On 4 March 1947, in Dunkirk, France and the United Kingdom sign a Treaty of Alliance and Mutual Assistance against a possible German attack. The Treaty enters into force on 8 September 1947.

On 4 March 1947, France, represented by Georges Bidault (on the left), and the United Kingdom, represented by Ernest Bevin (on the right), sign a Mutual Assistance Treaty in Dunkirk.

In a joint communiqué issued on 4 March 1947, the French and British Governments announce the signing of the bilateral Treaty of Alliance and Mutual Assistance between France and the United Kingdom.

On 4 March 1947, the German daily newspaper Die Welt gives a detailed analysis of the Treaty of Alliance and Mutual Assistance between France and the United Kingdom.

The day after the signing of the Treaty of Alliance and Mutual Assistance between France and the United Kingdom on 4 March 1947 in Dunkirk, the daily newspaper Luxemburger Wort describes the symbolic impact of the choice of the French martyr town of Dunkirk for the official signing. The British Foreign Secretary, on a visit to Brussels, declares that his country is ready to sign similar treaties with other European states.

In his memoirs, Georges Bidault, former French Foreign Minister, considers the reasons for the signing of the Treaty of Alliance and Mutual Assistance between France and the United Kingdom in Dunkirk on 4 March 1947.

In his memoirs, Jean Chauvel, Secretary-General of the French Foreign Ministry, recalls the negotiations that led to the signing of the Treaty of Alliance and Mutual Assistance between France and the United Kingdom in Dunkirk on 4 March 1947.

On 22 January 1948, addressing the House of Commons, the British Foreign Secretary, Ernest Bevin, condemns the Soviet Union's political ambitions and calls for greater unity amongst the countries of Western Europe.

On 26 January 1948, René Blum, the Luxembourg Ambassador to Moscow, sends a telegram to Joseph Bech, Luxembourg Foreign Minister, in which he warns the Luxembourg authorities of the strong opposition of the Soviet press to plans for the establishment of a ‘Western bloc’ with which Benelux would be associated.

On 30 January 1948, Hervé de Gruben, Director-General for Policy in the Belgian Foreign Ministry, submits for the approval of the Foreign Ministers of the Benelux countries, among others, his memorandum on the consolidation and organisation of Western Europe, dated 28 January.

On 19 February 1948, Pierre Saffroy, French Ambassador to Luxembourg, sends a letter to Joseph Bech, Luxembourg Foreign Minister, in which he sets out a plan for a treaty between France and Luxembourg broadly based on the Treaty of Dunkirk of 4 March 1947.

Joint memorandum dated 19 February 1948 from the three Benelux countries to the United Kingdom and France concerning the military defence of Europe and the establishment of a Western Union.

This British memorandum, dated 19 February 1948, outlines to the Luxembourg Government the logic behind the Franco-British proposals regarding the establishment of a Western Union, based on the model of the Dunkirk Treaty of 4 March 1947.

Summary record of the first meeting between the diplomatic representatives of Belgium, France, the United Kingdom, Luxembourg and the Netherlands, held on 4 March 1948 in Brussels with a view to concluding the treaty establishing Western Union.

On 10 March 1948, Robert Als, Minister Plenipotentiary of Luxembourg in Brussels, sends a letter to his Minister for Foreign Affairs, Joseph Bech, in which he lists the main provisions of the future Brussels Treaty and summarises the position of the various negotiating countries.

On 13 March 1948, in Luxembourg, Paul-Henri Spaak, Belgian Prime Minister and Foreign Minister, delivers an address during which he outlines the implications of the establishment of Western Union (WU).

On 15 March 1948, René Blum, the Luxembourg Ambassador to Moscow, sends a telegram to Joseph Bech, Luxembourg Foreign Minister, in which he warns him of Moscow’s hostility to participation by Luxembourg in the Treaty establishing Western Union, and advises the Luxembourg authorities to act with the utmost caution.

On 16 March 1948, on the eve of the signing of the Brussels Treaty, British cartoonist Leslie Gilbert Illingworth illustrates the efforts made by Ernest Bevin, British Foreign Secretary, and George C. Marshall, US Secretary of State, for the establishment of Western Union, under the suspicious eye of Moscow.

The Treaty of Economic, Social and Cultural Collaboration and Collective Self-Defence, signed in Brussels on 17 March 1948 by Belgium, France, Luxembourg, the Netherlands and the United Kingdom. It enters into force on 25 August 1948. Although this Treaty provides only for ‘cooperation’ between the contracting parties, ‘which will be effected through the Consultative Council referred to in Article VII’, and it does not provide for the establishment of an international organisation, in practice it leads to the creation of an organisation known as the ‘Brussels Treaty Organisation’ or ‘Western Union’.

Dates on which the instruments of ratification of the Brussels Treaty of 17 March 1948 were deposited. The treaty entered into force on 25 August 1948, the date on which the last instrument of ratification was deposited.

Map showing the five founding Member States of Western Union (WU). The Brussels Treaty establishing Western Union is signed on 17 March 1948 and enters into force on 25 August 1948.

On 17 March 1948, in Brussels, the Foreign Ministers of Belgium, France, Luxembourg, the Netherlands and the United Kingdom sign the Treaty of Economic, Social and Cultural Collaboration and Collective Self-Defence. This Treaty leads to the establishement of Western Union. From left to right: Paul-Henri Spaak, Georges Bidault, Joseph Bech, Baron Carel Godfried van Boetzelaer van Oosterhout and Ernest Bevin.

On 17 March 1948, in Brussels, the Treaty of Economic, Social and Cultural Collaboration and Collective Self-Defence between Belgium, France, Luxembourg, the Netherlands and the United Kingdom is signed. This Treaty leads to the establishment of Western Union.

On 17 March 1948, Joseph Bech, Luxembourg Foreign Minister, signs the Brussels Treaty which establishes Western Union and sets up a defensive alliance as well as military, economic, social and cultural cooperation between Belgium, France, Luxembourg, the United Kingdom and the Netherlands.

On 20 October 1948, Raoul de Fraiteur, Belgian Defence Minister, sends a confidential letter to Paul-Henri Spaak, Belgian Prime Minister and Foreign Minister, in which he reviews the decisions adopted by the conference of defence ministers of the five Member States of Western Union.

On 23 February 1949, British cartoonist Leslie Gilbert Illingworth illustrates the overwhelming military superiority of the Eastern bloc over Western Europe, which, despite the signing of numerous treaties and pacts, does not carry much weight against the Communist threat. On the right: Ernest Bevin, British Foreign Secretary.

In July 1949, the fleets of the Member States of Western Union, composed of destroyers, aircraft and aircraft carriers, carry out naval exercises in the Bay of Biscay.

On the beaches adjoining Weybourne Camp near Norwich, in the county of Norfolk in the United Kingdom, British gunners prepare to train the Belgian and Dutch troops of Western Union in anti-aircraft techniques.

In an address given to the Foreign Press Association in London in 1949, Ernest Bevin, British Foreign Secretary, reaffirms his desire to establish European unity and to provide citizens from all European countries with access to progress.

On 15 September 1954, the Information and Documentation Service of the Council of the European Coal and Steel Community (ECSC) publishes a brief historical overview of the establishment of Western Union (WU).

In his memoirs, Georges Bidault, former French Foreign Minister, describes the circumstances in which Western Union was established in March 1948.

In his memoirs, Jean Chauvel, Secretary-General of the French Foreign Ministry, recalls the lengthy diplomatic negotiations that led to the signing of the Treaty establishing Western Union on 17 March 1948 in Brussels.

On 24 January 1948, two days after the address given by Ernest Bevin in the House of Commons, the German daily newspaper Frankfurter Rundschau reports on the proposal made by the British Foreign Secretary to create a union of Western European countries and praises British efforts to consolidate European cooperation in view of the Soviet threat.

On 27 January 1948, the German daily newspaper Süddeutsche Zeitung considers the reasons leading Ernest Bevin, British Foreign Secretary, to express his support for the establishment of a Western European Union and believes that this declaration represents a significant reorientation of post-war British foreign policy.

On 31 January 1948, welcoming the proposal made by British Foreign Secretary Ernest Bevin on the establishment of a Western Union, the German weekly publication Rheinischer Merkur outlines the new direction of British foreign policy.

On 31 January 1948, the German daily newspaper Frankfurter Rundschau emphasises the importance of the proposal made in the House of Commons by Ernest Bevin, British Foreign Secretary, in which he called for greater unity in Western Europe and speculated on the emergence of a third new force alongside that of the United States and the Soviet Union.

On 20 March 1948, the German newspaper Süddeutsche Zeitung considers the impact of the statements made by the Foreign Ministers of Belgium, France, Luxembourg, the Netherlands and the United Kingdom at the signing of the Brussels Treaty establishing Western Union on 17 March 1948.

On 1 February 1948, commenting on the declaration made by the British Foreign Secretary, Ernest Bevin, the Brussels weekly newspaper Le Phare Dimanche reports on the various experiences of European unification throughout history and emphasises the fact that a united Europe cannot be created through violence but through a spirit of cooperation and mutual respect.

On 13 February 1948, the Belgian daily newspaper Le Soir comments on the address given by Ernest Bevin, British Foreign Secretary, in which he proposes a Western Union. The newspaper regrets his anti-Soviet tone and explains the need to specify the ambitions of this future Union.

During the negotiations on the Brussels Treaty, the Luxembourg daily newspaper Luxemburger Wort considers the importance of the new organisation for European unification.

On 18 March 1948, the day after the signing of the Brussels Treaty, the Dutch daily newspaper Het Parool gives its views on the new European defence system.

On 21 March 1948, the Brussels newspaper Le Phare Dimanche sees, in the signing of the Treaty of Brussels and the opening of the Paris Conference on the Marshall Plan, the first encouraging signs of true European cooperation.

On 23 March 1948, Joseph Bech, Luxembourg Foreign Minister, sends a letter to Pierre Dupong, Prime Minister, in which he emphasises the urgency of Luxembourg’s ratification of the Brussels Treaty.

On 13 April 1948, the Luxembourg Council of State delivers its opinion on the main points of the Brussels Treaty establishing Western Union and endorses the bill approving the Treaty.

On 21 April 1948, Pierre Pescatore, legal adviser at the Luxembourg Foreign Ministry, drafts a note on the military obligations resulting from the Brussels Treaty of 17 March 1948 in comparison with the provisions of the United Nations Charter.

On 21 April 1948, the Committee on Foreign Affairs and External Trade of the Belgian Chamber of Representatives delivers its opinion on the most important provisions of the Brussels Treaty establishing Western Union.

On 27 April 1948, following Luxembourg’s signing of the Brussels Treaty establishing Western Union, Pierre Pescatore, legal adviser at the Luxembourg Foreign Ministry, drafts a note on the Grand Duke’s power to declare war.

On 30 April 1948, as Belgium ratifies the Treaty of Brussels establishing Western Union, the Belgian liberal daily newspaper La Dernière Heure deplores the futile opposition of the Communist Party during the parliamentary debates and considers the fight against poverty as one of the essential tasks of Western Union and of a future united Europe.

On 14 March 1948, the French daily newspaper Le Monde reports on the proposal made to the Benelux countries by Ernest Bevin, British Foreign Secretary, that an agreement to complement the Treaty of Dunkirk between France and the United Kingdom be concluded. This initiative was welcomed and subsequently led to the signing of the Brussels Treaty.

On 17 March 1948, the day of the signing of the Brussels Treaty by France, the United Kingdom, Belgium, the Netherlands and Luxembourg, the French daily newspaper Le Monde summarises for its readers the substance of the agreement.

On 24 January 1948, the Italian Communist daily newspaper L'Unità condemns the proposal made by Ernest Bevin, British Foreign Secretary, to establish a Western European union, and warns its readers against the dangers involved in this future ‘Western war bloc’, with which Italy may well be associated.

On 5 February 1948, the Italian daily newspaper Il nuovo Corriere della Sera analyses the address given by the British Foreign Secretary, Ernest Bevin, in which he calls for greater unity in Western Europe and outlines the limits placed upon such unity.

On 23 January 1948, the day after the speech delivered by Ernest Bevin, British Foreign Secretary, in the House of Commons, the British daily newspaper Daily Mail criticises the country’s foreign policy and speculates on the Foreign Secretary’s proposal to create a United Western Europe.

On 23 January 1948, the British daily newspaper The Manchester Guardian analyses the address given by Ernest Bevin, UK Foreign Secretary, in the House of Commons and speculates on the new direction of the country’s foreign policy.

On 23 January 1948, the British daily newspaper Daily Mail leads with the address given the previous day in the House of Commons by Ernest Bevin, British Foreign Secretary, in which he criticised the political designs of the Soviet Union and called for a Western European Union.

In March 1948, following the ‘Prague coup’ that led to the establishment of a Communist Government in Czechoslovakia, British cartoonist Ernest Howard Shepard compares Western Union to a strong tower in the face of the Soviet threat in Europe.

On 25 March 1948, in connection with the signing of the Brussels Treaty, British cartoonist David Low illustrates the opposition of Max Aitkin Beaverbrook, Conservative MP and staunch supporter of the British Empire, to the establishment of closer relations between the United Kingdom and Continental Europe.

On 3 November 1948, British cartoonist Ernest Howard Shepard takes an ironic look at the large number of institutions in the Western Union, contrasting these with the institution's real military capacity and comparing it to a ‘paper tiger'. On the left, Ernest Bevin, British Foreign Secretary.

On 9 March 1949, one year after the signing of the Brussels Treaty and in the light of the increasing number of defence structures in Western Europe, British cartoonist David Low speculates on the reality of common European defence.