United Nations begins work under a new charter

On the day France celebrated victory over Nazi Germany, Algerian demonstrators in Sétif, Guelma, and nearby towns called for rights and independence. Police violence and attacks on civilians were...

Representatives of 50 countries signed the UN Charter, creating a new international organization after two world wars. The Charter affirmed sovereign equality and self-determination, while also...

Sukarno and Mohammad Hatta read the proclamation of Indonesian independence in Jakarta after Japan’s surrender. The declaration asserted Indonesian sovereignty; Dutch attempts to restore colonial...

The Việt Minh-led uprising succeeded in Hanoi as Japanese authority collapsed and French colonial power remained unsettled. Vietnamese organizers built local committees and mobilized crowds to claim...

Hồ Chí Minh proclaimed the Democratic Republic of Vietnam in Hanoi after the August Revolution. The declaration invoked the language of universal rights and rejected French claims to restore...

Ratings at the HMIS Talwar signal school in Bombay stopped work over poor conditions and discriminatory treatment. The strike spread to ships and shore establishments, joining service grievances...

The Council’s first session marked the launch of a system that included territories held under League of Nations mandates. The UN framework promised political, social, and educational advancement...

Foreign troops completed their departure from Syria after years of nationalist pressure and diplomatic disputes over the French mandate. A three-day celebration in Damascus followed. The withdrawal...

The United States recognized the Republic of the Philippines as independent. Formal sovereignty followed decades of US rule and wartime occupation, but economic dependence persisted through trade...

Prime Minister Clement Attlee told Parliament that Britain would transfer power in India no later than June 1948. The announcement came amid mass anticolonial mobilization, labor unrest, naval revolt,...