April 4 is the anniversary of the founding of an organization which has gained new life and significantly increased in importance in the wake of the recent crisis in Crimea. Sixty-five years ago, on April 4, 1949, the North Atlantic Treaty Organization was chartered in Washington, D.C. When WWII ended, and the nations of Western Europe faced a new threat on their borders – the Soviet Union – they realized the need for a new, more comprehensive treaty to stave off the new threat, a treaty that would span the Atlantic and bring in the United States.
The organization was created as a defensive structure against the Soviet Union, as well as a means for fostering military cooperation amongst like-minded free nations and for encouraging member nations to keep their armaments adequately built up enough to stave off any Russian aggression. NATO nations standardized military terminology and procedures in order to ease cooperation, and often held joint exercises between their militaries.
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