The Supreme Headquarters Allied Powers Europe i.e. SHAPE was a reality.
But it wasn’t an action.
It was a theoretical structure.
It was an answer, not an initiative.
But it was also the first step of Atlanticism.
It was a way to stress the importance of Trans Atlantic cooperation.
Europe shouldn’t be alone.
Its forces were too weak to resist and to counter Soviet Armed Forces.
The Berlin Blockade in 1949
was the proof that Europe needed US.
NATO wasn’t an initiative.
Just a necessity of Europe.
A question of survival.
That’s all.
Nothing more, nothing less.
It was the result of the Ante Cold War
and the answer to the barbarity.
The communist 1948 Czechoslovak coup d’état
had overthrown a democratic government.
Enough was enough.
Mankind had to be protected.