United Nations: Founding, Charter and Purposes

India signed the United Nations Charter in 1945, two years before it was even independent. That founding-member status still shapes India’s place at the UN today.

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International Relations · IntlRel0026

United Nations: Founding, Charter and Purposes

From San Francisco to UN Day, with India in the room from day one

25 Apr – 26 Jun 1945

San Francisco Conference: 50 nations draft and sign the UN Charter.

26 June 1945

India signs the Charter as a founding member, still under British rule.

15 October 1945

Poland signs, becoming the 51st original UN member state.

24 October 1945

The Charter enters into force. This date is now marked as UN Day.

51 nations

Original UN member states, India among them

4 + 7

Article 1 purposes and Article 2 principles in the Charter

Learning from the League

The UN replaced the League of Nations (1920), which never had US membership and couldn’t stop World War II. The UN’s founders built it to include every major power from the start.

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Must Know

• The United Nations was founded in 1945, after the Second World War.
• It grew out of the San Francisco Conference, held from 25 April to 26 June 1945.
• Fifty nations attended, at the invitation of four sponsoring governments: the US, UK, USSR, and China.
• India was one of these 50 original signatories, even though it was still under British rule.
• The Charter came into force on 24 October 1945, once enough countries had ratified it.
• That date is now marked every year as UN Day.

Good to Know

• The Charter’s Preamble opens with the words “We the Peoples of the United Nations.”
• Its stated aim is “to save succeeding generations from the scourge of war.”
• Article 1 of the Charter lists the UN’s four core purposes.
• The first is maintaining international peace and security.
• The second is developing friendly relations among nations.
• The third is achieving international cooperation on shared problems.
• The fourth is acting as a centre to harmonise nations’ actions.
• Article 2 lists the UN’s founding principles.
• The first, and most cited, is the sovereign equality of all member states.
• Other Article 2 principles include settling disputes peacefully, and not using force against another state’s territory.

Test Yourself

Please wait…

1. The United Nations Charter was signed following the San Francisco Conference, held over what dates in 1945?

1 January to 30 October 1945

25 April to 26 June 1945

24 October to 15 December 1945

6 August to 2 September 1945

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Great to Know

• The UN was designed to replace the League of Nations, an earlier body founded in 1920, after the First World War.
• The League failed partly because the United States never joined it.
• Major world powers stayed out, or later left, weakening its authority.
• The League also could not stop the aggression that led to the Second World War.
• The UN’s founders built it differently from the start, including all major powers as members.
• One more signatory joined after San Francisco: Poland signed the Charter on 15 October 1945.
• That made 51 total original UN member states.
• The UN’s New York headquarters sits on land donated in 1946 by the Rockefeller family — an $8.5 million gift for an 18-acre site on the East River.
• The UN’s founding fits a broader post-war pattern: new institutions were often built specifically to fix an earlier institution’s failures.
• For a side-by-side of the League of Nations and the UN, see WorldHist0001 — The United Nations: Founding, Charter, and the Veto.
• For India’s ongoing role at the UN, including its peacekeeping record and push for a permanent Security Council seat, see IntlRel0032 — India and the United Nations.