Canada_NATO_and_NORAD

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Oregon State University, Corvallis *

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Oct 30, 2023

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Canada and NATO The year 1948 was a crucial one in the Cold War. The Soviet Union first tried to take control of the city of Berlin. Then, Soviet troops moved into position to seize control of Czechoslovakia. In 1949, the Soviet Union also exploded its first atomic bomb. The United States, Canada, and other Western powers viewed this development with alarm. The atomic bomb was a weapon of mass destruction. The Cold War was no longer just a struggle over power and influence, it now involved a frightening arms race. In 1947 Escott Reid, a Canadian Department of External Affairs officer, first publicly spoke about an Atlantic defence alliance. Canada's Prime Minister Louis St. Laurent, who became Canada's leader after Mackenzie King's retirement in 1948, was also a strong supporter of such an alliance. St. Laurent realized that the weakness of the United Nations was that it had no permanent armed force of its own. The United Nations was not able to defend Canada against a possible Soviet threat. On 4 April 1949, the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) was formed. Twelve nations signed the treaty. They were Canada, Belgium, Britain, Denmark, France, Iceland, Italy, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Norway, Portugal, and the United States. By 1955, these countries had been joined by Greece, Turkey, and West Germany. The NATO alliance committed its members to collective security. All members promised to defend each other in the event of an attack. It was hoped that the combined strength of the NATO alliance would discourage the Soviet Union from taking any hostile action against NATO members. The Soviet Union responded in 1955 by forming its own military alliance, the Warsaw Pact . Its members were the Soviet Union, Albania, Bulgaria, Czechoslovakia, East Germany, Hungary, Poland, and Romania. Thus in 1955, just 10 years after World War II, Europe was once again divided into two hostile camps -- the NATO and Warsaw Pact countries.

Canada and NORAD By the mid-1950s, both the United States and the Soviet Union had nuclear missiles. Atomic bombs had been followed in the 1950s by hydrogen bombs (H- bombs). The United States exploded its first hydrogen bomb in 1952. The Soviet Union exploded its H- bomb in 1953. Hydrogen bombs were 40 times more powerful than the atomic bomb dropped on Hiroshima. The nuclear warheads were capable of wiping out a large city. Canada was in a crucial position, located between the Soviet Union and the United States. Missiles fired at the United States would probably come across the North Pole. They could reach their targets in a matter of hours. A means of early detection had to be found. Three chains of radar stations were built to detect an air invasion of North America. The Pinetree Radar System was built along the Canadian-American border. The Mid-Canada line ran along the 55°N parallel, and the Distant Early Warning Line ( DEW Line ) was situated along the Arctic coastline. Ships and aircraft provided radar surveillance on both the Atlantic and Pacific coasts. This defence co-operation between Canada and the United States increased in 1957 when the North American Air Defence Command (NORAD) was set up. NORAD brought the air defence of the two countries under a fully-integrated joint command. The commander was an American; the deputy-commander was a Canadian. The main operation centre for NORAD was built deep within the Cheyenne Mountain in Colorado. A NORAD centre was also constructed at North Bay, Ontario. If there was a nuclear attack, the defence of North America would be directed from NORAD headquarters.

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