Declaration by United Nations

The Declaration by United Nations was the principal treaty that formalized the wartime alliance of the Allies of World War II. It grew out of a short document signed on 1 January 1942, during the Arcadia Conference in Washington, D.C., by the four leading Allied powers, the United States, the United Kingdom, the Soviet Union and China. The next day, representatives of 22 further governments added their signatures, among them the four British dominions, eight European governments-in-exile, nine countries of the Americas and the British-appointed Government of India. In all, 47 national governments signed it between 1942 and 1945. The text later came to be known as the United Nations Declaration, and it became the basis of the United Nations itself, whose Charter was signed by 50 countries on 26 June 1945.