NATO Essay Research Paper The North Atlantic

NATO Essay, Research Paper

The North Atlantic Treaty Organization has been a silent partner on the world

stage for more than half of the century and the most successful

political-military alliance in history. The United Nations and their

peacekeeping efforts have had the spotlight for the past few years. However the

driving force behind any successful agreement or, if needed, action on the part

of several countries has been because of the strong foundation and experience of

NATO and its members. The following report will chronicle the events leading up

to the creation of NATO, its first decade, the constant struggle with communism

in the decades that proceed, and finally the challenges for NATO today and in

the future. In the years after World War II, a new threat encroached upon the

leaders of Western Europe and their hopes of a stable peace. This threat would

be from the growing dominance of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR)

in Eastern Europe. The USSR had an increasing appetite for the smaller countries

to her west. These aggressive demands for territory and the placing of

installations in taken countries fueled the fears of many that the USSR was

marching toward a third world war. Britain and France, not wanting to make the

mistake again of appeasing this new menace until it was too late, developed the

Dunkirk Treaty in 1947. This treaty in essence pledged a common defense against

any aggression. The USSR answered this by creating a European Communist

organization called the Cominform and it rejected the European Recovery Program,

which is commonly known as the Marshall Plan. The Marshall Plan, named for the

US Secretary of State, was basically a financial bailout for the European

nations. These nations were starving because of the slow and near stopping of

the coal and agricultural industries after WWII. The US offered millions of

dollars to all of Europe to aid in rebuilding for four reasons. First, Europe

had been a great marketplace imports and exports for the US. Second,

historically West Germany had been an industrial hub and needed to be brought

back to tip-top shape to buffer the expanding USSR. Third, with its increasing

mass the USSR was becoming a rival to the US. Lastly, without this aid Western

Europe might look to the USSR for help, which would make life a lot tougher for

American interests. The year of 1948 was pivotal for Europe. In February, the

Communists in Prague staged a coup d.etat and the spring brought the beginning

of the Cold War. Immediately after WWII, Germany was divided in to occupation

zones by Britain, France, the US, and USSR. The capital of Germany at the time

was Berlin, which happened to fall in the Soviet zone. The governing

administration located in Berlin fell, because of the obvious reason of .too

many cooks spoil the broth.. When this happened, the USSR demanded that Berlin

become solely part of the Soviet zone, since its status as capital was ruined.

The USSR enforced this ruling by blockading all land routes into and tried to

force the other powers out of its respective sectors of Berlin. Eventually the

Berlin Blockade was squelched by a military airlift that lasted the rest of the

year. The city still remained divided and became known as East (Soviet

controlled) and West Berlin. This transgression on the part of the USSR prompted

negotiations between Western Europe, the US and Canada that resulted in the

North Atlantic Treaty. The language of the North Atlantic Treaty originally

consisted of its preamble and fourteen articles. The preamble states that

members will promote common values and will .unite their efforts for a

collective defense.. The key article of the North Atlantic Treaty is number

five (it.s the one that inspired my title) it reads, .The Parties agree that

an armed attack against one or more of them.shall be considered an attack

against them all.. Another interesting article is the last one, number

fourteen, and it calls for the deposition of the official copies of the treaty

to be kept in the US Archives. The US already was establishing itself as the

dominant member of an organization that is supposed to be based on equal

responsibility. After the ratification of this treaty the structure of the North

Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) began. The highest policy-making body in

NATO is the North Atlantic Council, which met in Paris until 1967. The council

composed of permanent delegates from all members was responsible for general

policy, budgetary outlines, intergovernmental consultation and administrative

actions. There are two main temporary committees that answer directly to the

council. Those are the Secretariat, which handles non-military functions of the

alliance (economic, scientific, cultural, and environmental issues), and the

Military Committee or the Defense Planning Committee (DPC), which

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