ed States and Canada to draft a pledge of mutual security and on April 4, 1949, they all met in Washington to sign the North Atlantic Treaty. The fear that created this alliance could not better be seen than in Winston Churchills, prime minister of Great Britain, telegram to President Truman saying: An iron curtain is being drawn down upon their(Soviet Union) front. We do not know what is going on behind. . .3 With this quote from the British Prime Minister we could see that the biggest fear was the fear itself of not knowing what was going on in the Soviet Union. The North Atlantic Treaty consisted of 14 articles in which I will now briefly explain tohelp you understand what this treaty entailed. First off, the whole purpose of this treaty was toprevent aggression or to repel it, should it occur.4 It provided for the continuous cooperationand consultation in political, economic and military fields and had an indefinite duration. Everymember who was a part of this treaty signed to express their desire to live in peace with allpeoples and all governments. All of this was just reaffirming their faith in the principles of theUnited Nations. The first article defines the basic principles that member countries should followto keep the peace and world security. The second article was an inspiration from the first article ofthe United Nations Charter. This article defines the aims for the member nations to pursue and theobligations they have. The third article is a statement that the signatories will do all they can toresist attack. The fourth article calls for consultation from all members if one of the membersfeels that they are threatened. The fifth article is the core of the treaty and states that if one of themember countries is attacked all other members will see it as an attack on each and all of them. The sixth article defines the area that the provisions in article five apply. Article seven and eightthe member nations stipu...
