NATO
This year marks the 75th anniversary of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO).
Towards the end of World War II, President Franklin D. Roosevelt, British Prime Minister Winston Churchill and Soviet Premier Joseph Stalin convened for the Yalta Conference.
It was discussed at this meeting the extent to which the Soviet Union could exercise influence over future governments of the liberated Eastern European nations.
Following Germany’s surrender, the heads of the Allied powers met again for the Potsdam Conference. This time however featured President Harry Truman on behalf of the United States, and Prime Minister Clement Attlee would replace Churchill in the middle of the sixteen-day summit.
Yalta and Potsdam helped set the stage for a superpower conflict between the U.S. and USSR. A Cold War began to brew.
As Churchill so famously proclaimed while touring the United States, an iron curtain had descended across Europe.
Soviet-controlled states began to pop up. The democratically-elected government in Czechoslovakia was overthrown in 1948 by the communists with Soviet support.
Following World War II, the communist People’s Republic of Yugoslavia under Marshall Tito also formed.
This expansionism initiated the West to act. NATO was created in 1949, the treaty being signed by twelve countries at the Departmental Auditorium, known today as the Andrew W. Mellon Auditorium, in Washington, D.C.
President Truman remarked at the signing ceremony: “If there is anything certain today, if there is anything inevitable in the future, it is the will of the people of the world for freedom and for peace.”
Freedom and peace.
To achieve these, NATO understood how integral it was to establish a strong collective defense capability.
The agreement allowed for the member states to build a command structure, resulting in a military headquarters. NATO tapped victorious American General Dwight D. Eisenhower as the group’s first Supreme Allied Commander Europe (SACEUR).
Additionally, the Washington Treaty contained Article 5, which states that any attack on a NATO ally is considered an attack on all NATO allies. Therefore, NATO allies will come to the defense of a NATO ally under attack.
A strong and unified military organization could promote deterrence and collective security, as opposed to threatening the defense of member nations and the world.
To neutralize potential Soviet expansionism in the continent, NATO took on an aggressive role of adding members.
Greece, which experienced a civil war thanks to communist forces, and Turkey joined the alliance in the 1950’s.
For a time, Turkey had U.S. Jupiter missiles.
Following West Germany’s accession to NATO in 1955, the Soviet Union orchestrated its own collective defense agreement known as the Warsaw Pact, pitting an Eastern bloc against a Western bloc.
The iron grip of the Russian bear only grew, as garrisons of Soviet troops were stationed in Eastern bloc countries.
Their armies helped suppress the 1956 Hungarian Revolution and invaded Czechoslovakia in 1968 to halt reform.
Despite the Cold War continuing, after NATO’s formation the world did not see additional Soviet expansion in Europe.
The tearing-down of the Berlin Wall, after Ronald Reagan’s famous speech, marked a pivotal point in the Cold War, with Western leadership firmly overwhelming the Soviets on the world stage.
The collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991 crowned NATO as victorious.
NATO accomplished its goal of defeating Soviet expansionism, but there were other objectives to meet.
In the seventy-five years of its existence, the world has changed dramatically.
Many territories under Soviet control sought nation-state status. NATO ensued with its mission to accommodate political integration into Europe.
Most former Warsaw Pact countries, when free to choose, chose democratic republican forms of government and applied to join NATO.
The Baltic Republics of Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania were restored.
NATO intervened in Yugoslavia after it dissolved and bloody conflicts arose.
Thirty-plus years following the collapse of the Soviet Union, critics have argued NATO has served its purpose and the alliance is no longer necessary.
Critics also point out that many NATO members historically have not met the threshold of committing 2% of their GDP to defense spending.
As the authoritarian regimes of China, Russia and Iran are either taking land, intimidating countries, or both, the foundational reason for NATO still rings true.
That reason?
It is the will of the people of the world to have freedom and peace.
If you have questions, concerns, or comments, feel free to contact my office. You can call my Abingdon office at 276-525-1405 or my Christiansburg office at 540-381-5671. To reach my office via email, please visit my website at www.morgangriffith.house.gov. Also on my website is the latest material from my office, including information on votes recently taken on the floor of the House of Representatives.
