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The United Nations To-Day and To-Morrow

CHAPTER THREE: How the United Nations Came Into Being

THE SECOND WORLD WAR, which the majority of the human race has been dreading for half a generation, is often described as having had its official beginning on September I, 1939.

Before dawn on that morning, without even a declaration of war, the German armies advanced into Poland and the German Air Force started making a shambles of Polish railways and airfields bombing and strafing unsuspecting civilians. Within two days France and Britain, who had been trying to prevent German aggression, declared war on the aggressor as they had promised. In the course of the following days Australia, Canada, New Zealand, South Africa, and India realising that the outbreak of war in Europe threatened their own ultimate security joined Britain and France in their fight against the German aggressor.

Actually the war, which the leaders of Germany, Italy and Japan had determined to make upon a peaceful world, had been going on more or less openly for some time. The Japanese attacks on Manchuria, Jehol, and Central China. had been part of it. So had the Italian seizure of Ethiopia and Albania, the joint German Italian intervention in the Spanish Civil War, the German entry into the Rhineland and her seizure of Austria and Czechoslovakia (aided and abetted in the latter case by Hungary). The beginnings of the war went back even further than these aggressions. The first step was the secret and illegal rearmament of Germany and the beginning of the world wide campaign of espionage and fifth column, activity of lies and propaganda to confuse, bewilder and sow distrust among the peace loving nations.

The Axis was aided in carrying out these plans by the fact that the non Axis nations hated war and were determined to exhaust every effort to avoid it. This attitude finally led to the adoption of the unsuccessful policy of "appeasement " culminating in the Munich pact of 1938. By a barrage of peace propaganda, by making a pretence of good intention, by carrying on their plans in such a way that each instance of aggression seemed to have some plausible excuse and to be an isolated affair, the aggressors succeeded in pursuing the master plan underlying their step by step progress towards world domination.

Even after the war had finally broken out, and after Poland, in spite of heroic resistance, had suffered a disastrous defeat, the neutral countries in Europe clung to a belief in the repeated assurances of Germany that their neutrality would be respected. Hence, the Axis was able to continue to keep them divided, preventing them from joining in mutual defence. And across the ocean the United States remained firm in its policy of neutrality and in its belief that the Axis neither could nor would attack.

The six months after the end of the Polish campaign were a period of tense expectancy and comparative quiet while the Axis nations prepared for the next step in their plan. When winter was over, Germany was ready and struck again.

German War Plans Put Into Action

On April 9, 1940, a German army suddenly marched into Denmark, and German ships, disguised as merchantmen, poured men, tanks and guns into Norway. Allied contingents from Britain and France hastened to the aid of the quickly mobilised Norwegian army, but hastily improvised defence and co operation with the Allies proved insufficient to meet the long planned massive attack by Germany. In less than eight weeks the bulk of the Norwegian forces had been destroyed or forced to flee to Britain or Sweden.

Before the Norwegian towns had stopped burning, the Germans had launched another attack this time their main attack in the West. Again three neutrals Belgium, Luxembourg and the Netherlands were the first in the path of invasion. Again France and Britain sent help, but again the carefully planned German campaign proved to be too strong. The Germans poured into France.

In the south, Italy chose this critical moment to enter the war on Germany's side and thus to stab France in the back. Six weeks later the French command was forced to surrender. Although some portion of the French army made its way to Great Britain to continue the fight under General de Gaulle, Britain was left the only free land and bastion in Western Europe to stand against the advance of the aggressor powers.

The swift conquest of the northern and western continental European nations proves strikingly that no belief in neutrality or in isolation, or in the possibility of maintaining peace without international machinery to enforce it, can save any country from nations bent upon aggression.

To Britain escaped not only certain French forces but the governments and the remnants of the armed forces of those nations which had been overrun by the aggressors Belgium, Czechoslovakia, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Norway and Poland. Later came to Britain two more European governments who had chosen the hard path of resistance against Axis aggression. On October 23, 1940, Italy wantonly and without warning attacked Greece and suffered an ignominious series of defeats at the hands of the heavily outnumbered Greeks. fn the spring of 1941 Germany intervened to rescue her ally. The people of Yugoslavia along the route of the invading German armies revolted and overthrew their pro German Government. After a short but bitter struggle the German forces overran Yugoslavia and finally defeated Greece. The Greek and Yugoslav Governments with remnants of their armed forces managed to escape, and the two governments, having arranged for their forces to be organized with British assistance in the Middle East, made their way to London.

Joint Action Grows from Experience

As far as military co operation was concerned, the British and French had learned late in the First World War from bitter experience the necessity of teamwork and the pooling of resources. Thus, even before the outbreak of the Second World War, France and Britain had agreed on plans so that, should war come, they would be ready with a joint military command for defense. Subsequently, in November, 1939, they also agreed on the machinery for a common pooling of supplies for mutual, unlimited financial assistance and the sharing of raw materials.

This concept of joint action for common aims was one step in the development of the idea of the United Nations.

Another striking example of teamwork and of the pooling of resources was the offer made by Britain to France in June, 1940, in its hour of greatest peril, to join in a total and " indissoluble " union. " France and Britain," reads the text of Britain's offer, " shall no longer be two, but one French British union . . . Every citizen of France will enjoy immediately citizenship of Great Britain, every British subject will become a citizen of France.. . But the constitution of the union will provide for joint organs of defence, foreign, finance and economic policies . . . and the two parliaments will be formally associated." The fact that Marshal Petain's government of defeatism rejected this offer does not affect its significance.

Allied Governments Work Together

The next step in the development of the United Nations concept arose out of the association in Britain of the governments of Belgium, Czechoslovakia, Greece, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Yugoslavia and the Free French.

By the Allied Forces Act (August, 1940) these governments and authorities were permitted to form, train and maintain on British soil their own military units under their own officers, their own flags, and their own military law. By other laws and agreements, they were also encouraged to set up on British soil their own courts of law, their own schools, their own religious institutions and their own newspapers.

They did more, however, than live side by side they had a common aim in the re establishment of freedom in Europe, and they learned to work together and pool their common resources.

To the pool of men and resources created by the British Commonwealth and Empire the, Allies from the nine occupied countries of Europe brought their special contributions. For ex L ample, France contributed the strategic and material resources of the free parts of its Empire ; Norway contributed its merchant marine, the fourth largest in the world; Belgium brought copper from the Congo and its considerable gold reserves; the Netherlands contributed oil and rubber from the East Indies and its merchant marine; Yugoslavia and Greece each brought ships and other resources; and Poland and Czechoslovakia brought from their longer ordeals invaluable battle seasoned troops and pilots. Six nations of the British Commonwealth, and the representatives of nine nations of Europe, stood firm as one united team, though, at that time, the rest of the world thought it was a hopeless cause.

The first formal action of this group of nations, which might be considered a forerunner of the United Nations, was the Inter Allied Conference at St. James's Palace, London, on June 12, 1941. Representatives of fourteen nations of Great Britain, Australia, Canada, New Zealand, South Africa, Belgium, Czechoslovakia, France, Greece, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Norway, Poland and Yugoslavia formally vowed to fight on until victory was won and to work thereafter in unison with other free peoples for an enduring peace.

As the struggle against aggression progressed, there was gradual and increasing recognition that wars in the modern world could be won only if all contributed to a common pool the sum total of their resources in men, finance and raw materials. The economic and financial agreements between Britain and France, 19391940, to which reference has already been made, were examples of the acceptance of this principle. The same ideas in 1940 were extended in the relations between the Allied nations gathered in London after the fall of continental Europe. In June, 1940, for example, the Belgian Government placed 105 million dollars in gold at the disposal of the British Government, then in need of ready money to continue purchases of war supplies.

A Common Pool of Resources

Canada, in order to produce funds for `Britain, paid off in advance the whole balance of its British held federal debt. Later-under its Mutual Aid program-Canada has twice in this war provided for the dispatch of a hundred million dollars worth of Canadian equipment, materials and foodstuffs to the United Kingdom. The Canadian Mutual Aid policy has also been extended to other countries.

Recognizing the plight of China and the important role it is playing in the war, Britain and her Allies have continuously-even at the most critical periods when the very lives of the Allies were at stake-given supplies and credits to that country.

America Amends the Neutrality Act

Like most other nations, the United States, up to December, 1941, had hoped against hope that, by it policy of neutrality, it could isolate itself against the danger of war. The sympathy of the American people towards the Allies in the fight against aggressors and in defense of freedom was strikingly shown by the amendment by Congress, in 1939, of the Neutrality Act. This amendment required foreign countries purchasing munitions to transport them from the United States in their own ships; while in theory applying to all states, it in fact aided the Allies for they had control of the seas.

As the war progressed, however, and one country after another fell, America increasingly realized that the Allied forces in Britain stood between America and a threat to her own freedom. At this juncture, the British Government agreed to grant the United States the right to lease defense bases in eight specified British territories, which the U.S. Secretary of State said would "enhance the national security of the United States and greatly strengthen its ability to co operate effectively with the other nations of the Americas in the defense of the Western Hemisphere." In return, the United States transferred to Britain 50 destroyers which helped to defend the vital supply lines to Britain.

The policy of leasing protective bases was also extended by agreements with the authorities concerned to Iceland, Greenland, Dutch Guiana, the Caribbean Sea and certain of the Latin American states.

The development of these bases was to become one of the key factors later in maintaining the lines of communication between the United Nations, and in defeating the submarine menace which threatened the very existence of the United Nations team.

Then followed the Lend Lease Act, setting up machinery for the pooling of resources which was later to develop into one of the United Nations major weapons, the system of mutual aid. Under this Act the United States was enabled to supply aid to those countries whose defence the President considered essential to the security of the United States. The Act signified the recognition by the United States of two principles, first that the war was global and second that defense was indivisible. In the Far East the defense of China against the aggressor, Japan, and in the West the defense of Britain and the continued fight of her Allies were deemed essential to the security of America.

U.S.S.R. and U.S.A. Enter the War

On June 22, 1941, Germany and the satellite states invaded Soviet Russia. This campaign, which was to become one of the great turning points in the war, demanded an enormous effort by the Russian people: it meant huge sacrifices in men, material and finance.

In spite of its resources and highly developed industrial organization, Russia could not alone furnish all the necessary equipment to turn the tide of the invaders, and the Allies began` immediately to send help, at first in terms of aircraft and tanks and later also in terms of food, clothing and medical supplies.

A new decisive phase opened with the unprovoked Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor which brought the United States into the war. This meant, among many other things, that the great potential power of the United States could be mobilized in an all out effort for the war. The industrial capacity of the new member of the United Nations was soon to manifest itself in a steadily increasing output of war equipment which could be joined to that of the other major Allies.

Thus, with the entry of the United States into the war, the patterns of the Allied pools, the Canadian Mutual Aid, and the U.S. lend lease for common defense became merged into one. The new .pattern under which all were to contribute everything in their power, in life, in property and in endurance can best be described in the opening paragraphs of a recent report issued by the Office of Lend Lease Administration in Washington, D.C.

"All for One and One for All"

"Lend Lease is a plane fresh out of San Diego; roaring into battle on the Russian front; it is a fat silvery barrage balloon sent us from Britain, and now guarding the San Diego plant turning out the planes that go to Russia; it is dry skimmed milk from the dairy country of Wisconsin, giving health and vigor to British war workers producing weapons for many fronts; it is roast beef-Australian beef-piled n the plate of a Yank from Wisconsin, now stationed in the South Pacific. It is not a dull statistical book keeping operation, but a giant interchange of war goods and war services from us to our allies, from our allies to us. We are fighting a war of alliance. Our men swarmed ashore in North Africa from a giant flotilla-warships and transports-two thirds of which had been provided by Great Britain. Most of the landing craft were American built, but some had been lend leased to Britain and were manned by British crews. American fighter squadrons flew British Spitfires and American planes. Over half of the ground forces were American, and the air forces were equally divided. American forces mostly used American equipment from the assembly lines of American war plants, but supplies lend leased to us by Britain included such items as four complete field hospitals, medical supplies in large quantities, more than half a million anti tank mines and grenades, and many miles of portable airfield runways.

"Lend lease has come to mean offensive action on the basis of all for one and one for all. It has only one object : swift and total victory over the enemies of civilization. To day it is helping to pack a series of hard wallops at weak spots in the enemy's armor. It is rushing the greatest amount of goods to the points where they are most needed. The question today is not dollars or debts but battles won. Who can measure the relative value of Stalingrad's magnificent resistance against the equipment we have sent to the Russian front ? Who can say whether the stand of the British against the Luftwaffe in 1940 is worth more or less than the food and equipment we have sent to the United Kingdom? There has not been and there never will be developed a standard of values by which we can measure lives lost against the cost of airplanes or guns."