The birth of NATO - 4 April 1949

From the Archive: “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 Potzdam. 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 AtlanticTreaty 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 Nation’s Charter. T