Birth of NATO | 4 April 1949

On 4 April 1949, the North Atlantic Treaty was signed, creating an alliance for collective defence that united Europe and North America. Follow the beginnings of NATO, from the aftermath of World War II to the rise of Soviet influence in Eastern Europe.

The foundations of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) were officially laid down on 4 April 1949 with the signing of the North Atlantic Treaty, more popularly known as the Washington Treaty.

Only 14 articles long, the Treaty is one of the shortest documents of its kind. The carefully crafted articles were the subject of several months of discussion and negotiations before the Treaty was actually signed. However, once Belgium, Canada, Denmark, France, Iceland, Italy, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Norway, Portugal, the United Kingdom and the United States had discussed these issues, they agreed on a document that would establish the North Atlantic Alliance.

On 4 April 1949, the 12 countries signed the North Atlantic Treaty at the Departmental Auditorium in Washington D.C., the city which lends its name to the Treaty.

The Treaty committed each member to share the risk, responsibilities and benefits of collective defence – a concept at the very heart of the Alliance. In 1949, the primary aim of the Treaty was to create a pact of mutual assistance to counter the risk that the Soviet Union would seek to extend its control of Eastern Europe to other parts of the continent. The Treaty also required members not to enter into any international commitments that conflicted with the Treaty and committed them to the purposes and principles of the Charter of the United Nations (UN). Moreover, it stated that NATO members formed a unique community of values committed to the principles of individual liberty, democracy, human rights and the rule of law.

In addition to collective defence and key values, the principle of consensus decision-making and the importance of consultation define the spirit of the Organization, together with its defensive nature and its flexibility.

The signing of the Treaty led to the creation of the Alliance and, only later, did a fully-fledged organisation develop. In effect, the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) provides the structure which enables the goals of the Alliance to be implemented. To date, those goals have not fundamentally changed nor the Treaty been rewritten. The only so-called “amendments” made so far stem from the series of accession protocols which have been added as new members join, illustrating the foresight of its drafters and their ability to marry international concerns and objectives with national interests.

TRANSCRIPT:

"In May 1945, the war in Europe came to an end.

This had been the price of Europe's unpreparedness.

Our hard-won peace seemed at last secured.

A few days before, Allied forces from the West had joined hands with the Russians from the East.

Their statesmen had met cordially at Yalta and at Potsdam. They had agreed that the countries they had occupied should be truly liberated. And that freely elected governments should be set up as soon as possible.

Russia had swallowed up 8 European countries without firing another shot. Great Britain and the United States protested that these countries had been coerced by the threat of force and that Russia had broken her treaty. But Russia ignored the protests.

On April 4 1949, the North Atlantic Treaty was signed between France, Belgium, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, the United Kingdom, Norway, Denmark, Italy, Portugal, Iceland, Canada and the United States.

The pact was designed to keep within the letter and spirit of the United Nations Charter.

The treaty members realised that real peace is more than an absence of war, and they seek to promote political and economic stability in the North Atlantic area.

To insure this, they're sworn to stand together against aggression. An attack against one would be an attack against all. This union of 12 nations became known as the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, or more simply NATO."

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