Introduction

• Author: Alexandre Tavadian
• Pages: 1-22

1

INTRODUCTION

The United Nations is the result of a three-hundred-year experiment.

Between 1648 and 1945, nations made three major attempts to estab-

lish a new world order. These three unsuccessful attempts occurred in:

(a)1648 at the Peace of Westphalia after the Thirty Years’ War; (b)1815

at the Congress of Vienna after the Napoleonic Wars; and (c)1919 in

Paris after World War I. The international community of states drew

valuable lessons from these failures. To understand the United Nations,

one must consider the events that led to its establishment.

A. FIRST ATTEMPT: WESTPHALIA PEACE PROCESS (1648)

No historic overview of international relations, politics, or law can be

complete without a study of the Thirty Years’ War and of the West-

phalia peace process that marked its end. TheThirty Years’ Warwas a

series of destructive hostilities inEuropebetween 1618 and 1648.The

conict emerged as a religious clash between Protestant and Catholic

states and gradually developed into a broader struggle of European

powers for political pre-eminence.

The Thirty Years’ War began when the Roman Emperor Ferdinand

II attempted to curtail the religious freedom of his subjects, sparking

a rebellion among the Protestant aristocrats of Bohemia and Austria.

The rebellion was successfully repressed after a ve-year struggle, but

it did not end the persecution of Protestants. In the meantime, some

2 | UNITED NATIONS LAW, POLITICS, AND PRACTICE

states took advantage of the volatile situation and invaded neighbour-

ing countries. For instance, Denmark and Sweden invaded Germany.

Poland attacked Russia. Gradually, destructive battles occurred over

most of Europe, redrawing its geopolitical maps. The conict lasted

until 1648.

In 1648, the contending powers nally met in the German prov-

ince of Westphalia and agreed to end the bloodshed. The Thirty Years’

War ended with the treaties ofOsnabrück and Münster1 that were part

of the widerpeace agreement called the Peace of Westphalia. This

treaty had signicantly changed the balance of power2 in Europe. The

Netherlands had gained independence from Spain. Switzerland had

gained independence from Austria. Spain had lost its status as a great

power whereas France had acquired vast territories and the status of

the new superpower in Europe. The Holy Roman Empire collapsed.

It was then that it became obvious that Protestantism was going to

stay. Finally, the essential structure of modern Europe as a commun-

ity of sovereign states was established.

Most historians regard the Westphalian settlement or deal as the

fundamental constitution of Europe’s political system.3 It created a

balance of power that prevented any subsequent religious or imper-

ialist conicts in the region. Of course, the Westphalia peace process

did not remain the basis of Europe’s political system forever. Never-

theless, it achieved important lasting eects.4 Scholars and historians

generally agree that the Westphalia peace process was the bedrock

of international relations because it engendered the concept of state

1 It is noteworthy that several separate bilateral treaties were signed between

various parties in relation to the same war because in those times, the tech-

nique of multilateral or collective treaties was unknown. Consequently, one

treaty could not be used where there were more than two parties.

2 Balance of power refers to the interrelation between great powers, with each

balancing o against the others to prevent the rise of a single great power to

the status of a dominant hegemon vis-à-vis the others.

3 Jean-Jacques Rousseau, “Extrait du projet de paix perpétuelle de Monsieur

l’Abbé de St Pierre” (1761) in Œuvres complètes de Jean-Jacques Rousseau (Paris:

Éditions de la Pléiade, 1964) vol III at 572.

4 Georey Parker, The Thirty Years’ War, 2d ed (New York: Routledge, 1997) at 182.