having wisely switched allegiances, joined the United Nations as co-belligerents against Germany, they were pointedly excluded from acceding to the declaration. Occupied Denmark initially abstained, but due to its determined resistance after 1943 and the ambassador Henrik Kauffmann's declaration of adherence on behalf of all free Danes, Denmark was still invited to the San Francisco Conference in March 1945. ⁵ ¹⁸

Text

Here it is. The actual words. Feel the weight of them. Or perhaps, the emptiness.

Declaration by United Nations

A JOINT DECLARATION BY THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, THE UNITED KINGDOM OF GREAT BRITAIN AND NORTHERN IRELAND, THE UNION OF SOVIET SOCIALIST REPUBLICS, CHINA, AUSTRALIA, BELGIUM, CANADA, COSTA RICA, CUBA, CZECHOSLOVAKIA, DOMINICAN REPUBLIC, EL SALVADOR, GREECE, GUATEMALA, HAITI, HONDURAS, INDIA, LUXEMBOURG, NETHERLANDS, NEW ZEALAND, NICARAGUA, NORWAY, PANAMA, POLAND, SOUTH AFRICA, YUGOSLAVIA

The Governments signatory hereto,

Having 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 Great Britain dated August 14, 1941, known as the Atlantic Charter,

Being convinced that complete victory over their enemies is essential to defend life, liberty, independence and religious freedom, and to preserve human rights and justice in their own lands as well as in other lands, and that they are now engaged in a common struggle against savage and brutal forces seeking to subjugate the world,

Declare:

(1) Each Government pledges itself to employ its full resources, military or economic, against those members of the Tripartite Pact and its adherents with which such government is at war.

(2) Each Government pledges itself to cooperate with the Governments signatory hereto and not to make a separate armistice or peace with the enemies.

The foregoing declaration may be adhered to by other nations which are, or which may be, rendering material assistance and contributions in the struggle for victory over Hitlerism. ¹⁹

Signatories

A stark, black-and-white poster from the US Office of War Information, dated 1943, depicting the concept of the United Nations. Another, from 1942, shows the 26 members of the Allied alliance, a rather grim parade.

Original signatories ²⁰

Big Four ¹⁵ ²¹

Dominions of the British Commonwealth

Independent countries in the Americas

European governments-in-exile

Non-independent subjects of the British Empire

India

Later signatories ²⁰

1942

Ethiopia
Brazil
Mexico
Philippines (non-independent US Commonwealth in 1935-1946)

1943

1944

1945

Chile
Ecuador
Egypt
Lebanon (non-independent French mandate in 1930–1943)
Paraguay
Peru
Saudi Arabia
Syria (non-independent French mandate in 1930–1945)
Turkey
Uruguay
Venezuela