Formation Of The Un

The United Nations were not always the respected world organization they are today. They began as a frail alliance between several nations that held no real power. This original alliance collapsed and eventually was re-incarnated into the UN. From there, more and more nations joined the UN and respected it because it was actually able to enforce the ideals it represented. The UN today is the strongest multi-national organization that has been created.

The UN was not always the United Nations. Its earliest form was the League of Nations, which was formed following the First World War, in 1919. In theory the League was a great idea; it was supposed to stop any future World Wars, as World War One was the “Great War” or the war to end all wars. It attempted this through collective security (if a country is attacked, the League nations retaliate against the aggressor), disarmament, and settling disputes diplomatically. The problem with this was the fact that the League could not enforce these resolutions, as it had no army of its own. This made it so it had to rely on the Great Powers, most of which ignored the League and followed their own practices. However, the League was doomed from its inception, the creator of the League, President of the United States Woodrow Wilson, could not convince the senate to join the organization.

When the League collapsed Hitler had already began his reign, and World War II was on the horizon. But once the Axis was defeated and the war ended in 1945, the United Nations was founded as a successor to the League. The biggest difference between the UN and the League is the fact that the UN has its own peacekeeping army was more focused on every country having their own representation in the organization, without having to rely on the Great Powers. Many more countries are represented in the UN compared to the League; in fact nearly every country in the world is a member.

Compared to the League, the UN has been infinitely more successful in its mission. It has established the basis of human rights, and cooperates with other countries to improve international law, security, and economic development of certain countries. In 1950, the UN supported the South Koreans in the Korean War; this was the first example of the UN attempting to keep the peace by collective action.

After WWII, Korea was split into North and South Korea, run by Russia and the US respectively. The UN was to oversee the elections that were held there to ensure they were fair elections. South Korea held their elections and they were approved by the UN. But when the UN attempted to enter North Korea, the UN was barred entry, and the Soviets set up their own government. By June 1950 North Korea had launched a full scale invasion of South Korea. The UN reacted by sending a collective security, military force led by General MacArthur to intervene. The landing was a huge success, but MacArthur pushed the attack too close to the Chinese border. This caused the Chinese to fear an attack, so they pushed the UN forces back, and the war resulted in a stalemate between the North and South. Many hailed this action as a UN success, because it demonstrated how different it was from the League, and showed that