European Defense Community

a military alignment of six Western European states: France, the Federal Republic of Germany, Italy, Belgium, the Netherlands, and Luxembourg. The creation of the community was provided for in the Treaty of Paris (1952) and the “General Treaty” (1952). The plans for creation of the European Defense Community were not implemented, because on Aug. 30, 1954, the National Assembly of France voted down the Treaty of Paris. However, with the adoption of the Paris agreements of 1954 these plans were in fact implemented within the structure of another military alignment, the Western European Union. In addition to the states that had in-tended to join the European Defense Community, Great Britain also became a member of the Western European Union.