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Hello, David here with a new mini-series from the briefing room.

We're packaging up some bits you may have heard before on other programmes, which are still

very relevant, so they can explain specific things that are going on in the world.

In today's Briefing Room explainer, the history of NATO, an organisation which has come under

close and not always complementary scrutiny from President Trump.

Elizabeth Brawl, who is now at the Atlantic Council's Transatlantic Security Initiative,

gave us a masterly precy of what is NATO and why it was established.

So in 1948, which is now 70 years ago, there was a huge crisis in Berlin.

The Soviets who were occupying the eastern part of Germany decided to block all access

for any goods going into West Berlin. The Allies

came together, the Brits and Americans primarily, and performed a stunning feat of delivering

through the so-called Berlin airlift. It was a really impressive feat of solidarity with those

West Berliners. 50,000 flights to Berlin, carrying 250,000 net metric tons of food and supplies

for the people of the Western sector.

As a result of that, it dawned on the Allies.

They really should become more serious about this sort of forming an alliance.

The next year, so in 1949,

NATO was founded,

the North Atlantic Treaty Association,

essentially by the allies who had stuck together during World War II

and a few countries that had been occupied by Germany.

...