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Post-Cold War Period.

NATO HISTORY

Beginnings.

The Treaty of Brussels signed on 17 March 1948 by Belgium, the Netherlands, Luxembourg, France and the UK is considered to be the precursor to the NATO agreement. The treaty and the Soviet Berlin blockade led to the creation of the Western European Union’s Defense Organization in September 1948. However, participation of the US was thought necessary in order to counter the military powers of the USSR and therefore talks for a new military alliance began almost immediately.

The talks resulted in the North Atlantic Treaty signed in Washington D. C. on 4 April 1949 by the five Treaty of Brussels states, as well as by the US, Canada, Portugal, Italy, Norway, Denmark, and Iceland.

 

Cold War.

The outbreak of the Korean War in 1950 was crucial for NATO as it raised the apparent threat level greatly (all Communist countries were suspected of working together) and forced the alliance to develop concrete military plans.

In 1952 Greece and Turkey joined the alliance (first expansion).

In 1954 the Soviet Union suggested that it should join NATO to preserve peace in Europe. The NATO countries, fearing the Soviet Union’s motive was to weaken the alliance, rejected the proposal.

On 9 May 1955 West Germany joined NATO, the major reason for the entry being that without German manpower it would have been impossible to field enough conventional forces to resist Soviet invasion (second expansion). One of the immediate results was the creation of the Warsaw Pact, signed on 14 May 1955 by the Soviet Union, Hungary, Czechoslovakia, Poland, Bulgaria, Romania,Albania and East Germany as a formal response to the event, thereby delineating the two opposing sides of the Cold War.

 

French Withdrawal.

The unity of NATO was breached early in its history, with a crisis occurring during Charles de Gaulle’s presidency of France from 1958 onwards, as he protested at the US’ strong role in the organization and what he perceived as a special relationship between the US and the UK.

As a result, on 11 March 1959 France withdrew its Mediterranean Fleet from NATO command; 3 months later, in June 1959, de Gaulle banned stationing foreign nuclear weapons in France.

In 1966 all French armed forces were removed from NATO’s integrated military command, and all non-French NATO troops were asked to leave France.

France remained a member of the alliance and committed itself to the defense of Europe from possible Communist attack with its forces stationed in the Federal Republic of Germany throughout the Cold War.

 

Escalation period.

During the 1970s and 1980s the membership of the organization remained largely static. In 1974, as a result of the Turkish Invasion of Cyprus, Greece withdrew its forces from NATO’s military command structure but was readmitted in 1980. On 30 May 1982 NATO gained a new member when following a referendum the newly democratic Spain joined the alliance (third expansion).



 

Post-Cold War Period.

The end of the Cold War and the dissolution of the Warsaw Pact in 1991 removed the de facto main adversary of NATO. This caused strategic re-evaluation of NATO’s purpose, nature and tasks. In practice this ended up entailing a gradual expansion of NATO to Eastern Europe, as well as the extension of its activities to areas that had not formerly been NATO concerns.

The first post-Cold War expansion of NATO came with Germanreunification on 3 October 1990, when the former East Germany became part of the FRG and the alliance.

As part of post-Cold War restructuring, NATO’S military structure was reorganized, with new forces such as the Headquarters Allied Command Europe Rapid Reaction Corps established. France rejoined NATO’s Military Committee in 1995. On 4 April 2009 France returned to full membership which meant it rejoined the integrated military command of NATO, while maintaining an independent nuclear deterrent.

 


Date: 2015-12-17; view: 535


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