77 YEARS AGO THE NORTH ATLANTIC TREATY ORGANIZATION WAS FOUNDED

(I originally wrote this Hungarian and had it translated so I apologise if it seems off)

77 years ago, Europe experienced one of the most horrific wars in world history. During that conflict, the fascist powers devastated the continent and took the lives of millions of people. But even though the war had ended, a new danger came from the East: the Soviet totalitarian regime now threatened Europe’s freedom.

When the free countries saw what the Russians had done to the Eastern nations, they knew they would be next. However, President Truman knew what had to be done, and he acted. On April 4, the United States, the United Kingdom, Canada, Iceland, the French Republic, the Kingdom of Belgium, the Kingdom of the Netherlands, the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg, the Kingdom of Denmark, the Kingdom of Norway, the Italian Republic, and the Portuguese Republic signed the North Atlantic Treaty. Article 5 of this treaty stated that an attack against one member is considered an attack against all members.

Afterward, the Russians created their own version of NATO — the Warsaw Pact. The only real difference was that if a member wanted to leave, they received a “gift” in the form of a tank regiment. But in the end, freedom prevailed. Today, NATO still exists, but the Warsaw Pact does not — largely because most of its members, including my country Hungary (which joined NATO on March 12, 1999), left it.

NATO proved extremely effective. Thanks to Article 5, there was no major war on European soil for a very long time. In fact, Article 5 has only been invoked once — when terrorists attacked the territory of the United States and killed nearly 3,000 innocent people.

Today, however, many people in NATO countries want the alliance to be dissolved. Some do so because they dislike our allies, while others prefer our enemies. Since 2008, there have been two countries that wanted to join NATO because they knew their adversaries wanted to deprive them of their precious freedom. Unfortunately, the enemy struck first and destroyed both countries.

77 years later, let us remember why there is usually no war in Europe today, and why we still have our freedom. It is because we have friends who stand by the principle that an attack on one is an attack on all — and all stand for one.

Postscript: My birthday is also today, but that’s less important .