The United Nations
The United Nations was founded in 1945 to keep international peace, protect human rights and encourage cooperation between countries.
▶ Interact
Play with the controls to see the idea in action.
📘 Learn
The United Nations was founded in 1945 to keep international peace, protect human rights and encourage cooperation between countries.
- The Security Council has five permanent members
- The General Assembly includes all members
- Peacekeepers work in conflict zones
🧠 Quick quiz
Three questions. Score 2 or more to complete the topic.
What is The United Nations?
Within History, which covers ancient civilisations, empires, revolutions, world wars and the making of the modern world, this topic explains The United Nations. History topics connect events, people and ideas across time, so each one here gives a clear summary and a way to test your understanding.
Check that you can explain The United Nations in your own words and give one example from everyday life. If you can do that, you have understood the core idea.
Understanding The United Nations helps you explain change over time and judge why events happened, which is the core skill in history essays.
The United Nations in detail
The United Nations was created in 1945, after World War Two, to maintain international peace and security, develop friendly relations among nations and promote human rights and cooperation. It replaced the failed League of Nations. It now has 193 member states.
Its main bodies include the General Assembly, where all members vote, and the Security Council, with five permanent members (USA, UK, France, Russia, China) holding vetoes. The UN sends peacekeepers, provides humanitarian aid through agencies such as UNICEF and the WHO, and sets goals like the SDGs. It has had successes and failures, and critics note the veto and limited power.
How the interactive helps you understand The United Nations
Watch the network in the interactive. Use any sliders or buttons it offers to change the values and see how the network responds.
Before you change anything, predict the result. Then change one value at a time and check whether your prediction was right. This is a quick way to build a correct mental model of The United Nations.
Real-life uses and examples
- Explain the causes and consequences of The United Nations in a well-structured paragraph.
- Compare The United Nations with another event to spot patterns of change and continuity.
- Build a timeline that shows when The United Nations happened and what came before and after.
Common mistakes to avoid
- Describing events without explaining why they happened.
- Treating one source as the whole story when you study The United Nations.
- Learning the definition without testing it. Use the quiz and the interactive to check that you can apply the idea.
Frequently asked questions about The United Nations
What is The United Nations?
The United Nations was founded in 1945 to keep international peace, protect human rights and encourage cooperation between countries.
What are the most important points about The United Nations?
The main points are: The Security Council has five permanent members; The General Assembly includes all members; Peacekeepers work in conflict zones.
Why is The United Nations useful?
Understanding The United Nations helps you explain change over time and judge why events happened, which is the core skill in history essays.
How can I practise The United Nations?
Open the interactive at the top of this page and change the controls one at a time. Predict the result before each change, then take the three-question quiz. A score of two or more marks the topic as complete on this device.
Which topics are related to The United Nations?
Related topics in History include Migration in History, Crime and Punishment Through Time, Local History and Heritage.