animus in consulendo liber

The North Atlantic Treaty Organization, the intergovernmental military alliance between twenty-nine North American and European countries (up from twelve founding members) came into existence through a treaty agreed upon by member states on this day in 1949—signed with the charter coming into force in August of the same year.
With administrative and operational headquarters split between the Belgian capital and the city of Mons, the organization expanded from an invitation for the Benelux countries to join the pact of mutual assistance struck by France and the UK with the Treaty of Dunkirk in March of 1947, to come to one another’s aid in case of aggression by the Soviet Union or a resurgent Germany. Inclusion of West Germany in May of 1955 prompted the Soviet Union to create the Warsaw Pact. On NATO’s fortieth anniversary in 1989 when it would begin to still the dissolution of its chief foil and counter valance, the organization officially adopted a hymn—its motto above Latin for “a mind unfettered in deliberation). The present flag was first hoisted and flown in October 1951, replacing an earlier version that was essentially the coat-of-arms of the Supreme Headquarters Allied Powers Europe (SHAPE), designed to be straightforward and inoffensive (though suggestive of this rather antithetical corporate logo) and emphasise a mission of peace.