View source for Declaration by United Nations

{{Short description|Treaty forming the Allies during World War II}}
{{Infobox Chinese
| title         = Declaration by United Nations
| float         = <!-- left|right|none  (Default float position is right) -->
| collapse      = <!-- yes|no   -->
| pic           = UN Fight for Freedom Leslie Ragan 1943 poster - restoration1.jpg
| piccap        = "The [[Allies of World War II|United Nations]] Fight for Freedom" — [[United States Office of War Information|Office of War Information]] poster, 1943

| picsize       =
| name1         =
| t             = 聯合國共同宣言
| s             = 联合国共同宣言
| p             = Liánhéguó gòngtóng xuānyán
| rus           = Декларация Объединённых Наций
| rusr          = Deklaratsiya Ob"yedinonnykh Natsiy

}}

The '''Declaration by United Nations''' was the main [[treaty]] that formalized the [[Allies of World War II]] and was signed by 47 national governments between 1942 and 1945. On 1 January 1942, during the [[Arcadia Conference]] in Washington D.C., the Allied "[[Four Policemen|Big Four]]"—the [[United States]], the [[United Kingdom]], the [[Soviet Union]], and [[Republic of China (1912-1949)|China]]—signed a short document which later came to be known as the United Nations Declaration, and the next day the representatives of 22 other nations added their signatures.

The other original signatories on the next day (2 January 1942) were the four [[dominion]]s of the [[British Commonwealth]] ([[Australia]], [[Canada]], [[Dominion of New Zealand|New Zealand]], and [[Union of South Africa|South Africa]]); eight European governments-in-exile ([[Belgian government in exile|Belgium]], [[Czechoslovak government-in-exile|Czechoslovakia]], [[Greek government in exile|Greece]], [[Luxembourg government-in-exile|Luxembourg]], [[Dutch government-in-exile|Netherlands]], [[Nygaardsvold's Cabinet|Norway]], [[Polish government-in-exile|Poland]], and [[Yugoslav government-in-exile|Yugoslavia]]); nine countries in the [[Americas]] ([[First Costa Rican Republic|Costa Rica]], [[Republic of Cuba (1902–1959)|Cuba]], [[Third Republic (Dominican Republic)|Dominican Republic]], [[El Salvador]], [[Guatemala]], [[Republic of Haiti (1859–1957)|Haiti]], [[Honduras]], [[Nicaragua]], and [[Panama]]); and one [[Dependent territory|non-independent]] government, the British-appointed [[British Raj|Government of India]].

The Declaration by United Nations became the basis of the [[United Nations]] (UN), which was formalized in the [[Charter of the United Nations|UN Charter]], signed by 50 countries on 26 June 1945.

== Background ==
The [[Allies of World War II]] first expressed their principles and vision for the post-[[World War II]] world in the [[Declaration of St James's Palace|Declaration of St. James's Palace]] agreed at the First Inter-Allied Conference in June 1941.<ref>{{cite web|date=2015-08-25|title=1941: The Declaration of St. James' Palace|url=https://www.un.org/en/sections/history-united-nations-charter/1941-declaration-st-james-palace/index.html|access-date=28 March 2016|publisher=United Nations}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book|last=Lauren|first=Paul Gordon|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=efV5wvpUjDgC&pg=PA140|title=The Evolution of International Human Rights: Visions Seen|date=2011|publisher=University of Pennsylvania Press|isbn=978-0-8122-2138-1|pages=140–41|language=en}}</ref> The [[Anglo-Soviet Agreement]] was signed in July 1941 forming a military alliance between the [[United Kingdom]] and the [[Soviet Union]].<ref name=":1">{{Cite book |last=Weinberg |first=Gerhard L. |title=A World at Arms, a global history of World War II |publisher=Cambridge University Press |year=2005 |isbn=9780521853163 |edition=2nd |pages=284–5}}</ref><ref name=":2">{{Cite book |last=Woodward |first=Llewellyn |title=British Foreign Policy in the Second World War |publisher=Her Majesty's Stationery Office |year=1962 |location=London |pages=162–3}}</ref> The two main principles of these agreements, a commitment to the war and renunciation of a separate peace, formed the basis for the later Declaration by United Nations.<ref name=":0" />

The [[Atlantic Charter]] was agreed a month later between Britain and the United States, to which the other Allies, now including the Soviet Union, agreed to adhere at the [[Atlantic Charter#Acceptance by Inter-Allied Council and United Nations|Second Inter-Allied Conference]] in September.<ref>"The Inter-Allied Council Meeting in London." Bulletin of International News 18, no. 20 (1941): 1275-280. Accessed April 5, 2020. www.jstor.org/stable/25643120.</ref><ref>{{cite web |date=2008 |title=Inter-Allied Council Statement on the Principles of the Atlantic Charter : September 24, 1941 |url=https://avalon.law.yale.edu/wwii/interall.asp |access-date=5 April 2020 |website=[[Avalon Project]] |publisher=[[Yale Law School]]}}</ref>

==Drafting==

[[File:Signing Declaration by United Nations.jpg|thumb|upright=1.2|Representatives of 26 Allied nations fighting against the Axis Powers met in Washington, D.C., to pledge their support for the [[Atlantic Charter]] by signing the Declaration by United Nations on January 1, 1942. The document contained the first official use of the term "United Nations", which was suggested by U.S. President Franklin Delano Roosevelt (seated, second from left).]]
The Declaration by United Nations was drafted during the [[Arcadia Conference]] at the [[White House]] on December 29, 1941, by US President [[Franklin D. Roosevelt]], British Prime Minister [[Winston Churchill]], and Roosevelt's aide [[Harry Hopkins]]. It incorporated Soviet suggestions but left no role for France. 

Roosevelt coined the term "United Nations" to describe the [[Allies of World War II|Allied countries]] and suggested it as an alternative to the name "Associated Powers" (the U.S. was never formally a member of the [[Allies of World War I]] but entered the war in 1917 as a self-styled "Associated Power"). Churchill accepted it and noted that the phrase was used by [[Lord Byron]] in the poem ''[[Childe Harold's Pilgrimage]]'' (Stanza 35).<ref>The name "United Nations" for the World War II allies was suggested by President [[Franklin D. Roosevelt]] of the United States as an alternative to the name "Associated Powers". British Prime Minister [[Winston Churchill]] accepted it, noting that the phrase was used by [[Lord Byron]] in the poem ''[[Childe Harold's Pilgrimage]]'' (Stanza 35). {{cite book |last1=Manchester |first1=William |title=[[The Last Lion: Winston Spencer Churchill#Defender of the Realm, 1940–1965|The Last Lion: Defender of the Realm]] |last2=Reid |first2=Paul |publisher=Little Brown and Company |year=2012 |isbn=978-0-316-54770-3 |series=[[The Last Lion: Winston Spencer Churchill]] |volume=3 |location=New York |page=461 |author-link1=William Manchester |author-link2=Paul Reid (writer)}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|date=3 February 2007|title=United Nations|url=http://www.wordorigins.org/index.php/site/comments/united_nations/|access-date=28 March 2016|website=Wordorigins.org|archive-date=31 March 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160331193323/http://www.wordorigins.org/index.php/site/comments/united_nations/|url-status=dead}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|last1=Ward|first1=Geoffrey C.|title=The Roosevelts: An Intimate History|last2=Burns|first2=Ken|date=2014|publisher=Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group|isbn=978-0385353069|pages=397|chapter=Nothing to Conceal|chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=V73CAwAAQBAJ&pg=SA6-PA60}}</ref> 

The parties pledged to uphold the [[Atlantic Charter]], to employ all their resources in the war against the [[Axis powers]], and that none of the signatory nations would seek to negotiate a [[separate peace]] with any party to the [[Tripartite Pact]] in the same manner that the nations of the [[Triple Entente]] had agreed not to negotiate a separate peace with any or all of the [[Central Powers]] in [[World War I]].

One major change from the [[Atlantic Charter]] was the addition of a provision for religious freedom, which Stalin approved after Roosevelt insisted.<ref>David Roll, ''[https://books.google.com/books?id=Jg7cSwH2r7MC The Hopkins Touch: Harry Hopkins and the Forging of the Alliance to Defeat Hitler]'' (2013) pp 172–175</ref><ref>Robert E. Sherwood, ''[https://books.google.com/books?id=Nh8_IgAACAAJ Roosevelt and Hopkins, An Intimate History]'' (1948) pp 447–453</ref>

The text of the declaration affirmed the signatories' perspective "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 principle of "complete victory" established an early precedent for the Allied policy of obtaining the Axis' powers' "unconditional surrender". The defeat of "Hitlerism" constituted the overarching objective, and represented a common Allied perspective that the totalitarian militarist regimes ruling [[Nazi Germany|Germany]], [[Fascist Italy|Italy]], and [[Imperial Japan|Japan]] were indistinguishable.<ref>Bevans, Charles I. ''[https://books.google.com/books?id=0UQ6AQAAIAAJ Treaties and Other International Agreements of the United States of America, 1776–1949]''. Volume 3. "Multilateral, 1931–1945". Washington, D.C.: Government Printing Office, 1969, p. 697.</ref> 

The declaration, furthermore, was consistent with the Wilsonian principles of self determination, thus linking U.S. war aims in both world wars.<ref>[[Thomas A. Bailey]] ''[https://books.google.com/books?id=KByPwUfN_D8C The Marshall Plan Summer: An Eyewitness Report on Europe and the Russians in 1947.]'' Stanford: Hoover Institution Press, 1977, p. 227.</ref>

== Adoption ==
The Declaration was officially signed on 1 January 1942 by the Big Four —the [[United States]], the [[United Kingdom]], the [[Soviet Union]], and [[Republic of China (1912-1949)|China]]—followed the next day by representatives of 22 other governments. The term "United Nations" became synonymous during the war with the Allies and was considered to be the formal name that they were fighting under.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.un.org/en/about-us/history-of-the-un/preparatory-years#deco|title=1942: The Declaration by United Nations  |publisher=United Nations|access-date=12 July 2021}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |last=Ma |first=Xiaohua |title=The Sino-American alliance during World War II and the lifting of the Chinese exclusion acts |date=2003 |journal=American Studies International |publisher=Routledge |isbn=0-415-94028-1 |volume=38 |location=New York |pages=203–204 |jstor=41279769 |issue=2}}</ref><ref name="UN_security">{{cite book |url=http://www.unmultimedia.org/searchers/yearbook/page.jsp?volume=1946-47&page=38 |title=Yearbook of the United Nations 1946-1947 |date=1947 |publisher=United Nations |location=Lake Success, NY |page=3 |chapter=The Moscow Declaration on general security |oclc=243471225 |access-date=25 April 2015}}</ref>

The Declaration by United Nations became the basis of the modern [[United Nations]].<ref name="FDR">{{cite book |author1=Townsend Hoopes |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=OztJcfbnpDsC |title=FDR and the Creation of the U.N. |author2=Douglas Brinkley |date=1997 |publisher=[[Yale University Press]] |isbn=978-0-300-06930-3 |location=[[New Haven, Connecticut]] |author-link=Townsend Hoopes |author2-link=Douglas Brinkley |access-date=10 June 2015}}</ref> By the end of the war, 21 other states had acceded to the declaration, including the Philippines (a non-independent, US [[Commonwealth (U.S. insular area)|commonwealth]] at the time), France, every Latin American state except [[Argentina]],<ref>"[http://www.encyclopedia.com/topic/Act_of_Chapultepec.aspx Act of Chapultepec]". ''The Oxford Companion to World War II'', I. C. B. Dear and M. R. D. Foot (2001)</ref> and the various independent states of the Middle East and Africa. Although most of the minor Axis powers had switched sides and joined the United Nations as co-belligerents against Germany by the end of the war, they were not allowed to accede to the declaration. Occupied [[Denmark]] did not sign the declaration, but because of the vigorous resistance after 1943, and because the Danish ambassador [[Henrik Kauffmann]] had expressed the adherence to the declaration of all free Danes, Denmark was nonetheless invited among the allies in the [[United Nations Conference on International Organization|San Francisco Conference]] in March 1945.<ref name=":0">{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=98U8YSrp1YUC&q=%22Free+Danes%22+%22Declaration+by+United+Nations%22|via=Google Books|title=Everyone's United Nations|volume=10|page=7|author=United Nations Department of Public Information|year=1986|isbn=9789211002737}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=BXotAQAAIAAJ&q=%22Free+Danes%22+|via=Google Books|title=The Atlantic and United Nations Charters: common law prevailing for world peace and security|first=Philippe|last=Drakidis|publisher=Centre de recherche et d'information politique et sociale|year=1995|page=131}}</ref>

==Text==
[[File:"Declaration by the United Nations" - NARA - 514106.jpg|thumb|upright=1.2|Declaration by United Nations]]
{{quote|<small>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</small>

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&nbsp;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 [[Nazism|Hitlerism]].<ref>Text from [http://avalon.law.yale.edu/wwii/washc014.asp "The Washington Conference 1941-1942"]</ref>}}

==Signatories==
[[File:United Nations Fight for Freedom poster.jpg|thumb|upright=0.8|right|Wartime poster for the [[United Nations]], created by the [[United States Office of War Information|US Office of War Information]]]]
[[File:Original United Nations.jpg|thumb|upright=0.8|right|Wartime poster for the [[Allies of World War II]], created in 1942 by the US Office of War Information, showing the 26 members of the alliance]]

{| class=wikitable
!colspan=2 | Original signatories<ref name="UN">{{cite book|title=Yearbook of the United Nations 1946-1947|date=1947|publisher=United Nations|location=Lake Success, NY|oclc=243471225|pages=1–2|url=http://www.unmultimedia.org/searchers/yearbook/page.jsp?volume=1946-47&page=36|access-date=20 April 2015|chapter=The Declaration by United Nations}}</ref>
|-
|Big Four<ref name="UN_security"/><ref>{{cite book|last1=Ma|first1=Xiaohua|title=The Sino-American alliance during World War II and the lifting of the Chinese exclusion acts|journal=American Studies International|jstor=41279769|date=2003|volume=38|issue=2|publisher=Routledge|location=New York|isbn=0-415-94028-1|pages=203–204}}</ref>
|{{unbulleted list|item_style=margin:0
|{{flag|United States|1912}}
|{{flag|United Kingdom}}
|{{flag|USSR|1936}}
|{{flagdeco|Republic of China}} [[Nationalist government|China]]}}
|-
|Dominions of the British Commonwealth
|{{unbulleted list|item_style=margin:0
|{{flag|Australia}}
|{{flag|Canada|1921}}
|{{flagdeco|Dominion of New Zealand}} [[Dominion of New Zealand|New Zealand]]
|{{flagdeco|South Africa|1928}} [[Union of South Africa|South Africa]]}}
|-
|style="max-width:10em"|Independent countries in the Americas
|{{unbulleted list|item_style=margin:0
|{{flagdeco|First Costa Rican Republic}} [[First Costa Rican Republic|Costa Rica]]
|{{flagdeco|Cuba|1902}} [[Republic of Cuba (1902–1959)|Cuba]]
|{{flagdeco|Dominican Republic}} [[Third Republic (Dominican Republic)|Dominican Republic]]
|{{flag|El Salvador}}
|{{flagicon image|Flag of Guatemala (1871-1968).svg}} [[Guatemala]]
|{{flagdeco|Haiti|1859}} [[Republic of Haiti (1859–1957)|Haiti]]
|{{flag|Honduras|1866}}
|{{flag|Nicaragua|1908}}
|{{flag|Panama}}
}}
|-
|European governments-in-exile
|{{unbulleted list|item_style=margin:0
|{{flagdeco|Belgium|state}} [[Belgian government in exile|Belgium]]
|{{flagdeco|Czechoslovakia}} [[Czechoslovak government-in-exile|Czechoslovakia]]
|{{flagdeco|Kingdom of Greece|state}} [[Greek government in exile|Greece]]
|{{flagdeco|Luxembourg}} [[Luxembourg government-in-exile|Luxembourg]]
|{{flagdeco|Netherlands}} [[Dutch government-in-exile|Netherlands]]
|{{flagdeco|Norway}} [[Nygaardsvold's Cabinet|Norway]]
|{{flagdeco|Second Polish Republic}} [[Polish government-in-exile|Poland]]
|{{flagdeco|Kingdom of Yugoslavia}} [[Yugoslav government-in-exile|Yugoslavia]]}}
|-
|Non-independent subjects of the British Empire
|{{flagdeco|British Raj}} [[British Raj|India]]
|-
!colspan="2" |Later signatories<ref name="UN" />
|-
|1942
|{{unbulleted list|item_style=margin:0
|{{flagdeco|Ethiopian Empire}} [[Ethiopian Empire|Ethiopia]]
|{{flagdeco|Brazil|1889}} [[Vargas Era|Brazil]]
|{{flagdeco|Mexico|1934}} [[Mexico]]
|{{flagdeco|Philippines|1936}} [[Government in exile of the Commonwealth of the Philippines|Philippines]] (non-independent [[Commonwealth (U.S. insular area)|US Commonwealth]] in 1934–1946)
}}
|-
|1943
|{{unbulleted list|item_style=margin:0
|{{flag|Bolivia|state}}
|{{flag|Colombia}}
|{{flagdeco|Iran|1925}} [[Pahlavi dynasty|Iran]]
|{{flagdeco|Kingdom of Iraq}} [[Kingdom of Iraq|Iraq]]
}}
|-
|1944
|{{unbulleted list|item_style=margin:0
|{{flagdeco|France}} [[French Committee of National Liberation|France]]
|{{flag|Liberia}}
}}
|-
|1945
|{{unbulleted list|item_style=margin:0
|{{flag|Chile}}
|{{flag|Ecuador|1900}}
|{{flagdeco|Kingdom of Egypt}} [[Kingdom of Egypt|Egypt]]
|{{flagdeco|Lebanon|1920}} [[Greater Lebanon|Lebanon]] (non-independent French [[League of Nations mandate|mandate]] in 1930–1945)
|{{flag|Paraguay}}
|{{flag|Peru|1884}}
|{{flag|Saudi Arabia|1938}}
|{{flagdeco|Syrian Republic}} [[Mandatory Syrian Republic|Syria]] (non-independent French [[League of Nations mandate|mandate]] in 1930–1945) 
|{{flag|Turkey}}
|{{flag|Uruguay}}
|{{flagdeco|Venezuela|1930}} [[United States of Venezuela|Venezuela]]}}
|-
|}

==See also==
{{wikisource|Declaration by United Nations}}
* [[Allied technological cooperation during World War II]]
* [[Declarations of war during World War II]]
* [[Diplomatic history of World War II]]
*[[History of the United Nations]]
*[[List of Allied World War II conferences]]
* 1945 [[United Nations Conference on International Organization]] resulted in the creation of the [[United Nations Charter]]

==Notes==
{{Reflist}}

{{notelist}}

==References==
*[http://www.ibiblio.org/pha/policy/1942/420101a.html Declaration by United Nations] from [[ibiblio]].
*[http://avalon.law.yale.edu/20th_century/decade03.asp Declaration by United Nations]
*[http://www.ibiblio.org/pha/paw/274.html Declaration by United Nations]

{{United Nations}}
{{Franklin D. Roosevelt}}
{{Winston Churchill}}
{{Authority control}}

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