NATO and the Warsaw Pact at the end

• Formation of NATO:

  • 1949 - formed as a result of extensive negotiations by the US
  • was a collective security defence organisation against Soviet aggression (not explicitly mentioned)
  • WG not an initial member
  • 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…”
• Massive retaliation:

  • part of MAD and etc
  • collective defence arrangements in NATO served to place WE under the ‘nuclear umbrella’
  • 1950s - strategic doctrine of ‘massive retaliation’; if the USSR attacked, NATO would respond with nuclear weapons
  • intended effect was to deter either side from risking an attack
• 1960s - Cuban Missile Crisis, Berlin Wall and Detente

  • Kennedy’s strategy of ‘Flexible Response’ sought to replace Massive Retaliation’s absolute choice of peace or total nuclear war
  • Flexible Response enhanced NATO’s conventional defence posture by military responses short of full nuclear exchange
• French Nationalism:

  • March 1966 - de Gaulle announced intention to withdraw from NATO’s intergrated military command structure
  • 1967 - NATO HQ moved from France to Brussels
  • France remained politically within NATO and consistently emphasised its intention to stand with Allies in crucial events
  • 1993 - France rejoined NATO’s military command
• End of detente:

  • caused by 1979 Soviet invasion of Afghanistan and Soviet deployment of SS-20 ballistic missiles in Europe
  • NATO made the ‘dual track’ decision to deploy Pershing II and ground-launched cruise missiles in WE
  • 1982 - Spain joins NATO
• NATO missiles:

  • deployment not scheduled to begin until 1983
  • Allies hoped to achieve arms control agreement to eliminate the needs for weapons
  • 1983 - NATO suffered internal discord with Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament protests
• Downing Street files:

  • Thatcher warned that the anti-nuclear movement could potentially halt the deployment of US cruise missiles in Britain
  • 1985 - CND membership peaked at 110l
  • files showed extent of a sustained government effort to keep CND movement out of the public eye
• The stalemate saved:

  • USSR was spending three times as much as the US on defence with an economy one-third the size
  • 1985 - US and USSR signed the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces (INF) Treaty which eliminates all nuclear and ground-launched ballistic and cruise missiles with intermediate range
• NATO-Russia relations:

  • December 1989 - Soviet Foreign Minister made first visit to NATO Headquarters
  • July 1990 - NATO Secretary General visited Moscow to discuss future cooperation
  • 1990 - Treaty on Conventional Armed Forces in Europe signed
  • established comprehensive limits on key catergories of conventional military equipment
  • mandated the destruction of excess weaponry
  • equal limits for NATO and the Warsaw Pact
  • 31 March 1991 - Warsaw Pact dissolved
• The end of the Soviet Union:

  • many wondered whether NATO had any purpose after the Cold War
  • claims of NATO’s mission have always been as much political as military
  • many EE countries saw a relationship with NATO as essential for their stability, democracy and European intergration