France's position on NATO 1949-2009

After the devastation of World War II, France struggled to rebuild its economy and ensure its security. This required rebuilding its infrastructure and also required guarantees against Germany and the Soviet threat. A series of events caused France to worry about its physical and political security. To counter this potential turn of events, France considered the possibility of forming a Euro-American alliance to strengthen the security of Western Europe and push the United States to become more closely involved in European affairs. Thus, the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) was declared after the signing of the Washington Treaty on April 4, 1949. France was one of the founding members of the alliance and hosted the political and military headquarters of the alliance on its territory. After Charles de Gaulle came to power in France, he pointed to American dominance on French territory under the guise of NATO. Therefore, he announced France's withdrawal from the alliance, with the military command being withdrawn from France in 1966, which caused a crisis within NATO. After the end of the Cold War, détente began, and France officially returned to the NATO military command structure in 2009.