Atlantic Letter (1941)

We explain what the Atlantic letter is and how important it was in World War II. In addition, its place in UN history.

What is the Atlantic letter?

The Atlantic letter is A joint statement by British Prime Minister Winston Churchill and US President Franklin D. Roosevelt Disusted on August 14, 1941, in the context of World War II (1939-1945). It was the result of four days of conversations held aboard war ships in the Bay of Placentia in Terranova (Canada), in the waters of the Atlantic Ocean.

When the Atlantic letter was disseminated, the United States had not yet entered the war against the axis powers but had already approved the loan and lease law that allowed to supply materials and food to the allies. The Atlantic letter American support to the United Kingdom made explicit But it did not imply a military alliance.

The Atlantic letter raised a series of common principles and objectives for the postwar order:

• The rejection of seeking territorial aggrandizement.
• The refusal to make territorial changes without the consent of the populations involved.
• Respect for the forms of government chosen by each population.
• The promotion of generalized access to trade and raw materials.
• Economic, labor and social collaboration among nations.
• The establishment of international peace and security.
• Freedom of navigation in seas and oceans.
• The disarmament of aggressive nations.

In the United Nations Declaration signed on January 1, 1942, which was one of the background of the creation of the United Nations Organization (UN), the commitment to adhere to the principles and objectives of the Atlantic Charter was included.

• See also: UN origin

The historical context

The German invasion of Poland on September 1, 1939 motivated the beginning of World War II. When France was occupied by the armed forces of Nazi Germany in June 1940, The United Kingdom became the only leader of the allies side in Europe Until the entrance to the War of the Soviet Union (USSR) in June 1941. On the other hand, free France, directed by General Charles de Gaulle, contributed to the side of the allies from exile.

The American involvement in the conflict in support of the United Kingdom took a decisive step with the approval of the loan law and lease in March 1941, which allowed to supply food, resources and military material to the allied countries (mainly to the United Kingdom).

Within the framework of this growing commitment between the United States and the United Kingdom, and before the increase in tensions with the Empire of Japan in the Pacific, US President Franklin D. Roosevelt and British Prime Minister Winston Churchill met for four days In various war ships in the Naval Base of Argentia, in the Bay of Placentia, in Terranova (Canada), in August 1941.

• See also: Chronology of World War II

The principles of the Atlantic letter

Aboard the battleship Prince of WalesRoosevelt and Churchill approved on August 14, 1941 a joint statement that was later called the Atlantic letter. It was A declaration of principles and objectives on the war against Nazi Germany and, in particular, about the organization of the world after German defeat.

The statement consisted of eight principles:

1. Neither of the two nations sought an annexation or territorial aggrandizement.
2. They did not want any territorial change that would not be done with the consent of the affected peoples.
3. They respected the right of all peoples to choose their own form of government and defended that the rights of sovereignty be returned to the peoples who had been devoid of them.
4. They proposed the promotion of all states to commerce and raw materials on equal terms.
5. They trusted to promote worldwide collaboration to improve working conditions, economic development and social security.
6. They sought that, after the defeat of the “Nazi tyranny”, a peace was reached that allow nations and people to live safely within their borders
7. Yearned that peace guaranteed freedom of navigation in the seas and oceans.
8. They aspired to renunciation with the use of force between nations and, waiting for the achievement of collective security, promoted the disarmament of potentially aggressor nations.

The Atlantic letter remembered the idealism of the fourteen points of Woodrow Wilson, whose initiative the society of nations had been created after the First World War (1914-1918). The nations society had been mostly inefficient and The conversations of Roosevelt and Churchill anticipated the creation of a new organization that would replace it in 1945: the United Nations Organization (UN).

The Washington Conference (1941-1942)

Japanese attack to Pearl Harbor and the consequent entry of the United States in World War II in December 1941 They took Roosevelt to accept Churchill's proposal to celebrate a new meeting.

This meeting was held in Washington DC between December 22, 1941 and January 14, 1942. Churchill, Rossevelt and the military leaders of both countries participated, and in some sessions the Soviet ambassador to the United States, Maksim Litvínov.

The Washington Conference had several results:

• On January 1, 1942, twenty -six countries signed the United Nations Declaration. This document reaffirmed the principles of the Atlantic Charter and meant the signer's commitment to use all military and economic resources against the axis.
• The principle defended by Churchill was agreed to consider Germany as the main enemy against which military action had to be direct, it was the greatest industrial and military power of the axis.
• A combined staff was created, which grouped US and British forces. From now on, disputes between US generals were frequent, in favor of concentrating the attack against the strongest enemy at its most solid point (“concentration”), and the British, defenders of the so -called “peripheral fun” based on attacking weaknesses.

The United Nations Declaration was the first document to use the term “United Nations” that, as of 1945, it identified the UN.

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References

• Britannica, Encyclopaedia (2022). Atlantic Charter. Britannica Encyclopedia. https://www.britannica.com/
• Hughes, Ta & Royde-Smith, JG (2023). World War II. Britannica Encyclopedia. https://www.britannica.com/
• Kennedy, PM (2007). The Parliament of Humanity: History of the United Nations. Debate.
• United Nations (SF). United Nations History. Official United Nations Site. https://www.un.org/
• Stone, N. (2013). Brief history of World War II. Ariel.