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A response to the Greek civil war. Truman promised military and financial aid for all nations that were threatened by the rise of Communism.

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Here's How the Truman Doctrine Established the Cold War | History

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1960 the USSR shot down an American U2 spy plane. They captured Francis Gary Powers who was the pilot This forced president Eisenhower to reveal that the CIA had been flying spy missions over the USSR for several years. He was charge 10 years in prison ,but only did two or less because of they released him in order to get a Soviet  agent back. It the first-ever U.S.-USSR “spy swap.” The U-2 spy plane incident raised tensions between the U.S. and the Soviets during the Cold War

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Start studying The U2 Incident. Learn vocabulary, terms, and more with flashcards, games, and other study tools.

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A international alliance that has 29 member states from North America and Europe. It was established at the signing of the North Atlantic Treaty on 4 April 1949.

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There are currently 30 members

Sort alphabetically or

Albania (2009)

Belgium (1949)

Bulgaria (2004)

Canada (1949)

Croatia (2009)

Czechia (1999)

Denmark (1949)

Estonia (2004)

France (1949)

Germany (1955)

Greece (1952)

Hungary (1999)

Iceland (1949)

Italy (1949)

Latvia (2004)

Lithuania (2004)

Luxembourg (1949)

Montenegro (2017)

Netherlands (1949)

North Macedonia (2020)

Norway (1949)

Poland (1999)

Portugal (1949)

Romania (2004)

Slovakia (2004)

Slovenia (2004)

Spain (1982)

Türkiye (1952)

The United Kingdom (1949)

The United States (1949)

NATO enlargement

NATO membership is open to "any other European state in a position to further the principles of this Treaty and to contribute to the security of the North Atlantic area."

NATO also has what it calls the Membership Action Plan. It helps aspiring members prepare for membership and meet key requirements by providing practical advice and targeted assistance.

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2.1 A political and military Alliance

Security in our daily lives is key to our well-being. NATO's purpose is to guarantee the freedom and security of its members through political and military means.

POLITICAL - NATO promotes democratic values and enables members to consult and cooperate on defence and security-related issues to solve problems, build trust and, in the long run, prevent conflict.

MILITARY - NATO is committed to the peaceful resolution of disputes. If diplomatic efforts fail, it has the military power to undertake crisis-management operations. These are carried out under the collective defence clause of NATO's founding treaty - Article 5 of the Washington Treaty or under a United Nations mandate, alone or in cooperation with other countries and international organisations.

2.2 Collective defence

NATO is committed to the principle that an attack against one or several of its members is considered as an attack against all. This is the principle of collective defence, which is enshrined in Article 5 of the Washington Treaty.

So far, Article 5 has been invoked once - in response to the 9/11 terrorist attacks in the United States in 2001.

2.3 The Transatlantic link

NATO is an alliance of countries from Europe and North America. It provides a unique link between these two continents, enabling them to consult and cooperate in the field of defence and security, and conduct multinational crisis-management operations together.

2.4 The 2022 strategic concept

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3.1 Decisions and consultations

Every day, member countries consult and take decisions on security issues at all levels and in a variety of fields.

A "NATO decision" is the expression of the collective will of all 30 member countries since all decisions are taken by consensus.

Hundreds of officials, as well as civilian and military experts, come to NATO Headquarters each day to exchange information, share ideas and help prepare decisions when needed, in cooperation with national delegations and the staff at NATO Headquarters.

3.2 Operations and missions

Kosovo

Securing the Mediterranean

Supporting the African Union

NATO takes an active role in a broad range of crisis-management operations and missions, including civil emergency operations.

NATO's crisis-management operations are carried out under Article 5 of the Washington Treaty or under a United Nations mandate.

3.3 Partnerships

40 non-member countries work with NATO on a wide range of political and security-related issues. These countries pursue dialogue and practical cooperation with the Alliance and many contribute to NATO-led operations and missions. NATO is also cooperating with a wide network of international organisations.

Partner countries do not have the same decision-making authority as member countries.

Learn more
about NATO's partnerships

3.4 Developing the means to respond to threats

NATO has always innovated and adapted itself to ensure its policies, capabilities and structures meet current and future threats, including the collective defence of its members.

NATO develops partnerships with former adversaries after the break-up of
the Soviet Union

Large-scale terrorist attacks in New York and Washington D.C.

NATO invokes Article 5 for the first time ever and adopts a broader approach to security

Go to NATO Declassified

Member countries

International Military Staff

Integrated Military Command Structure

View organigram

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There are currently 30 members Sort alphabetically or Albania (2009) Belgium (1949) Bulgaria (2004) Canada (1949) Croatia (2009) Czechia (1999) Denmark (1949) Estonia (2004) France (1949) Germany (1955) Greece (1952) Hungary (1999) Iceland (1949) Italy (1949) Latvia (2004) Lithuania (2004) Luxembourg (1949) Montenegro (2017) Netherlands (1949) North Macedonia (2020) Norway

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It was basically a treaty of Friendship and Cooperation between Soviet Union, Albania, Poland, Romania, Hungary, East Germany, Czechoslovakia, and Bulgaria. Which puts Soviets in command of the armed forces. It was an protection tacttic to the enemy and a defense protocal to protect them all.

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This article was most recently revised and updated by

Warsaw Pact, formally Warsaw Treaty of Friendship, Cooperation, and Mutual Assistance, (May 14, 1955-July 1, 1991) treaty establishing a mutual-defense organization (Warsaw Treaty Organization) composed originally of the Soviet Union and Albania, Bulgaria, Czechoslovakia, East Germany, Hungary, Poland, and Romania. ( Albania withdrew in 1968, and East Germany did so in 1990.) The treaty (which was renewed on April 26, 1985) provided for a unified military command and for the maintenance of Soviet military units on the territories of the other participating states.

NATO; Warsaw Pact Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc.

The immediate occasion for the Warsaw Pact was the Paris agreement among the Western powers admitting West Germany to the North Atlantic Treaty Organization. The Warsaw Pact was, however, the first step in a more systematic plan to strengthen the Soviet hold over its satellites, a program undertaken by the Soviet leaders Nikita Khrushchev and Nikolay Bulganin after their assumption of power early in 1955. The treaty also served as a lever to enhance the bargaining position of the Soviet Union in international diplomacy, an inference that may be drawn by the concluding article of the treaty, which stipulated that the Warsaw agreement would lapse when a general East-West collective-security pact should come into force.

The Warsaw Pact, particularly its provision for the garrisoning of Soviet troops in satellite territory, became a target of nationalist hostility in Poland and Hungary during the uprisings in those two countries in 1956. The Soviet Union invoked the treaty when it decided to move Warsaw Pact troops into Czechoslovakia in August 1968 to bring the Czechoslovak regime back into the fold after it had begun lifting restraints on freedom of expression and had sought closer relations with the West. (Only Albania and Romania refused to join in the Czechoslovak repression.)

After the democratic revolutions of 1989 in eastern Europe, the Warsaw Pact became moribund and was formally declared "nonexistent" on July 1, 1991, at a final summit meeting of Warsaw Pact leaders in Prague, Czechoslovakia. Deployed Soviet troops were gradually withdrawn from the former satellites, now politically independent countries. The decades-long confrontation between eastern and western Europe was formally rejected by members of the Warsaw Pact, all of which, with the exception of the Soviet successor state of Russia, subsequently joined NATO.

North Atlantic Treaty Organization: members and partners Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc./Kenny Chmielewski

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The Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica Adam Augustyn, Managing Editor, Reference Content.

Learn More in these related Britannica articles:

20th-century international relations: From skepticism to reality

...members of NATO and the Warsaw Pact convened at Ottawa, on February 11, 1990, Bush skillfully won universal agreement to a prudent format for talks on the unification of Germany. The French, British, and Soviets had considered involving the four powers from the start in group negotiations with the Germans,...

20th-century international relations: Liberalization and struggle in Communist countries

...in July, at the annual Warsaw Pact meeting, Gorbachev called on each member state to pursue "independent solutions [to] national problems" and said that there were "no universal models of Socialism." At the same time Bush toured Poland and Hungary, praising their steps toward democracy and offering aid, but saying...

20th-century international relations: The nature and role of Germany

...in 1955 by creating the Warsaw Pact, a military alliance of the U.S.S.R. and its eastern European satellites....

date

May 14, 1955 - July 1, 1991

participants

context

related topics

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Warsaw Pact | Summary, History, Countries, Map, Significance, & Facts

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Warsaw Pact, treaty establishing a mutual-defense organization composed originally of the Soviet Union and Albania, Bulgaria, Czechoslovakia, East Germany, Hungary, Poland, and Romania. The treaty provided for a unified military command and for the maintenance of Soviet military units within other participating states.

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The Marshall Plan was an assistance program proposed by George Marshall. The official name was The European Recovery Programme (ERP).
It spanned from 1947-1948. The program provided food, machinery, and other materials to rebuild Western Europe.

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The Marshall Plan study guide by megan_delaurier includes 15 questions covering vocabulary, terms and more. Quizlet flashcards, activities and games help you improve your grades.

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It was in effect from 1989-90. It was Winston Churhill's phrase for the separation of Europe. Europe was divided into two sections; East and West. The East was under Soviets control and had a communist government.                                    The West was named Federal Republic of Germany and was a democratic government.

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This article was most recently revised and updated by

Iron Curtain, the political, military, and ideological barrier erected by the Soviet Union after World War II to seal off itself and its dependent eastern and central European allies from open contact with the West and other noncommunist areas. The term Iron Curtain had been in occasional and varied use as a metaphor since the 19th century, but it came to prominence only after it was used by former British prime minister Winston Churchill in a speech at Fulton, Missouri, U.S., on March 5, 1946, when he said of the communist states, "From Stettin in the Baltic to Trieste in the Adriatic, an iron curtain has descended across the Continent."

The restrictions and the rigidity of the Iron Curtain were somewhat reduced in the years following Joseph Stalin's death in 1953, although the construction of the Berlin Wall in 1961 restored them. During the Cold War the Iron Curtain extended to the airwaves. The attempts by the Central Intelligence Agency-funded Radio Free Europe (RFE) to provide listeners behind the Curtain in the Eastern bloc with uncensored news were met with efforts by communist governments to jam RFE's signal. The Iron Curtain largely ceased to exist in 1989-90 with the communists' abandonment of one-party rule in eastern Europe.

The Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica Jeff Wallenfeldt.

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Iron Curtain, political, military, and ideological barrier erected by the U.S.S.R after World War II to seal off itself and its dependent eastern and central European allies from open contact with the West and other noncommunist areas. The term came to prominence after its use in a speech by Winston Churchill.

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U.S. begins Berlin Airlift. In 1948 U.S. and British pilots begin delivering food and supplies by airplane to Berlin after the city is isolated by the Soviet Union blockade. Germany was divided into Soviet, American, British and French zones. Josef Stalin and his goverment tred to control West Berln so all sea and land routes to the cty were cut off. On June 24 the western part of Berlin lost food and important resources. Presdent truman operated a arlft from west germany and and England loaded with food and resources.

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Table of Contents

1. The Berlin Airlift: The Partitioning of Berlin

2. The Berlin Airlift: The Berlin Blockade

3. The Berlin Airlift: "Operation VITTLES" Begins

4. The Berlin Airlift: The End of the Blockade

After World War II, the Allies partitioned the defeated Germany into a Soviet-occupied zone, an American-occupied zone, a British-occupied zone and a French-occupied zone. Berlin, the German capital city, was located deep in the Soviet zone, but it was also divided into four sections. In June 1948, the Russians-who wanted Berlin all for themselves-closed all highways, railroads and canals from western-occupied Germany into western-occupied Berlin. This, they believed, would make it impossible for the people who lived there to get food or any other supplies and would eventually drive Britain, France and the U.S. out of the city for good. Instead of retreating from West Berlin, however, the U.S. and its allies decided to supply their sectors of the city from the air. This effort, known as the "Berlin Airlift," lasted for more than a year and carried more than 2.3 million tons of cargo into West Berlin.

The Berlin Airlift: The Partitioning of Berlin

As World War II came to an end in 1945, the Allied powers held peace conferences at Yalta and Potsdam to determine how they would divide up Germany's territories. The agreements split the defeated nation into four "allied occupation zones": They gave the eastern part of the country to the Soviet Union and the Western part to the U.S. and Great Britain. In turn, those nations agreed to cede a small part of their territories to France.

Did you know? During the Berlin airlift, an Allied supply plane took off or landed in West Berlin every 30 seconds. The planes made nearly 300,000 flights in all.

Even though Berlin was located entirely within the Soviet part of the country (it sat about 100 miles from the border between the eastern and western occupation zones), the Yalta and Potsdam agreements likewise split the German capital into Allied sectors: The Soviets took the eastern half, while the other Allies took the western. This occupation of Berlin, governed by a multipower agency called the Kommandatura, began in June 1945.

The Soviets were dissatisfied with this arrangement. Twice in recent memory, they had been invaded by Germany, and they had no interest in promoting that country's reunification-yet it seemed that was exactly what the United States, Great Britain and France had in mind. For example, in 1947 the Americans and the British combined their two sectors into a single "Bizonia," and the French were preparing to join as well. In 1948, the three western Allies created a single new currency (the Deutsche Mark) for all of their occupation zones-a move that the Soviets feared would fatally devalue the already hyperinflated Reichsmarks that they used in the east. For the Soviets, it was the last straw.

The Berlin Airlift: The Berlin Blockade

The Russians were also concerned about a unified West Berlin: a capitalist city located right in the middle of their occupation zone that would likely be powerfully and aggressively anti-Soviet. They decided that something needed to be done to stop this creeping unificationism. They withdrew from the Kommandatura and began a blockade of West Berlin, a maneuver that they hoped would effectively starve the western powers out of Berlin. If West Germany was to become its own country, they argued, then Berlin, located more than 100 miles from its border, could no longer be its capital.

On June 24, 1948, the Soviet authorities announced that the Autobahn, the highway connecting western Germany to Berlin, would be closed indefinitely "for repairs." Then, they halted all road traffic from west to east, and barred all barge and rail traffic from entering West Berlin. Thus began the blockade of Berlin.

As far as the western Allies were concerned, withdrawal from the city was not an option. "If we withdraw," said the American military commander, "our position in Europe is threatened, and Communism will run rampant." President Harry Truman echoed this sentiment: "We shall stay," he declared, "period." Using military force to strike back against the Soviet blockade seemed equally unwise: The risk of turning the Cold War into an actual war-even worse, a nuclear war-was just too great. Finding another way to re-provision the city seemed to the Allies to be the only reasonable response.

The Berlin Airlift: "Operation VITTLES" Begins

It was quickly settled: The Allies would supply their sectors of Berlin from the air. Allied cargo planes would use open air corridors over the Soviet occupation zone to deliver food, fuel and other goods to the people who lived in the western part of the city. This project, code-named "Operation VITTLES" by the American military, was known as the "Berlin airlift." (West Berliners called it the "Air Bridge.")

The Berlin airlift was supposed to be a short-term measure, but it settled in for the long haul as the Soviets refused to lift the blockade. For more than a year, hundreds of American, British and French cargo planes ferried provisions from Western Europe to the Tempelhof (in the American sector), Gatow (in the British sector) and Tegel (in the French sector) airfields in West Berlin. At the beginning of the operation, the planes delivered about 5,000 tons of supplies to West Berlin every day; by the end, those loads had increased to about 8,000 tons of supplies per day. The Allies carried about 2.3 million tons of cargo in all over the course of the airlift.

Life in West Berlin during the blockade was not easy. Fuel and electricity were rationed, and the black market was the only place to obtain many goods. Still, most West Berliners supported the airlift and their western allies. "It's cold in Berlin," one airlift-era saying went, "but colder in Siberia."

The Berlin Airlift: The End of the Blockade

By spring 1949, it was clear that the Soviet blockade of West Berlin had failed. It had not persuaded West Berliners to reject their allies in the West, nor had it prevented the creation of a unified West German state. (The Federal Republic of Germany was established in May 1949.) On May 12, 1949, the Soviets lifted the blockade and reopened the roads, canals and railway routes into the western half of the city. The Allies continued the airlift until September, however, because they wanted to stockpile supplies in Berlin just in case the blockade was reinstated.

Most historians agree that the blockade was a failure in other ways, too. It amped up Cold War tensions and made the USSR look to the rest of the world like a cruel and capricious enemy. It hastened the creation of West Germany, and, by demonstrating that the U.S. and Western European nations had common interests (and a common foe), it motivated the creation of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), an alliance that still exists today.

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Berlin Airlift - Definition, Blockade & Date | HISTORY

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The Berlin Airlift was the name of an operation that carried supplies by plane to the Allied sectors of West Berlin over a Russian blockade in the late 1940s.

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Table of Contents

1. The Berlin Airlift: The Partitioning of Berlin

2. The Berlin Airlift: The Berlin Blockade

3. The Berlin Airlift: "Operation VITTLES" Begins

4. The Berlin Airlift: The End of the Blockade

After World War II, the Allies partitioned the defeated Germany into a Soviet-occupied zone, an American-occupied zone, a British-occupied zone and a French-occupied zone. Berlin, the German capital city, was located deep in the Soviet zone, but it was also divided into four sections. In June 1948, the Russians-who wanted Berlin all for themselves-closed all highways, railroads and canals from western-occupied Germany into western-occupied Berlin. This, they believed, would make it impossible for the people who lived there to get food or any other supplies and would eventually drive Britain, France and the U.S. out of the city for good. Instead of retreating from West Berlin, however, the U.S. and its allies decided to supply their sectors of the city from the air. This effort, known as the "Berlin Airlift," lasted for more than a year and carried more than 2.3 million tons of cargo into West Berlin.

The Berlin Airlift: The Partitioning of Berlin

As World War II came to an end in 1945, the Allied powers held peace conferences at Yalta and Potsdam to determine how they would divide up Germany's territories. The agreements split the defeated nation into four "allied occupation zones": They gave the eastern part of the country to the Soviet Union and the Western part to the U.S. and Great Britain. In turn, those nations agreed to cede a small part of their territories to France.

Did you know? During the Berlin airlift, an Allied supply plane took off or landed in West Berlin every 30 seconds. The planes made nearly 300,000 flights in all.

Even though Berlin was located entirely within the Soviet part of the country (it sat about 100 miles from the border between the eastern and western occupation zones), the Yalta and Potsdam agreements likewise split the German capital into Allied sectors: The Soviets took the eastern half, while the other Allies took the western. This occupation of Berlin, governed by a multipower agency called the Kommandatura, began in June 1945.

The Soviets were dissatisfied with this arrangement. Twice in recent memory, they had been invaded by Germany, and they had no interest in promoting that country's reunification-yet it seemed that was exactly what the United States, Great Britain and France had in mind. For example, in 1947 the Americans and the British combined their two sectors into a single "Bizonia," and the French were preparing to join as well. In 1948, the three western Allies created a single new currency (the Deutsche Mark) for all of their occupation zones-a move that the Soviets feared would fatally devalue the already hyperinflated Reichsmarks that they used in the east. For the Soviets, it was the last straw.

The Berlin Airlift: The Berlin Blockade

The Russians were also concerned about a unified West Berlin: a capitalist city located right in the middle of their occupation zone that would likely be powerfully and aggressively anti-Soviet. They decided that something needed to be done to stop this creeping unificationism. They withdrew from the Kommandatura and began a blockade of West Berlin, a maneuver that they hoped would effectively starve the western powers out of Berlin. If West Germany was to become its own country, they argued, then Berlin, located more than 100 miles from its border, could no longer be its capital.

On June 24, 1948, the Soviet authorities announced that the Autobahn, the highway connecting western Germany to Berlin, would be closed indefinitely "for repairs." Then, they halted all road traffic from west to east, and barred all barge and rail traffic from entering West Berlin. Thus began the blockade of Berlin.

As far as the western Allies were concerned, withdrawal from the city was not an option. "If we withdraw," said the American military commander, "our position in Europe is threatened, and Communism will run rampant." President Harry Truman echoed this sentiment: "We shall stay," he declared, "period." Using military force to strike back against the Soviet blockade seemed equally unwise: The risk of turning the Cold War into an actual war-even worse, a nuclear war-was just too great. Finding another way to re-provision the city seemed to the Allies to be the only reasonable response.

The Berlin Airlift: "Operation VITTLES" Begins

It was quickly settled: The Allies would supply their sectors of Berlin from the air. Allied cargo planes would use open air corridors over the Soviet occupation zone to deliver food, fuel and other goods to the people who lived in the western part of the city. This project, code-named "Operation VITTLES" by the American military, was known as the "Berlin airlift." (West Berliners called it the "Air Bridge.")

The Berlin airlift was supposed to be a short-term measure, but it settled in for the long haul as the Soviets refused to lift the blockade. For more than a year, hundreds of American, British and French cargo planes ferried provisions from Western Europe to the Tempelhof (in the American sector), Gatow (in the British sector) and Tegel (in the French sector) airfields in West Berlin. At the beginning of the operation, the planes delivered about 5,000 tons of supplies to West Berlin every day; by the end, those loads had increased to about 8,000 tons of supplies per day. The Allies carried about 2.3 million tons of cargo in all over the course of the airlift.

Life in West Berlin during the blockade was not easy. Fuel and electricity were rationed, and the black market was the only place to obtain many goods. Still, most West Berliners supported the airlift and their western allies. "It's cold in Berlin," one airlift-era saying went, "but colder in Siberia."

The Berlin Airlift: The End of the Blockade

By spring 1949, it was clear that the Soviet blockade of West Berlin had failed. It had not persuaded West Berliners to reject their allies in the West, nor had it prevented the creation of a unified West German state. (The Federal Republic of Germany was established in May 1949.) On May 12, 1949, the Soviets lifted the blockade and reopened the roads, canals and railway routes into the western half of the city. The Allies continued the airlift until September, however, because they wanted to stockpile supplies in Berlin just in case the blockade was reinstated.

Most historians agree that the blockade was a failure in other ways, too. It amped up Cold War tensions and made the USSR look to the rest of the world like a cruel and capricious enemy. It hastened the creation of West Germany, and, by demonstrating that the U.S. and Western European nations had common interests (and a common foe), it motivated the creation of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), an alliance that still exists today.

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Berlin Airlift - Definition, Blockade & Date | HISTORY

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The Berlin Airlift was the name of an operation that carried supplies by plane to the Allied sectors of West Berlin over a Russian blockade in the late 1940s.

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The United Nations was created at the end of World War ll as an international peacemaking organization and an assembly for resolving conflicts between nations. It was established on October 24, 1945 and included four of the main allied powers; the United States, United Kingdom, Soviet Union, and Republic of China. The United Nations has 5 main bodies that serve different purposes. The Soviet Union and United States used it as a promotion to win over minds during the Cold War.

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The United Nations (UN) was created at the end of World War II as an international peacekeeping organization and a forum for resolving conflicts between nations.

The UN replaced the ineffective League of Nations, which had failed to prevent the outbreak of the Second World War.

The UN was established on October 24, 1945, with headquarters in Manhattan, New York City, and reflected the rise of the United States to global leadership in the postwar period.

Negotiating a postwar world order

In 1944, delegations from the United States, the United Kingdom, the Soviet Union, and the Republic of China-four of the main Allied powers in World War II-met in Washington, DC to negotiate the parameters of the postwar world and to discuss the establishment of the international organization that would become known as the United Nations (UN).

The United Nations replaced the League of Nations, which had been created at the end of the First World War to provide states with an international forum for the peaceful resolution of disputes. Even though US President Woodrow Wilson was one of the key supporters of the League of Nations, the United States never officially joined the organization due to intense opposition from isolationist members of Congress. The League of Nations ultimately proved ineffective in preventing the outbreak of another world war and was formally dissolved in 1946.

The United States played an instrumental role in the founding of the United Nations. The UN Charter, with its emphasis on peace, security, international law, economic development, and human rights, reflected the influence of US President Franklin D. Roosevelt and British Prime Minister Winston Churchill, who shared a vision for the postwar world. In 1941, the two leaders drafted the Atlantic Charter, which declared that there would be no territorial aggrandizement as a result of the war, that postwar international relations would be cooperative, and that disputes between states would be resolved through peaceful negotiation and not the use or threat of force. The Atlantic Charter eventually became the basis for the UN Charter.

The extent of US involvement in the creation of the United Nations, as well as the location of its main headquarters in New York City, demonstrates the rise of the United States to global leadership in the postwar period.

The structure and function of the United Nations

The United Nations has several main bodies that serve different purposes. The Secretariat is the main administrative organ of the UN. It commissions research and applies the findings of studies to making the UN a more effective and efficient organization.

The General Assembly is the main deliberative body of the UN. Every country that is a member of the UN is represented in the General Assembly. The UN General Assembly convenes annually to deliberate and vote on important issues affecting world peace and security. The General Assembly can only make recommendations to member-states; it cannot make binding decisions, nor can it enforce those decisions - only the Security Council has the authority to do that.

The Security Council is composed of five permanent members-the United States, Great Britain, France, Russia, and China- which were the five main Allied powers in the Second World War. There are also ten non-permanent seats on the Security Council that rotate between different countries every two years. The purpose of the Security Council is to peacefully resolve international conflicts and prevent the outbreak of war. UN Security Council resolutions are binding and are enforced by UN peacekeepers, which are military forces contributed by member-states.

The Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) was created to promote international economic and social cooperation and development, particularly in the developing world, or what was referred to during the Cold War as the "Third World."

Finally, the International Court of Justice (ICJ) is the judicial organ of the UN. At its headquarters at the Hague, Netherlands, the court hears legal disputes between states and issues opinions on legal matters submitted by members of the General Assembly or other UN agencies.

The United Nations in the Cold War

Because the Soviet Union and the United States both held permanent seats on the UN Security Council, as the Cold War heated up, disunity between the two great powers interfered with the international organization's basic peacekeeping mission. This was partly due to the dual nature of the UN as a forum for negotiating disputes among states and a platform for influencing international opinion. The Soviet Union and the United States both used the UN as a propaganda platform, to win hearts and minds in the Cold War. Many of the proposals submitted by US and Soviet officials were aimed primarily at criticizing each other, and since each superpower had a veto in the Security Council, disputes could not be resolved unless both Cold War rivals agreed, which was rare. This had the effect of stalling negotiations and prolonging conflict.

The evolution of the UN

In the 1950s and 1960s, decolonization, or the process by which former colonial territories became independent states, transformed the composition and functioning of the UN. During this time period, dozens of newly independent countries in Africa, Asia, and the Middle East joined the United Nations and sought to redirect the energies of the organization toward easing the transition to independence. As a result of the activism of states referred to during the Cold War as the "Third World," the UN took on additional responsibilities for economic, political, and social development, and the monitoring and enforcement of fundamental human rights.

What do you think?

Why was the United Nations founded? What does the UN Charter tell us about its main goals?

How did the Cold War affect the functioning and purpose of the United Nations?

How did the UN evolve over the course of the twentieth century?

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The United Nations (article) | World War II | Khan Academy

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The United Nations (UN) was created at the end of World War II as an international peacekeeping organization and a forum for resolving conflicts between nations. The UN replaced the ineffective League of Nations, which had failed to prevent the outbreak of the Second World War.