Brussels Pact

The Brussels Pact - BTO ( French Organization du Traité de Bruxelles , English Brussels Treaty Organization ) or West Union - WU, was a military alliance that was signed on March 17, 1948 by France , Great Britain and the Benelux countries. The pact is an extension of the Dunkirk Treaty from 1947. From it, the Western European Union (WEU) emerged in 1954 .

It was a concession to the French public that the preamble and the accompanying minutes mentioned the possible reaction and prevention against German aggression as the main purpose of the cooperation . In fact, Germany was demilitarized at that time and the sovereign rights were exercised by the Allied Control Council , so military aggression was not to be expected from Germany. The actual aim of the treaty was therefore to build up military and strategic cooperation in response to Soviet aggression in Central and Western Europe. Such had not happened so far, but seemed possible to the states after the overthrow in Czechoslovakia in February / March 1948. The Brussels Pact was therefore intended to bundle the (relatively small) Western military capacities in Europe in the event of a Soviet attack. Although this could not be sufficient as a counterweight to the Soviet Union, it was only intended as a preliminary stage to a transatlantic defense pact with the USA . This was founded a year later with NATO . On December 20, 1950, the member states of the Brussels Pact (Western Union) decided to incorporate the previous military organization into NATO.

The failure of the European Defense Community (EVG) and Konrad Adenauer's convincing Western policy led to an expansion of the Brussels Pact to form the Western European Union (WEU) in 1954 , in which German participation was also possible.