NATO

• Military rivalries


  The physical signs of a developing Cold War were seen in the developments of international alliances(Warsaw Pact and NATO) and the stockpiling of weapons (arms and space race)
• Origins of NATO 1949:

  During the Berlin Blockade, war between the US and USSR seemed like a real possibility. At the height of the crisis, the Western powers met in Washington and signed an agreement to work together. They new organisation they formed in 1949 was the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation
• Extracts from the NATO charter

  Article 3: To achieve the aims of this treaty, the parties will keep up their individual and collective capacity to resist armed attack.

  Article 5: The parties agree that an armed attack against one or more of them in Europe or North America shall be considered an attack against them all
• Motives for the alliance of NATO

  The main motive of the alliance for Truman was that NATO countries could provide US forces with secure bases in Europe. Truman was aware that Stalin's forces were well positioned to invade western Europe if he chose to. US forces would have to cross the Atlantic before they could meet the Soviets. With the signing of NATO, US forces could resist any advances USSR make. US allies like Britain were happy to have US forces in Western Europe as it guaranteed their protection from a possible Soviet attack.

  USSR didn't see the alliance in the same way.
• Stalin commenting on NATO

  'The Soviet government did everything it could to prevent the world from being split into 2 military blocks. The Soviet Union issued a special statement analysing the grave consequences affecting the entire international situation that would follow from the establishment of a military alliance of the Western powers. All these warnings failed, however, and NATO came into being.'