Confronted between 1945 and 1949 with
the urgency of an economic reconstruction, the North Western Europe countries
and their North American allies worried about USSR’ political and developmental
methods. After reducing and demobilizing their war establishment, the western
countries being consistent with their wartime commitments observed with constant
concern that the Soviet Union wanted to keep complete power over its armed
forces. Furthermore, in view of the acknowledged ideological objectives of the
Soviet Union’s Communist Party, it became obvious that the appeals to respect
from the United Nations’ Charter and international regulations concluded at the
end of the war would not guarantee sovereignty nor independence of the
democratic countries that were confronted to the threat of external aggression
or internal subversion. The imposition of non-democratic regimes, the repression
of real opposition movements, and the violation of fundamental human and civil
rights and liberties in many Central and Eastern European countries and in other
parts of the world increased these worries.
From 1947 to 1949, a series of
spectacular political events precipitated things. There were especially direct
threats to the sovereignty of Norway, Greece, Turkey and other Western European
countries; there were also the June 1948 coup d’tat in Czechoslovakia and the
Berlin blockade that started in April of the same year.
In March 1948, the signature of the
Brussels Treaty marked the determination of five Western Europe countries -
Belgium, France, Luxembourg, Netherlands and United Kingdom – to constitute a
common defense system and reinforce their relationship in order to be in
position to withstand ideological, political and military dangers that
represented a threat.
Negotiations then followed with the
United States and Canada in order to create, between Europe and Central America,
a North Atlantic Alliance based on security warranties and mutual agreements.
The signatory countries of the Brussels Treaty invited Denmark, Iceland, Italy,
Norway and Portugal to participate to the process. The negotiations came to an
end in April 1949 with signature of the Washington Treaty, which established a
common security system based on a partnership between twelve countries. In 1952,
Greece and Turkey acceded to the Treaty. The Federal Republic of Germany joined
the Alliance in 1955 and, in 1982, Spain also became a NATO member.
At the Washington Summit – April 1999,
NATO created a new Alliance to meet the challenges of the future. The Alliance
will work with other nations and organisations to advance security, prosperity
and democracy throughout the Euro-Atlantic region. The presence of three new
Allies - the Czech Republic, Hungary and Poland - demonstrated that NATO has
overcome the division of Europe. The new Alliance is now larger, more capable
and more flexible, committed to collective defence and able to undertake new
missions including contributing to effective conflict prevention and engaging
actively in crisis management, including crisis response operations.