Creation of NATO
The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) is a regional defense alliance created by the North Atlantic Treaty. NATO's purpose is to improve the strength, well being, and freedom of its members through a system of collective security. Members of the alliance agree to defend one another from attack by other nations or by terrorist groups. NATO has its head office in Brussels, Belgium."The North Atlantic Treaty was signed on April 4, 1949, at the beginning of the Cold War." (www.encarta.com) The original purpose of NATO was to defend Western Europe against possible attack by Communist nations, led by the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR).
The original signers of the treaty were Belgium, Canada, Denmark, France, Iceland, Italy, Luxembourg, The Netherlands, Norway, Portugal, the United Kingdom, and the United States. Greece and Turkey were admitted to the alliance in 1952, West Germany in 1955, and Spain in 1982. In 1990 the newly united Germany replaced West Germany as a NATO member. "In 1955 West Germany was accepted under complicated arrangement whereby Germany would not be allowed to manufacture nuclear and biological weapons." (www.encarta.com)
Over the years the endurance of NATO has led to closer ties among its members and to a growing community of interests. The treaty itself has provided a model for other collective security agreements. NATO activities are no longer small only to Europe. In
2003, for the first time in its history, NATO took up peacekeeping activities outside of Europe by deploying troops in Afghanistan. "The North Atlantic treaty is a short document which expresses the practical resolutions and the idealism of the nations." (Ismay 12)
The Warsaw Pact became the Soviet r...
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...ve had terrible consequences for the whole world.
Finally, another thing that the creation of NATO and the Warsaw Pact accomplished was install a desire for territory and advantage in both sides. Both wanted, in short, more people to follow and accept their thinking of either capitalism or communism. This policy manifested itself especially in the Korean War. This war was important in East-West relations in that both wanted their own particular brand of government to be established there after the war.
NATO is basically the police of the world. It protects the interests of all the countries that embody it. Without NATO there would probably a lot of more countries looking to fight with each other because there isn't a body to interpret both sides and come up with a decision. NATO saves a lot of lives in the ways that in some ways it goes against war and for peace.
After the war, the United States and the Soviet Union had very different ideas on how to rebuild. The United States, led by President Truman, wanted to form democracies in Europe and create a capitalistic society to build economically strong nations that would compliment the American economy through trade. In contrast, the Soviet Union, led by Joseph Stalin, wanted to rebuild itself and spread communism through Europe and Asia. In a desperate attempt to rebuild, many countries devastated by war fell under soviet influence and resorted to communism. The Soviet Union called these nations Satellite nations and hoped that they would serve as ?buffer? nations, preventing invasion from the west .In its efforts to defend democracy, the U.S. created the policy of containment. In this new policy, the United States would try to block Soviet influence by making alliances and supporting weaker nations. Winston Churchill described this strategy as an ?iron curtain?, which became and invisible line separating the communist from the capitalist countries in Europe. To help enforce the ideas of containment, President Truman create...
Canada was influential in the development of NATO; it had been a member of NATO since it was founded in 1949. The purpose of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization was to unify the western allies and strengthen the military as a reaction to a possible threat from the Soviet Union and its allies. In 1949 many countries signed a contract to be part of the organization including: Belgium, Great Britain, Italy, Iceland, Luxembourg, United States, Canada, Netherlands, Denmark, Norway and Portugal.² Canada gained benefits from being part of NATO such as the ability to have a say in alliance policy, and now Canada would be able to “deal with the US on a multilateral context.” ¹ NATO also provided safety for Canada from the potential aggression of the Soviet Union. Canada’s armed forces were the most engaged, and active responsive armed forces within NATO. Canada’s priority in NATO was to ensure that all allies remain modern and are able to face the threats during the time period.
At the NATO Prague Summit of 21-22 November 2002, member nations agreed to make changes to ensure that the alliance remained a central mechanism for meeting its members' security needs. This involved expanding the organization with new members, enhancing relationships with NATO's partner countries and giving the alliance new capabilities. Canada has participated in every NATO mission since the alliance's creation. In recent years Canada has funded about 5.9 per cent of NATO’s
Peacekeeping has played a significant role in defining and shaping the country that Canada is today. Canada’s role used to be viewed by many as insufficient in the major issues which regarded the traditional powers of the world. Later on Canada began to establish some forms of credibility as they were fighting for a common good of the world’s nations and not just their allies. Recently since the year 1995 the role that Canada plays in the united nations peacekeeping efforts has significantly dropped, a large part of this was as a result of UN military missions through NATO as opposed to strictly just the UN. Due to this the role that this country has played in peacekeeping missions has decreased significantly compared to what it used to be.
The Soviet Union and Eastern Europe became the East nations, and the United States, centered on NATO formed the West nations, dividing the world in two. Belonging to neither the East nor the West, developing countries were called Third World nations and became a stand-in for wars between the East and West (Gaddis, The Strategies of Containment 70-78). The end of WWII and the beginning of the C... ... middle of paper ... ... a, from containment to rollback in Korea; welcoming European integration because it portended the creation of an economic unit that encouraged technological innovation; building a configuration of power in the international system, nurturing free markets while safeguarding American interests, a constant in Washington for more than 35 years; and, free political economy at home were just a few of the strategic methods used to change, influence, and shape American domestic policy (Leffler, The Specter of Communism,100-129).
International organizations such as NATO and the UN are essential not only for global peace, but also as a place where middle powers can exert their influence. It is understandable that since the inception of such organizations that many crises have been averted, resolved, or dealt with in some way thro...
The conflicting U.S. and Soviet aims in Eastern Europe led to the Cold War. The Berlin airlift, the formation of NATO, and the Truman Doctrine all relate to this policy of containment. At the end of WWII, the United States, Great Britain, and France occupied the western zone of Germany while the Soviet Union occupied the east. In 1948, Britain, France, and the U.S. combined their territories to make one nation. Stalin then discovered a loophole. He closed all highway and rail routes into West Berlin.
Although Rosecrance makes valid arguments, I will focus on his second, which has a major flaw. Should the United States and Europe (and eventually China and ‘non-western’ nations) form economic an alliance, there would be no need for competition. With no competition, there is no threat and ultimately, the use for naval power becomes futile. Hence, militaristic organizations such as NATO will cease to exist.
In the 1950s, French insecurity feelings forced the state to strengthen its military and presumed Germany as their potential enemy. The state decided not to join the European Defence Community (EDC); where Britain and United States excluded, to stay away from its former archenemy. In other hand, the members of North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (NATO); particularly the hegemons US and Britain provided guarantees as the security providers to European in against potential German aggression. The guarantee triggered the French National Assembly to...
The idea of further Communist expansion convinced the United States, Canada, and several other Western European nations to form the North Atlantic Treaty Organization in 1949. NATO was formed in an attempt to help contribute unified security against the Soviet Union.
...was not to preserve peace, but to preserve the sovereignty and independence of the states of Europe against potential aggressors. The basic rule was to ally against any state threatening domination. The weaker countries would seek alliance with the other weaker states. They would thus create a balance or counterweight against the state whose ascendancy they feared.
The author doesn’t forget to mention the relationship between USA and NATO. He thinks that Americans welcome NATO as a weapon for America’s affairs, not of the world’s. In his final words, it is suggested that either Europe should invite USA to leave NATO or Europe should expel America from it.
...ecause Canada belongs to alliances such as NATO, it was persuaded to assist with this “war on terror.” Canada’s involvement has been mainly
The Alliances not only contributed to war breaking out; it made the war last longer and become on a much larger scale; major political disputes would inevitably cause a large conflict. The alliances caused suspicion, fear, and tension among nations. The two camps were the Triple Entente (Britain, France and Russia) and the Triple Alliance (Germany, Italy and Austria-Hungary). When countries formed alliances with each other it gave them protection, if a country was threatened or under attack then the alliance would come to that country’s aid. Countries made an alliance when they both needed protection from a stronger country. When Austria-Hungary had heard about the assassination of Franz Ferdinand they went to war with Serbia which resulted in a chain reaction of countries going to war with one another, and when countries teamed up to support their attacked friends when war came, it meant that a number of nations would fight, not only the two involved in a dispute. The division of...
The NATO and Warsaw Pact were formed. This war inevitably led to destructive conflicts like the Vietnam War and Korean War. The Soviet Union collapsed due to its economic weakness. Berlin was destroyed and the two German nations were unified. The Baltic States and some former Soviet Republics gained independence.