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League of Nations is created
Woodrow Wilson, the U.S. president at the time, says:
"A general association of nations should be formed on the basis of covenants designed to create mutual guarantees of the political independence and territorial integrity of States, large and small equally." -
Russo-Polo War
In 1920, Poland invaded land held by the Russians. The Poles quickly overwhelmed the Russian army and made a swift advance into Russia. By 1921, the Russians had no choice but to sign the Treaty of Riga which handed over to Poland nearly 80,000 square kilometres of Russian land. This one treaty all but doubled the size of Poland. What did the League do about this violation of another country by Poland? The answer is simple – nothing. Russia by 1919 was communist and this "plague from the East" -
Aaland Islands
These islands are near enough equal distant between Finland and Sweden. They had traditionally belonged to Finland but most of the islanders wanted to be governed by Sweden. Neither Sweden nor Finland could come to a decision as to who owned the islands and in 1921 they asked the League to adjudicate. The League’s decision was that they should remain with Finland but that no weapons should ever be kept there. Both countries accepted the decision and it remains in force to this day. -
Upper Silesia
The Treaty of Versailles had given the people of Upper Silesia the right to have a referendum on whether they wanted to be part of Germany or part of Poland. In this referendum, 700,000 voted for Germany and 500,000 for Poland. This close result resulted in rioting between those who expected Silesia to be made part of Germany and those who wanted to be part of Poland. The League was asked to settle this dispute. After a six-week inquiry, the League decided to split Upper Silesia between Germany -
Italy withdraws from LON
Japan and Italy both withdrew in the 30s -
Founding of the IMF
The International Monetary Fund (IMF) was created to restore the volume of international trade that had dropped due to instability since the 1930s, when countries had abandoned the gold standard. A pool of currencies would be contributed by member states from which any member country could draw upon in order to correct any balance of payment problems. The US dollar was the universal standard, and this was freely convertible with gold at a fixed price. -
Founding of World Bank
December 1945, the IMF and The International Bank for Reconstruction and Development, also known as the World Bank, were officially established. -
United Nations formed
The United Nations officially came into existence on 24 October 1945, when the UN Charter had been ratified by a majority of the original 51 Member States. -
League of Nations disbanded
The League transfers all its assets to the United Nations. -
General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade
The General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT) was first signed to supplement the IMF. The agreement was designed to provide an international forum that encouraged free trade between member states by regulating and reducing tariffs on traded goods and by providing a common mechanism for resolving trade disputes. -
International Development Association (IDA)
The International Development Association (IDA) was created as part the World Bank to provide long-term interest-free loans to the world's 81 poorest countries. -
Special Drawing Right (SDR)
The Special Drawing Right (SDR) was created by the IMF to support the Bretton Woods fixed exchange rate system. It was created to supplement the existing official reserves of member countries. SDRs are allocated to member countries in proportion to their IMF quotas. The SDR also serves as the unit of account of the IMF and some other international organizations. Its value is based on a basket of key international currencies. -
Zionism as Racism
In 1975, the U.N. passed a resolution equating Zionism (a Jewish political movement maintaining the Jewish people are entitled to a national homeland) with racism. -
Lesotho Water Failure
A project began in Lesotho to divert freshwater from the mountains for electricity and for sale to South Africa. The project was sponsored by the World Bank and other banks at a cost of $3.5 billion. The electricity proved too expensive for most people and the water diversion wreaked environmental havoc downstream. In 2003 the development fund raised from selling the water was shut down. Courts convicted 3 of the world’s largest construction firms o -
U.N . helps NGOs
UN conferences have been held since the 1960s, but with the Conference on Environment and Development, known as the Earth Summit, in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, in 1992, they turned into real fora for deciding on national and international policy regarding issues that affect everyone such as the environment, human rights and economic development. Since the Earth Summit, UN conferences have turned into forums in which non-governmental organizations (NGOs) can voice their concerns alongside those of g -
Rwanda Genocide
Also in 1994,
the U.N. peacekeeping forces under the direction of current Secretary General Kofi Annan
failed to respond to the genocide in Rwanda in which over 800,000 Hutus and Tutsis were
killed by the Rwandan military and militia groups. -
Uruguay Round
Ministers from 109 countries signed a 26,000-page world trade agreement known as the "Uruguay Round" accords in Marrakesh, Morocco. -
World Trade Organization
The World Trade Organization was created as a successor to GATT, the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade. [see Jan 1, 1994] The Agreement on Textiles (ATC) was part of the WTO. -
Abolishing Tariffs
An accord to abolish tariffs on high tech goods was reached in Singapore at the WTO meeting. The Information Technology Agreement to abolish import duties on high-tech equipment would be in effect from Jul 1, 1997 to Jan 1, 2000. -
China joining WTO
In Beijing, China, US and Chinese trade negotiators agreed to a pact for China to join the WTO. Charlene Barshefsky and Shi Guangsheng reached a deal that was similar to the one the US rejected in April. Details of the plan were made public Mar 14, 2000.