Background In the aftermath of
World War II, there were fears of a renewal of German aggression. On 4 March 1947, the
Treaty of Dunkirk was signed by
France and the
United Kingdom as a
Treaty of Alliance and Mutual Assistance in the event of a possible attack. In his speech to the
House of Commons on 22 January 1948, British Foreign Secretary
Ernest Bevin called for the extension of the Treaty of Dunkirk to also include the Benelux countries, creating a Western Union. The object was to consolidate Western Europe to satisfy the
United States and to give advance notice of the eventual incorporation of
Italy, and then
West Germany, into the Treaty. The negotiating conference was held on 4 March 1948, a few days after
the coup in Prague; thanks to this, the three smaller countries were able to persuade the others to agree to the concept of automatic and immediate mutual assistance in the event of aggression, and to the idea of setting up a regional organization (a multilateral alliance in accordance with Article 51 of the Charter of the United Nations). The Western Union was intended to provide
Western Europe with a bulwark against the communist threat and to bring greater collective security.
Formation signing the
Treaty of Brussels The
Treaty of Brussels was signed on 17 March 1948 between
Belgium, France,
Luxembourg, the
Netherlands and the United Kingdom, and was an expansion to the preceding year's defence pledge, the
Dunkirk Treaty signed between the United Kingdom and France. Although the Treaty goes no further than providing for 'cooperation' between the contracting parties, 'which will be effected through the Consultative Council referred to in Article VII as well as through other bodies', in practice the arrangement was referred to as
Western Union or the
Brussels Treaty Organisation.
Cannibalisation and marginalisation When the division of Europe into two opposing camps became unavoidable, the threat of the
Soviet Union became much more important than the threat of German rearmament. Western Europe, therefore, sought a new mutual defence pact involving the United States, a powerful military force for such an alliance. The United States, concerned with containing the influence of the Soviet Union, was responsive. Secret meetings began by the end of March 1949 between American,
Canadian and British officials to initiate the negotiations that led to the signing of the
North Atlantic Treaty on 4 April 1949 in
Washington, D.C. of the Corps of the
Royal Military Police displaying the
Western Union Standard outside
Château de Courances on 1 October 1949 The need to back up the commitments of the North Atlantic Treaty with appropriate political and military structures led to the creation of the
North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (NATO). On 20 December 1950 the Consultative Council of the Brussels Treaty Powers decided to merge the military organisation of the Western Union into NATO. In December 1950, with the appointment of General
Eisenhower as the first
Supreme Allied Commander Europe (SACEUR), the members of the Treaty of Brussels decided to transfer the headquarters, personnel, and plans of the
Western Union Defence Organisation (WUDO) to NATO. NATO's
Supreme Headquarters Allied Powers Europe (SHAPE) took over responsibility for the defence of Western Europe, while the physical headquarters in Fontainebleau were transformed into NATO's
Headquarters, Allied Forces Central Europe (AFCENT). Field Marshal
Bernard Montgomery resigned as Chairman of
WUDO's Land, Naval and Air Commanders-in-Chief Committee on 31 March 1951 and took the position of
Deputy Supreme Allied Commander Europe (DSACEUR) on 1 April 1951. The establishment of NATO, along with the signing of a succession of treaties establishing the
Organisation for European Economic Cooperation (April 1948), the
North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (April 1949), the
Council of Europe (May 1949) and the
European Coal and Steel Community (April 1951), left the Western Union and its founding
Treaty of Brussels devoid of much of its authority.
Transformation into the Western European Union The Western Union's founding
Treaty of Brussels was amended at the 1954
Paris Conference as a result of the failure of the
Treaty establishing the European Defence Community (EDC) to gain French ratification: The
General Treaty () of 1952 formally named the EDC as a prerequisite to the end of Allied occupation of Germany, and there was a desire to include Germany in the Western defence architecture. The Modified Brussels Treaty (MBT) transformed the Western Union into the
Western European Union (WEU), at which point Italy and Germany were admitted. Although the WEU established by the MBT was significantly less powerful and ambitious than the original Western Union, German membership in the WEU was considered sufficient for the occupation of the country to end in accordance with the General Treaty. Social and cultural aspects were handed to the
Council of Europe to avoid duplication of responsibilities within Europe. ==Social, cultural initiative==