The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) was founded in 1949 as a means of collective security for the West to defend against the Soviet Union and Eastern Bloc. With the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991, NATO seemed to have lost a main reason for existing. As former Eastern Bloc nations expressed interest in participating in NATO operations or even joining, Russia became steadily uneasy. When evaluating their response to NATO expansion in the 1990’s, did Russia act in an offensive or defensive manner? J.L. Black presents a plethora of primary accounts of the years encompassing NATO expansion to give the reader an idea exactly what the Russian government was thinking at the time. It seems clear that NATO expansion caused …show more content…
The trend that is common here is that Russia is constantly isolated. They consistently find themselves in a compromising strategic position with insufficient allies. With NATO taking advantage of the Soviet collapse, Russia lost a lot of influence with former Soviet states as they joined NATO sub-organizations. This is a clear infringement on the Russian sphere of influence. Russia has only one option: reach out to the non-Western world in an attempt to find a counterbalance to NATO and the West. In 1955, the Warsaw Treaty Organization was formed, seemingly as a counter balance to NATO. But Black points out that this collective security agreement was not signed until 6 years after the formation of NATO, and was actually made in reaction to West Germany’s inclusion in NATO (119). This mimics Russia’s reaching out to nations such as China, India, Pakistan, Iran, and Iraq following the NATO expansion of the 1990’s. This continuance of a policy of multi-polarity supports the claim that any strategic move Russia makes is in reaction to NATO expansion eastward. Some may say that Russia went further than just gaining security with these nations as it provided them with the assistance in developing nuclear energy programs, provided weapons, and practiced join military tactics. But this is all necessary when one
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.
Brands' purpose for writing this book was to inform the reader of actions taken before, during, and after the Cold War. After World War II, the United States and Russia were the only two remaining world powers. Each had a conflicting method of government, which ultimately led to the Cold War. The two superpowers were at the center of attention for the better part of
(1) After the end of World War II, all involved countries, with no exception of being victorious or defeated, have started seeking of the prevention of a new disaster by reconstructing and maintaining the security and peace primarily in Europe. All huge and disastrous events (such as World Wars) which affected whole world were originated from the uncomfortable conditions and conflicts in the continent. Thus the main task was to settle a
It massive forests and frozen tundra’s have picturesque views that would astound anyone. The country has a land surface area of 6,592,735 square miles, making the largest country by land comparably to the world. Since Russia is the biggest country in the world, it has every landscape imaginable. From Lake Baikal, the biggest lake in Europe, to the Ryn desert, and the cold Siberian forests. Russia has it all when it comes to land geography. The northern part of Russia concealed with the Arctic Ocean, which is froze for the majority of the year. To the west the only way Russia has access to the Atlantic Ocean is through the Black Sea, and then through the Mediterranean Sea. Another way to access the Atlantic Ocean is through the Baltic Sea or through the Barents Sea, which is only operable in the summer, since in the winter everything over the 60-degree latitude line turns into ice. Even though Russia can access the Atlantic Ocean through the sea when you look at a map, there is two more non-geographic obstacles. The first one is that countries that are around the sea, for example, Turkey, and Denmark, which are part of North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), can deny or make it hard for Russia to use those routes. NATO’s purpose is to pledge the liberty and safety of its members through military and political methods. In other words, if one NATO country takes a conflict with a non-member of NATO, then all
Following World War II disputes between soviet and the Western democracies kicked up, particularly dealing with the fate of Eastern European states and the Soviets influential takeover. The communist takeover of Eastern Europe clashed with the democratic rebuilding of Western Europe forming what Winston Churchill described as a “Iron Curtain” a political, military and ideological barrier set by the Soviet Union served to set a metaphorical boundary between the Soviet expansion and the Western democracies. With the fall of the “Iron Curtain” “The Cold War was a period of East-West competition, tension, and conflict short of full-scale war, characterized by mutual perceptions of hostile intention between military-political alliances or blocs.”
The foreign policies of Russia also compliments in many ways its domestic policies, both in the apparent want for dominance and security in the focal point on sovereignty. These aims lead to an importance on bringing back Russia’s international status and removing positions of power that Western states have had in Russia
In 1976, with the election of Georgia governor and Washington outsider Jimmy Carter to the Presidency, the American people could expect that a change was going to come—and they were right. After years of military action attempting to stop Cold War Soviet expansion, first in Vietnam under Presidents Kennedy, Johnson and Nixon, followed by the quick and possibly unnecessary bombing of Cambodia by President Ford in response to seizure of the U.S. freighter Mayaguez (History.com, 2016), Americans were war-weary. Thus they welcomed the affable Southern peanut farmer who promised a foreign policy based on high moral principles and regard for human rights. Indeed, Carter set the tone with the following statement, during the first year of his (only) term:
For decades, the United States and Russia, formerly The Soviet Union, have held tensions with each other over different political stances and military actions and intelligence. Starting from the late years of World War II - when the Soviet Union had aggressively spread communism throughout Eastern Europe - up to a couple years ago when Russia annexed the Crimean peninsula in Ukraine out of nowhere; their relationship has been a rollercoaster of a ride for these two countries. Even though the United States and Russia are no longer in a Cold War, there has been and continues to be tension between the two countries as exemplified by many events of conflict including the Cuban Missile Crisis and the Russian military’s current presence in Syria.
In present day, the U.S. nuclear weapons and DCA (dual capable aircraft), which is used to deliver the weapons, are currently deployed in five European countries (Germany, Netherlands, Belgium, Italy, and Turkey). In order to maintain the credibility of its assurance and deterrence, the U.S. should not withdraw its own DCA (dual capable aircraft) and its nuclear weapons from Europe. In the past years, Russia became significantly more aggressive politically and militarily. The annexation of Crimea and the “upgrades of its nuclear and conventional capabilities” are a few examples of Russian’s aggression. Sustaining the DCA and nuclear weapons is a visible demonstration of the U.S. commitment to the security of the transatlantic region and its allies.
The United States, on the other hand, was recovering from multiple devastations. World War II had taken a toll on the citizens due to the casualties and the unnecessary battles. Therefore, they were caught off guard, and it allowed Russia to advance more, but they still didn’t get too far ahead. This was because of France and the United Kingdom. They were able to get Russia under control, for the most part, until the United States was filled in. At that point, Winston Churchill made ‘The Sinews of Peace’ speech, also known as The Iron Curtain speech, in Fulton, Missouri, USA. The speech really helped everyone get back into the game, and unite together. In 1949, NATO was created, just for the Cold War. NATO, an acronym for North Atlantic Treaty Organization, originally had the United States, the United Kingdom, Belgium, the Netherlands, Luxembourg, France, Canada, Portugal, Italy, Norway, Denmark, and Iceland as members. Its purpose was to keep an alliance against Communist Russia and their allies. Just a few months after this, Russia tested its atomic bomb it had built, and by no surprise, it was in fact lethal. Knowing that Russia could also use atomic bombs now, NATO members were panicked, and needed an upper hand. Luckily for them, China had just been overtaken by Communist leader Mao Zedong. This was good because it let the Powers know that Russia would fracture its power, leaving weak spots for them to poke at, and eventually break Russia’s shield.
Fuelled by aversion and escalation of competition, the Cold War marks history’s height of political and military tensions between the United States and the Soviet Union. Despite fighting alongside in the Second World War, tensions heighted and conflicting ideologies ripped these two nations apart. The rivalry, that consumed a large portion of the twentieth century, nearly brought the world to the brink of disaster. The strenuous relationship was characterized by the overwhelming sense of mutual doubt, animosity, and lack of communication. As two nations eminently divided by ideological differences, the mutual misperception between the US and the USSR is undeniably imperative to the development of the early Cold War in regards to Soviet
5 Paragraph review Nato & the warsaw pact NATO was an alliance formed in 1949 between the united states and other western nations to prevent and stop communism. The warsaw pact formed in 1955 it was the alliance between communist countries to do the opposite, keep and spread communism. These two alliances started tensions that lead to what is now called the cold war. I chose this topic because it lead to the scare of ww3 and the end of the world. These pacts also helped the world because there was so much pressure to be the best that many technological advancement would come as a result of the competition.
There have always been very brief talks about NATO expansion, but nobody really knew which country was going to join NATO. Not until a few years ago when NATO stated that they were trying to bring the european country Georgia into the NATO alliance. NATO has been trying to get Georgia into the alliance for a number of reasons. The biggest reason was to get protection from Russia. The last country to join NATO was Montenegro who joined on June 5, 2017. The fate of Georgia ever becoming a member of the NATO alliance has not been decided yet but there are many pros and cons to why Georgia would be a beneficial member to NATO. Most countries in the NATO alliance gave joined NATO in order to prevent and defend attacks from other countries. NATO's
The Development of the Cold War in Europe after 1945 After World War Two, there was an increasing interest in the idea of a United Europe. Soviet Russia and Western European Capitalist states had no common interests despite the wartime alliance, which was no longer valid. There was growing hostility between the United States and Soviet Russia that developed in to a Cold War. This essay will suggest that the development of the Cold War in Europe was a result of differences in political ideologies and a lack of compromise and agreement. It will discuss the ideals of Western Europe and that of Soviet Russia; the United States in support of liberty and freedom, and Communist Russia, who had shown a
NATO encourages Russia to resume co-operation on the broad range of issues foreseen in the Founding Act and to engage actively in the EAPC and the Partnership for Peace. NATO also emphasizes that the further development of their co-operation depends on Russia's respect for international norms and obligations.