Robert Schuman, French Foreign Minister, with Maurice Couve de Murville, Director General for Political Affairs at the French Foreign Ministry, at the first meeting of the Council of Europe in 1949.

On 13 April 1950, the German weekly newspaper Die Zeit describes the difficulties experienced by the Consultative Assembly of the Council of Europe in gaining influence and comments on the opposition between the Council of Europe and the Organisation for European Economic Cooperation (OEEC).

On 4 August 1948, the Organisation for European Economic Cooperation (OEEC) sets out in a memorandum the long-term policy that it intends to pursue for the economic recovery of Western Europe, and emphasises the difficulties of this mission.

‘Heading for the topping out ceremony’. On 24 March 1949, German cartoonist Wos illustrates the United States’ desire to establish a military alliance between the Western countries. From left to right: Dean Acheson, US Secretary of State, Ernest Bevin, British Foreign Secretary, and Robert Schuman, French Foreign Minister.

‘Neutrality belt: Molotov: The main thing is that she passes out’. In the German weekly newspaper Rheinischer Merkur, cartoonist Party illustrates the desire of the Soviet authorities to control Europe and to remove it from the influence of the United States. On the right: Vyacheslav Mikhaylovich Molotov, Soviet Foreign Minister from 1939 to 1949 and from 1953 to 1956.

The success of the Allied airlift in May 1949 forced the Soviet Union to lift its blockade of the access routes to the Western sectors of the City of Berlin on 12 May 1949. The photo shows US pilots celebrating the success of the airlift and the announcement by Soviet forces that the blockade would be lifted.

In spring 1950, acknowledging the Cold War context, Jean Monnet, Commissioner-General of the French National Planning Board, speculates on the objectives and nature of the cooperation to be established between Western Europe, the United Kingdom and the United States.

Dans ses Mémoires, Jean Monnet évoque le franchissement du 38ème parallèle et l'invasion de la Corée du Sud par l'armée communiste nord-coréenne.

On 12 March 1947, US President Harry Truman delivers an address to US Congress in which he sets out the general direction of US foreign policy.