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NATO   Term Paper ID:27933 Click to get this paper

Essay Subject: Discussion of origins & evolution of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO). Describes NATO as linchpin in US-European defense structure since 1949. Analysis of individual members, their goals, & goals of the organization.... More...

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Paper Abstract: Discussion of origins & evolution of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO). Describes NATO as linchpin in US-European defense structure since 1949. Analysis of individual members, their goals, & goals of the organization. Paper Introduction: Introduction The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) has been a linchpin in the U.S.-European defense structure since its founding in 1949. The end of the Cold War has been hailed as a major shift in world political power and as evidence of a less dangerous international climate, and this has also called into question the need for the continuation of NATO, among other defense alliances. The founding of NATO was a major post-war accomplishment for the mutual defense of Europe and the North Atlantic region. Throughout its history, NATO has been almost as much a source of internal tension among members as it has been an effective defense tool. Yet, NATO is seen as perhaps the most successful defensive alliance in history and remains today the only truly functioning Text of the Paper: The entire text of the paper is shown below. However, the text is somewhat scrambled. We want to give you as much information as we possibly can about our papers and essays, but we cannot give them away for free. In the text below you will find that while disordered, many of the phrases are essentially intact. From this text you will be able to get a solid sense of the writing style, the concepts addressed, and the sources used in the research paper. Senator Vandenberg hadoriginally shown general support for the Pentagon proposals but was nothappy with their method of implementation. At the same time, it declared its belief in human liberty, which unites Europe and the United States; and thus it became the precursor of the North Atlantic Alliance (Lowenstein & Zuhlsdorff, 196 , p. Knopf.Calleo, P. Otherstates would be invited to join the pact in the same spirit: In other words, the preamble to the Brussels Treaty set out the idea of European unity, and thereby it became the basis for the Western European Union. sent interim aid to meet the urgent needs in Italy andFrance. attitude remained reluctant to make a fullcommitment, as noted above: The American attitude, as revealed in the course of the five meetings of the Ambassadors' Committee, was that of some modern Minerva, ready to lend its shield to the good cause of European democracy, but not prepared to descend into the earthly European arena and become involved itself should trouble occur (Henderson, 1982, p. The United States would only become more important as time passed: The 195 s saw the European colonial powers forced (by economic weakness and inability to counter the growing popular-based national liberation movements in the colonies) to concede independence. New York: Alfred A. In 1954,Germany and Italy would acceded to the Treaty of Brussels (Beaufre, 1966,pp. The Resolution alsocaused problems with the House of Representatives and the State Department,however (Henderson, 1982, pp. 4) At the same time, the U.S. NATO: The transatlantic bargain. 26-27). One of the majorsplits was over Germany (Ireland, 1981, pp. London: Weidenfeld and Nicolson.Ireland, T. The French wereobstructionist and intransigent about the issue of Germany after the warfor a variety of reasons, but in any case the French were the primaryobstacles to the successful implementation of the Postdam accords. 36).During the preparatory period preceding the conclusion of the NorthAtlantic Treaty, the Soviets did all they could to disrupt the unity of theWestern nations by launching a wave of propaganda in which threatsalternated with promises and enticements of all kinds. & von Zuhlsdorff, V. When this was added to the NorthAtlantic Treaty, it would be a major stumbling block in the U.S. With this change, theUnited States embarked on a course of directly countering Soviet power atevery level and blocking Soviet advances in every region (Calleo, 1987, p.32). 15-16).Role of the United States Restoration of the spirit of Europe was necessary in the yearsimmediately after the war, and such an eventuality was in U.S. The birth of NATO. 5). (1987). In March 1947, when GreatBritain announced that she was no longer able to support Greece, PresidentTruman stepped in and instituted his policy of aid to both Greece andTurkey and also obtained the evacuation of northern Iran by the Russians.Europe at the time was dangerously undermined from within by economicdifficulties resulting from the war, and this threatened to create arevolutionary situation favorable to Communism. 12-14).Response An early action of import was the Inter-American Treaty of ReciprocalAssistance, and it was developed as an outgrowth of the American experienceduring World War II when it was apparent that the inviolability of theWestern Hemisphere could no longer be assured. NATO and defense of the West. The aggressive policies of theSoviets, especially in Korea, would accelerate this process. The Vandenberg Resolution was passed in June 1948. Marshall gave priority to Europe. (Lowenstein & Zuhlsdorff, 196 , p. interests aswell: In the jet age, the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans had lost their roles as protective barriers; and the second front of Soviet aggression, international in character and penetrating all frontiers by economic and propagandistic subversion, left little room for isolationism of the old school. Indeed, no sooner had the curtain fallen on the Council of Foreign Ministers in London than the stage began to be set for the next scene, in which the countries of Western Europe and the North Atlantic seaboard, for the first time in history, were to join together in a close system of collective security (Henderson, 1982, xii).Genesis of NATO The reason why Europe remained divided for forty years was Germany,as noted, and Germany herself was divided between the two alliances. The Marshall Planwould have lasting effects in Europe and would never disappear as a strainin American foreign policy. It was discussed in 1943 at the Tehran Conference and again at Yaltain 1945. The U.S. The intention of the British in the initial discussions was toobtain an early American commitment to support the Brussels Treaty and tojoin an Atlantic Pact. The important role of the United States derived first from thereality of American military power in general and second from U.S.possession of the atomic bomb. It was becoming clear that they Soviets would fail, though, thanks to theairlift and the determination and sacrifices of the Berliners themselves(Lowen-stein & Zuhlsdorff, 196 , pp. Even then, though, it had been as an "associated" and not an"allied" power (Lowenstein and Zuhlsdorff, 196 , p. (1982). Instead, it approached them as equal partners, in sober terms but in a spirit of brotherhood and with that respect for human dignity which is democracy's heritage from Christianity, and can be found even in its most secular forms. That notestated simply that the text of the North Atlantic Treaty itself was thebest rebuttal of the Soviet charges. The Soviets weremounting an all-out offensive. 3) The President would also declare that until the conclusion of aPact, the U.S. The founding of NATO was a major post-waraccomplishment for the mutual defense of Europe and the North Atlanticregion. The Council's decision that there was no purpose even in discussing Germany widened the chasm. After this, all governments within the Sovietorbit were forbidden to cooperate with the European Recovery Program andthe Cominform was created to fight it. When the treatyfirst came into being, what the governments meant by "mutual assistance"did not extend very far. In many former colonies the United States now took over as the hegemonic power (Palmer, 1987, p. The Brussels Treaty was a demonstration of Europe's will to live asher peoples moved closer together. There were sensitive discussions held about the precisecircumstances in which the United States might intervene militarily in anallied state. (197 ). The first movements taken toward the foundation of the AtlanticAlliance were set in an atmosphere of high tension, and the first studiesundertaken within the framework of the Western European Union demonstratedthe extreme weakness of European military resources at the time. The RioPact dealt with the duties of each of the American states in the event ofan act of armed aggression, and each state would regard an armed attackagainst another American state as an attack on all American states(Ireland, 1981, pp. For the European nations, the document means a new line, and thedecision of the fifteen allies to stand together forms the basis for the"deterrent" which would play such an important role in the planning for theprevention of war thereafter. Plans for a massive American rearmamenthad started as early as 1946, and the Truman Doctrine of 1947 combinedeconomic and military aid to two countries, Greece and Turkey, withuniversalizing rhetoric about an American commitment to defend nationalfreedom everywhere (Calleo, 1987, pp. had no clearly defined policy to govern the treatmentof the defeated enemy or to guide relations with the allies. They sought to strengthen theeconomic, social, and cultural ties by which they were already united, toraise the living standards of their peoples, and to coordinate theirefforts toward the creation of a firm basis for European recovery. The twelvenations replied jointly in a note handed over two days later. Creating the entangling alliance: The origins of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization. would regard an attack upon any of the Brussels TreatyPowers as an attack against the U.S. The United States did not develop a strong commitment to militaryforce against the Soviets until after the creation of NATO, and during theseven-power negotiations that started in July and extended throughSeptember 1948, the U.S. The Resolution then called on the government tocontribute to the maintenance of peace by making clear the determination ofthe U.S. Congress had for sometime been considering various suggestions for strengthening the UnitedNations, and the State Department had been pointing out to SenatorVandenberg that the best way to do this was to establish some system on thelines of the Pentagon proposals. Less isknown about Russian thinking on the question of Germany, though it isassumed to have been in evolution over the period in question. It wasclear that Europe could not defend herself alone and that American aid, andin particular the atomic bomb, seemed essential elements in a strengtheningof the alliance. It seems clear thatStalin was taking advantage of every opportunity that the postwar worldoffered, and he tried to move in all directions and stopped only when metwith force. Discussions on this matter took place at several points during thewar. A militaryorganization of the Treaty of Brussels was created in September, and inDecember 1948 it was installed at Fontainebleau. had adhered to a policy of non-involvementfor 15 years, and near the end of World War I it had shifted position andintervened. This allowed Russian forces to approach within 75miles of the Rhine at Frankfurt. 13-14). The Senate was now on record as being ready to go forward toward a U.S.participation in a treaty of collective defense. 16-17). government. The year 1947 was key because of the fact that the United Statesgovernment then re-entered the affairs of Europe. Article 4would finally refer to consultation with allies when they were faced with athreat to their territorial integrity, political independence, or security. Western Europe, not yet recovered from the upheavals of war and the German occupation, wondered uneasily if the U.S.S.R. Alliances can no longer be planned and concluded by governments alone; if they are to have any reality, they must be approved by public opinion and reach into the economic, social, and cultural, as well as the military, spheres (Lowenstein & Zuhlsdorff, 196 , p. draft Article 4 of the Treaty spoke aswell of "indirect" as well as direct aggression against an ally, defined atfirst as an internal coup d'etat or political change favorable to anaggressor. In June 1947 GeneralMarshall made the historic decision to propose economic aid to furtherEuropean recovery, the Marshall Plan, America's first attempt to takeindirect action on behalf of Europe. In 1947 the Inter-Americanconference for the Maintenance of Continental Peace and Security was heldin Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, and the resulting Inter-American Treaty ofReciprocal Assistance was signed in September 1947. 57).The Creation of the North Atlantic Treaty The Marshall Plan was a phase in American foreign policy that lastedonly two years, to be superseded by the NATO phase. And the original U.S. The resolve of the Westwas stiffening, and the Communists in response changed their tactics inEurope. remained tenuous, vague, anduncoordinated in its reaction. Second, theUnited States, on the other hand, desirous of maintaining its freedom ofaction, was willing to accept only an engagement in principle. . This demonstrated that Europe waswilling to help herself and that therefore it was not a waste of time orenergy for the United States to help her as well. In any case, his actions provoked profound anxiety around theworld (Beaufre, 1966, pp. government to pursue certain objectives within the United NationsCharter, including the association of the U.S. Stalin was following a policy of expansion that completelyignored the general principles set forth by the United Nations. 3 -31). 6 ).Nature of the Alliance The North Atlantic Treaty is brief and clear and its aim is set downin the preamble. P. Apresidential election was approaching, and Senator Vandenberg did not wantto give so prominent a role to Truman at that time. Elsewhere, Communistgovernments were installed by force in Poland, eastern Germany, Rumania,Hungary, Bulgaria, Albania, and Czechoslovakia: Thus a belt of satellite states was formed that entrenched Soviet power in the heart of Europe. The Plan would quickly contribute tothe recovery of countries ruined by war. The division was real but not as harsh oras visual as would be true after the Berlin Wall was raised in the early196 s. Westport, Connecticut: Greenwood Press.Lowenstein, H. The British believed that the Americanswere reluctant to enter the fray, and the Americans saw the British as over-eager. The revisedoccupation directive signed in 1945 by Truman was therefore a series ofbureaucratic compromises reflecting the uncoordinated nature of Americanthinking on Germany (Ireland, 1981, pp. Beyond American hegemony. And thus Stalin, without war but on a grander scale, had put into effect the same strategies that Hitler had effected between 1936 and 1939. 61). TheAmerican people had always fought against involvements and had been proudto stand on their own. On March 15, 1949, the signatories to the Brussels Treaty and thegovernments of Canada and the United States formally invited Denmark,Iceland, Italy, Norway, and Portugal to join the North Atlantic TreatyOrganization. 53). NATO was not sufficient to counterthe Soviet threat when that threat came from a number of differentdirections, but it would remain a key element in the overall defensivestrategy of the United States and primary in the defensive strategy ofEurope. New York: Basic Books.Cleveland, H. and would respond accordingly. We no longer live in the era of what might be called cabinetwars. The deed consists of a preamble and fourteen articles,and the objectives are set down with no codicils, no explanatorycorrespondence, no subsequent interpretations, overt or covert. Throughout its history, NATO has been almost as much a source ofinternal tension among members as it has been an effective defense tool.Yet, NATO is seen as perhaps the most successful defensive alliance inhistory and remains today the only truly functioning security organizationin Europe (Ullman, 1991, p. 57-58). In anycase, relations between the West and the Soviet Union continued todeteriorate after the war with disputes over atomic energy policies andpolicies in the Near East, eastern Europe, and Asia. Both the Marshall Plan and NATO can be seen asproducts of the Cold War disillusionment with the Soviets, and fear of theSoviet threat was a strong motivation for the unprecedented rush ofAmerican foreign aid to rebuild the European allies: But whereas the framers of the Marshall Plan phase viewed the Soviet threat primarily as economic and political and tried to pass the initiative for response onto Europe--the NATO architects saw the Soviet threat as military and established an American-run protectorate (Calleo, 1987, pp.3 -31).The military focus would not prevail in American policy until after theKorean War confirmed the danger of direct Soviet military aggression, butthe struggle between economic and military emphases started several yearsbefore that time as Americans became increasingly concerned with themilitary balance in Western Europe. and the United Kingdom would make adeclaration of support for the independence and integrity of Greece,Turkey, and Iran (Henderson, 1982, pp. Some feltthat the rise of Hitler and the beginning of World War II could be tracedto the harshness of the Versailles peace after World War I, while othersthought a repressive policy was necessary, viewing Germany as an inherentlyaggressive nation that required strong controls (Ireland, 1981, pp. There were two reasons for this failure: 1) interdepartmental disputesover the future of Germany; and 2) President Roosevelt's desire to avoidmaking political decisions regarding the postwar world while militaryoperations were still under way. The decision on the part of the United States to ally herself withcountries on the other side of the Atlantic was a more revolutionary stepfor the U.S. The first American proposals in March 1948 includedthe following provisions: 1) The Brussels Treaty would be extended immediately to includeNorway, Sweden, Denmark, Iceland, and Italy. And this along with the expulsion of the Communistmembers from the Italian and French governments in May and the prospect ofrecovery noted in June lifted non-Communist Europe from the despondencyinto which it had fallen since the end of the war. TheAmericans were given the lion's share of commands and general staffs, andall facilities were to be given to them for stationing their troops inEurope. made numerous changes in its original proposal and at timesseemed to be moving backward instead of forward. A look back at the circumstances of thecreation of this organization will show some of the forces that broughtmembers together and some of the goals they set for themselves and theorganization.Post-war Circumstances At the end of World War II, much of Europe was devastated from thefighting, and Germany was partitioned and under the joint command of theUnited States, Russia, France, and Great Britain. Before the end ofthe year the U.S. 43).The U.S. policies for Germany couldbe held hostage by French political instability. The text of the agreement was made public just before it wassigned. The Korean war marked a new stage in Soviet-American superpower confrontation and moved it from an almost exclusivelyEuropean theater to a worldwide one. . The five signatory powers of the Brussels Treaty were thus appealingto the common heritage of Western Europe. The various allies haddifferent views of the matter even after it had been decided and reacteddifferently to the need for overseeing the pacification of Germany. This also reawakened asense of hemispheric insecurity and led to the first legal endorsement ofthe Monroe Doctrine with the Act of Havana in July 194 , and there was afurther formalization of regional arrangements through the Act ofChapultepec in March 1945. The U.S. Introduction The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) has been a linchpin inthe U.S.-European defense structure since its founding in 1949. 16-18).Moving Toward the Atlantic Pact The reluctant Americans had at first stated that they were thinkingin terms of the eventual extension of the Brussels Treaty to Scandinaviaand other Western European countries, but not to the United States, basedon the assumption that some further assurance of American support would beforthcoming. This was also known asthe Rio pact and contained many provisions that were later incorporatedinto the North Atlantic Treaty, but the Rio Treaty contained no provisionfor military assistance during peacetime. It was hoped that the Americans would provide protection, andtherefore they were given everything possible to make them come and stay(Beaufre, 1966, pp. The French political scene wasunstable, and the fact that the U.S. The reaction from the U.S.S.R.was immediate--the Russians prevented Poland and Czechoslovakia fromaccepting U.S. European governments were uneasy about what the public reactionto such a proposal would be and were also uncertain of the prospect of U.S.military intervention and so forced a change in the U.S. There were twelve signatoriesat the time, and three other countries would subscribe to it later--Greeceand Turkey in 1952, and the German Federal Republic in 1955. The Russians claimed the territoriescited by Yalta, and within a few weeks of the end of the war, the Cold Warhad started. He therefore seized on the idea andembodied it in a resolution, carefully omitting any prominent role forTruman. point of view, this shift from the Marshall Plan to NATO wasa shift from selective to general containment. Prosperity and a high standard of living were not likely to prove adequate protection for the United States if the free countries of the other half of the world fell victim to Bolshevism. . The defense of Europe wasthe hard core of the Brussels Treaty, but the matter was more significantthan that. aid and created the Cominform to cope with the MarshallPlan. Hitler's Germany left the center of Europe a vacuum intowhich the Soviet armies had marched. 52)This attitude contrasted sharply with the predator-like stance of theSoviet Union and so helped the cause of the west enormously. The future of Germany still remained in doubt among the fourpowers: So long as the future of Germany remained in dispute between the Powers, the world would remain divided. And NATO was one ofthe key institutions through which this change was effected, atransatlantic bargain that has worked because it has taken place within aframework of common interest (Cleveland, 197 , p. The U.S.government, however, entered the postwar period without a well-definedGerman policy in spite of a recognition of the importance of such a policy. NATO and Europe. by constitutional processeswith such regional and other collective arrangements as were based oncontinuous and effective self-help and mutual aid and as it would affectits national security. World War II brought Russia into the affairs of Europe as had neveroccurred before. The U.S. (Lowenstein & Zuhlsdorff, 196 , p. Andconquered territory was annexed to Soviet territory, including sections ofFinland; Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania; part of East Prussia; a third ofPolish territory; Ruthenia, taken from Czechoslovakia; and northernBokovina and Bessarabia, taken from Rumania. to exercise the right of collective self-defense under Article 51. In the United States, the idea of a militaryalliance in Europe had already been developed and was set in motion withthe Vandenberg Resolution, which opened the way to concrete negotiations.These began on July 6, and in that same month American and Canadianobservers attended meetings of the Western European Union. wanted to restore France and prevent acollapse of the Fourth Republic meant that U.S. (1991). It urged theU.S. had moved from a reluctant defender of European interests to theprimary defender of democratic interests in the world. Ultimately, NATOwould be an important element in the overall defense against Sovietaggression that would contribute to the downfall of the entire Sovietsystem. TheEuropeans did all they could to integrate the Americans as closely aspossible into the defense organization with the hope of binding themtighter in practice than they had bound themselves in theory. The Communist world also stiffenedand eliminated opposition in places like Yugoslavia, Poland, and Bulgaria.The West was moving toward economic recovery, and the European RecoveryPlan was drawn up and presented to the U.S. Yet, NATO would have for two decades a contingency plan for possible U.S.military intervention in such circumstances as a Communist election victory(Palmer, 1987, p. (196 ). intended to continue its tentacular advance, with the assistance of Communist parties supported by the enormous Red army, which had practically not been demobilized at all (Beaufre, 1966, pp. The agreement wasreached quickly, a sign of the reaction to the Prague coup in February1948. Still, the treaty was no more than a declaration of intentions whenthe Russians began to blockade West Berlin in June 1948, but the situationwas becoming more serious. The end ofthe Cold War has been hailed as a major shift in world political power andas evidence of a less dangerous international climate, and this has alsocalled into question the need for the continuation of NATO, among otherdefense alliances. Therewere two German states after the war because there were two ideologicalblocs, and each German state would serve as the anchor of its bloc in manyways, possessing in each case the most powerful armed forces other thanthose of the bloc's superpower. Theallies had unilaterally disarmed after the war, and in the face of Sovietaggressions they were now undertaking to rebuild their defense, not onlyindividually, but jointly, by means of mutual assistance. 1 -11). During the war, the common goal of defeating NaziGermany was what kept the United States, the Soviet Union, and the UnitedKingdom together in a "grand alliance." As the war drew to a close, it wasclear that the four powers' attempts to find solutions to questionsconcerning the occupation and administration of a defeated Germany would domuch to determine the nature of postwar relations between allies. It seemed thatat every juncture, Soviet actions served to create opposition and tostrengthen Soviet opponents: Thus Soviet policy helped the Western powers to recognize a political necessity, a necessity which derives from the change in our historical situation. First, the Europeans hoped to benefit from anunconditional American guarantee and demanded a statement of totalengagement, as in the example of the Treaty of Brussels. There were two contradictory tendencies apparent in thesubsequent negotiations. As importantas the material help provided was the spirit in which it was given: The people of Europe were in rags, but the United States did not offer them alms as though they were beggars. 51)The bomb protected the West during this period, and the Marshall Planbrought the Soviet offensive on the second front to a halt. than for the countries of Europe, which had long been used tostrengthening their influence by dominion or alliances overseas. It showed beyond all doubt that theproposed alliance was not directed against any nation or group of nationsbut was instead directed exclusively against the possibility of an armedattack by an aggressor. 37-38). Duringthis period, the Soviet delegate to the Security Council openednegotiations for ending the Berlin blockade, and these negotiations led toan agreement on May 5 in New York: Thus, within a few weeks after it came into existence, NATO already contributed to the abandonment by the Soviets of their Berlin blockade, which was an attack on the life of the city and of the free world as a whole (Lowenstein & Zuhlsdorff, 196 , p. And a last attempt to torpedo the treaty was made on March 31 asthe Soviet government sent a memorandum to each of the proposed signatoriesalleging that the treaty would be a violation of the United Nations Charterand of the decisions of the Council of Foreign Ministers. When Truman assumed thepresidency, the U.S. Throughout, Roosevelt remained unwilling to decide until the warwas over, and he died before that occurred. By October 1948,agreement had been reached on the projected North Atlantic Treaty, and itwas to be signed April 4, 1949 in Washington. The following countries would be invited tothe conference: the U.S., Canada, the Brussels treaty Powers, Norway,Sweden, Denmark, Iceland, Eire, Switzerland, Italy, and Portugal. The departmental disputes concerned thequestion of whether a policy of rehabilitation or repression would be theone to best assure that Germany would be pacified after the war. This Pact would providefor military, economic, and other assistance by all members in the event ofaggression upon any of them. For the first time in history,Russians occupied Berlin and Vienna, and of greater significance was thefact that the United States and Great Britain had acknowledged in the YaltaTreaty a Soviet zone of occupation in Germany that included Prussia,Saxony, and Thuringia. The Pentagon proposals gave thePresident an important role--he was to announce the summoning of theAtlantic Conference and to make a declaration of American intention tosupport the Brussels Powers pending the conclusion of a treaty. The Truman Doctrine wasannounced in March 1947. Until they could agree on Germany, East and West would go their separate ways without any prospect of meeting. ReferencesBeaufre, A. (1981). (1966). This latter looked forward to increasedinstitutionalization of hemispheric defense through the conclusion of amultilateral treaty that recognized the signatories as a "regionalarrangement." And a hemispheric defense would be created through theestablishment of procedures whereby acts of aggression would be met by theuse of all or some of the signatories of the treaty, including the use ofarmed force to prevent or repel aggression. 18-19). Social unrest continued to increase across Western Europe at thistime, especially in France and Italy, as 1947 drew to a close, and it wasbecoming more and more vital to develop an effective defense to allay fearsand create a new sense of security. 62-63). The North Atlantic Treaty was signed between Britain, France,Holland, Belgium, and Luxembourg in March 1948, and this set the basis forthe NATO alliance. A powerful armed force had to stand behindthe deterrent, and Article 3 is significant for providing for this. had stepped in several times to take care of problemsdeveloping in the post-war European environment. draft. New York: Oxford University Press.Ullman, R. TheU.S. The Berlin blockade continued as theSoviets tried to subdue the people of Berlin by cutting off their supplies. 2) The President would announce that invitations had been issuedto a conference to conclude a Security Pact for the North Atlantic areaunder Article 51 of the United Nations Charter. From the middle of 1947 on, the pretense of collaboration with non-Communists was abandoned. It meant that each country should make its ownpreparations militarily and economically and to be the best it could be inaccordance with its size, resources, position, and economic structure.However, to what extent each country was to assist its allies in the taskof rearmament was not addressed but was left to individual discretion(Lowenstein & Zuhlsdorff, 196 , pp. New York: Harper & Row.Henderson, N. 12-13).During this same period, the United States and Great Britain had beenalmost entirely demobilized, and the existing European armies were poorlyequipped and strictly limited by insurmountable budgetary difficulties.The perception was that Stalin had designs on Europe, though it was nevercertain that this was so or that he merely had a buffer-state strategy asone aspect of his anxiety on the subject of defense. It became apparent that some form of joint planning was needed ifNATO was to strengthen and develop the power and resources needed, and thiswould include a unified command, a common form of training, and as far aspossible the standardization of equipment. New York: Praeger.Palmer, J. This was a very importantdecision, which offers a perfect example of the dilemma facing the U.S.throughout the war--should the U.S. The first concern of theAllies was that Germany not be able to develop another war machine as hadhappened after World War I, and only secondarily did they begin worryingabout one another. The coreof the treaty is Article 5, the declaration that an armed attack on any oneof the allies will be regarded as an attack against them all and that theywould then, individually and in concert, do everything necessary to assistthe attacked party and to restore the security of the North Atlantic Treatyarea, even by armed force if that was required (Lowenstein & Zuhlsdorff,196 , p. 53). Princeton, New Jersey: Princeton University Press. place a priority on the Pacific or onEurope? Europe without America? The State Department wasnearly crippled by doubts about the very idea of a treaty, andcongressional leaders started believing in the necessity for U.S.association in some system of collective defense. 38). The preamble made a solemn profession of faith in fundamentalhuman rights, and this was the affirmation of a concept that had existedthroughout our long history and that ever since would be a defense of theWest. 64).From the U.S. The Foreign Ministers of the twelve nations met inWashington on April 4, 1949 and formally signed the North Atlantic Treaty.It was ratified by all concerned parliaments within five months. Britain suggested a formula for a Western European Union in 1948, andout of this developed the Treaty of Brussels under which Belgium, France,Luxembourg, the Netherlands, and the United Kingdom pledged themselves incase of aggression to give each other all necessary aid and assistance bywhatever means in their power, military and other. Securing Europe. Article 5 also makes it clear that the alliance is a purely defensiveone. H. The British wanted a separate Atlantic Pact, and theCanadians supported them in this. (1987). 4). During most of the period after the wear, politics was transformedinto a confrontation between NATO and the Warsaw Treaty Organization, thelatter created in response to NATO by the Eastern alliance (Ullman, 1991,p. If this paper is not what you are looking for, you can search again: Search for: or Click here to request an essay written just for you.