Origins of the Alliance

In the closing face of the Second World War, seven weeks after the capitulation of Nazi Germany and six weeks before the Hiroshima bomb, representatives of 50 nations signed the United Nations Charter in San Francisco. The date was June 26, 1945.

The world hoped that the lessons of the past had finally been learned and that, in the United Nations, a viable framework for peace had at last been found. However, within four years Europe found itself facing some new threats against which the United Nations Charter alone could not offer adequate protection.

The Charter nevertheless contains a provision (Article 51) stipulating the right of its members, individually or collectively, to defend them­selves against possible armed attack.

Ten European countries, acting in accordance with this article, turned to the United States and Canada to underwrite a pledge of mutual security, and, on April 4, 1949, they met in Washington to sign the North Atlantic Treaty.

In the space of three years and not quite nine months 12 other countries spoke of the need for a regional defence alliance.

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Текст 3

Nato (excerpt from a Nato booklet)

The North Atlantic Treaty, signed in Washington on April 1949, created an Alliance for collective defence as defined in Article 51 of the United Nations Charter.

The Alliance links fourteen European countries with the United States and Canada.

The Member countries are Belgium, Canada, Denmark, France, Germany, Greece, Iceland, Italy, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Norway, Portugal, Spain, Turkey, the United Kingdom and the United States.

The fall of the Berlin wall in November 1989, the unification of Germany in October 1990, the disintegration of the Soviet Union in December 1991, and dramatic changes elsewhere in Central and Eastern Europe, marked the end of the Cold War era. Since these events, which have transformed the political situation in Europe, the nature of risks faced by the members of the Alliance has fundamentally changed. However, as events have proved, dangers to peace and threats to stability remain.

Following the decisions taken by the Nato Heads of State and Government at their Summit Meetings in London in July 1990 and in Rome in November 1991, the North Atlantic Alliance has therefore been adopting its overall strategy in the light of the changing strategic and political environment. Attention has been focused in particular on the need to reinforce the political role of the Alliance and the contribution it can make in cooperation with other institutions, in providing the security and stability which are the prerequisite for the process of renewal in which Europe is engaged.

The North Atlantic Alliance maintains close relations with the United Nations (UN), the Organisation on Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE), the Western European Union (WEU) and the European Union (EU). Each of these international institutions has a distinct role within a framework of complementary, mutually reinforcing organizations with responsibilities in the field of international peace and security.