NATO Or The North Atlantic Treaty Organization

Thesis: Although NATO provided assistance in containing the spread of communism, and its member countries applied economic pressure on the Soviet Union, neither NATO nor President Reagan should be solely credited with causing the fall of the Soviet Union and thus the end of the Cold War. Instead, it was a combination of the tough Reagan administration policies and NATO’s threatening military armory along with grave economic problems within the Soviet Union that ultimately brought the end to the Cold War.

Through initiatives such as the creation of the North Atlantic Cooperation Council (NACC) and Partnership for Peace (PfP), and the establishment of a new Euro-Atlantic Partnership Council (EAPC), the member countries of NATO have opened the way for new forms of partnership and cooperation with other countries within the framework of the Alliance. On 27 May 1997, in Paris, NATO and Russia signed a historic agreement on their future relations. A few days later a NATO-Ukraine Charter was initialed in Sintra, Portugal, where NATO and Partner countries met to inaugurate the EAPC. A Dialogue with the Mediterranean countries, initiated in December 1995, is also being further developed. New structures and procedures designed to further the internal adaptation of NATO are being introduced. As part of this process, the development of the European Security and Defense Identity

“I believe that it must be the policy of the United States to support free peoples who are resisting attempted subjugation by armed minorities or by outside pressures.” This declaration, made by former President Harry S. Truman on March 12, 1947, is part of the Truman Doctrine, and was the basis for U.S. involvement in Western Europe throughout the Cold War. Although the North Atlantic Treaty, and the resulting North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), was established during the Cold War “to keep the Russians out, the Americans in, and the Germans down,” NATO has persisted since the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1990. This essay will seek to examine the U.S. decision to create and participate in NATO. It will begin by providing a history of NATO and the U.S. decision to participate in NATO before considering how this decision is both an instance of continuity and change in U.S. foreign policy since former President George Washington’s Farewell Address. The essay will conclude by considering the legacy of this decision and its impact on U.S. foreign policy. While this essay will consider the period of time leading up to the formation of NATO and will briefly touch on the present day, greatest consideration will be paid to the time period immediately preceding and following the formation of NATO in 1949.

NATO was an essential part of the United States forces, and was at the core of initiating different operations in many Arab Countries; some of which were in Afghanistan (Operation Enduring Freedom), Iraq (Operation Iraqi Freedom), and much more. It played a

In 1949, the United States signed the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) with the United Kingdom, France, Canada, and other capitalist states . Through this treaty, the countries agreed to defend each

The NATO, also known as the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, was a military alliance that was created as a response to the Soviet Union becoming a threat to the United States. They believed that this alliance would provide them with support and stability and protect them from any threats that they get from the Soviet Union. Document 4 states, "The parties agree that an armed attack against one or more of them in

1). On the other side was the United States who lived through Capitalism and believed in democracy in which everyone has a say in government. The United States gave everyone power and they were scared of the whole world turning to Communism. The Soviet Union and United States were two very strong countries that would start a huge nuclear war if they fought directly against each other. They used Proxy Wars to keep a nuclear war from happening. The United States was involved in NATO. “The parties agree that an armed attack against one or more of them in Europe or in North America shall be considered as an attack against them all” (Doc. 4). NATO was a way to have the backs of the North Atlantic area. If one place was attacked they would consider it as an attack on all of them and than they would all do whatever was

In a excerpt from the North Atlantic Treaty (NATO) that was signed by United States, Canada, and ten nations of Western Europe in 1948 states that

Near the end of WWII soviet Russia and America began installing governments elsewhere in the world, with this and the ultimate untrust between the two powers, the conflict began. Near that time, the Soviet Union violated agreements made at yalta and potsdam, they invaded Germany and started to set up small communist states. The US thought of this as another act of war. On April 4, 1949 The North Atlantic Treaty Organization, or NATO was established by the US. The purpose of this was to counter Soviet armies in central Europe after World War Two. NATO sought to strengthen the Western Allies’ military response to a possible invasion of Europe by the Soviet Union. Ultimately in July 1989, Mikhail Gorbachev, the leader in Soviet Russia, announced that Moscow will no longer be setting up communist governments in central and eastern Europe. After this event, NATO transformed into a political alliance, made to maintain international stability and safety in

Canada helped found NATO, the North Atlantic Treaty Organization in 1949. NATO is primarily a military alliance, with the basic premise that to attack one member is to attack them all. When the Cold War ended in the 1990s, Canada brought home the troops that had been deployed in Europe to discourage the Soviet Union from invasion.

This perpetuation fed right into the arms race created by the new Cold War between the USSR and NATO.

This pact has multiple European countries supporting it and to make the alliance safe they keep Russia out and America in. However, since Russia isn’t in the pact, if they attacked America, the other pact members would come to America’s aid. As a result, this pact reduces the chance of someone to attack America and other country in the pact. Another big reason NATO is protecting us, is when the NATO expansion started. Ukraine had a political crisis and Russia had an increase in their military conflict. Finally, during the cold war NATO keeps the Germans under its control to help them with their WWII problems and reduce Russian presence in

     The UN and NATO are similar in the way they are organized. They are each structured into several groups. They both have councils, a Secretary General, and Secretariat. The UN is made up of six organs. They are the council, Secretariat, and International Court of Justice. NATO is made up of the Defense Planning Committee, Nuclear Atlantic Cooperation Council.

The Warsaw pact was the result of a treaty which the USSR and seven of its surrounding countries signed. The treaty was signed by the USSR, Albania, Poland, Romania, Hungary, East Germany, Czechoslovakia, and Bulgaria, in Warsaw, Poland in 1955. This was created 6 years after the Western nations created NATO in 1949. This treaty was a “treaty of friendship, cooperation, and mutual assistance” ("APPENDIX C: THE WARSAW PACT -- Soviet Union"). The USSR stated that the reason for the creation of this alliance was the addition of Western Germany to the NATO (North Atlantic Treaty Organization). They weren’t very fond of this because they felt threatened. The Russians created this pact for one main reason; to keep its East European allies under its political and military control ("APPENDIX C: THE WARSAW PACT -- Soviet Union”). They didn’t want the rest of the surrounding satellite countries to end up joining NATO like Western Germany did, because that would put them in a very dangerous situation. Many people say that “Khrushchev’s ambition towards the power of the Communist party may explain the formation of the Warsaw pact – he wanted global domination for Communism.” ("The Cold War Museum"). The Warsaw Pact was a very big part of the cold war because it finally gave a depth to the “Cold War”. It seemed very one sided. This creation of another side was good for the “communist” states.

While “Washington is pushing hard to help Ukraine, enthusiasm seems weaker among NATO’s other members” (“Rumsfeld Praises Ukraine for NATO Membership Effort”). At the Vilnius, Lithuania conference in October 2003, less than half of the member countries were represented.