The Importance of NATO

It is important to remember history, to remember tragedy, and reflect on the long lasting peace in Europe.

NATO is a critically important and strategic alliance for the United States, bringing unprecedented peace to Europe.

But in the same way that people who did not live during a time of polio and measles outbreaks are now doubting the importance of vaccines, there are people who did not live in times of great wars, or with the constant fear of nuclear attacks during the Cold War, who are now doubting the importance of NATO.

A bit of history:

Following the horrors of World War I, most nations hoped to avoid such terrible conflicts in the future. President Woodrow Wilson gave a Fourteen Point speech which outlined the vision for an organization that would diplomatically mediate disputes and solve them before they turned into wars.

President Wilson brought that mindset to Paris, where key nations created the Treaty of Versailles, which codified peace between the victorious Allies and the defeated Germany. While Wilson had hoped to achieve “peace without victory,” the Treaty of Versailles humiliated Germany and did nothing to solve the situations that led to World War I. This combination would lead to an even bloodier World War decades later.

Upon returning to the US, Woodrow Wilson brought a treaty with the founding ideas of the League of Nations. However, in classic American fashion, a Republican Congressman, Henry Cabot Lodge, led a coalition that opposed the treaty.

Lodge feared that America's joining this type of organization would reduce the United States' autonomy. This argument will be familiar to people today who oppose organizations like the International Criminal Court, the Paris Agreement, the United Nations, and even NATO.

President Wilson attempted to win the argument on why the US should join the League of Nations by doing a cross country tour, but tragically died of a stroke before he could finish and America never ratified the treaty.

Many other nations loved the idea of a League of Nations, which was formally founded in 1920 with 48 member nations. However, the new organization struggled to find its authority and footing, so it avoided getting involved in issues surrounding non-member nations.

While the League of Nations had some successes, it had more stumbles and failures. For example, it attempted to get all member nations to agree to cease using chemical and biological weapons and fully disarm all such weapons. This proposal fell through when the leader of Germany, Adolf Hitler, disagreed and pulled away from the League of Nations in 1933.

As Germany began invading other nations, most of the members of the League of Nations wanted to remain neutral (as did the United States with its strong isolationist views following WWI).

By 1940, six member nations had fallen to Hitler and other member nations were nervous about showing an alliance against Germany for fear of being attacked. The League of Nations fell apart and was replaced by the United Nations near the end of WWII.

WWII was horrific. The atrocities committed, the staggering death toll of 36.5 million Europeans alone combined with the extreme poverty, infant mortality, and rationing that followed the aftermath brought misery to the region. Those tragedies and struggles, combined with the Soviet Union’s increasing aggressiveness towards the West, made it clear that diplomacy alone could not stave off war and conflicts.

Having been pivotal in defeating the Axis powers, the United States had since realized it could not continue its isolationist approach. In the aftermath of the war, America provided economic relief to rebuild and stabilize Europe through the Marshall Plan. But there was still much mistrust between the European nations, a mistrust that only a strong military alliance could cure.

Initially, there was the Western Union (not the financial services company), which later became the Western European Union. However, a purely European alliance was not strong enough to hold back the Soviet Union, so a trans-atlantic coalition was sought.

On April 4, 1949, the North Atlantic Treaty was signed, creating the alliance with 12 initial countries:

• United States

• Canada

• United Kingdom

• France

• Italy

• Norway

• Denmark

• Belgium

• Netherlands

• Portugal

• Iceland

• Luxembourg

A founding article of NATO, Article 5, declared that:

"an armed attack against one or more of them… shall be considered an attack against them all" and that following such an attack, each Ally would take "such action as it deems necessary, including the use of armed force"

With the founding of NATO, security was restored to the region, allowing political and economic stability to return to Europe over the following years and decades.

As the Soviets continued their aggression, including the test detonation of a nuclear bomb, NATO adopted the doctrine of Massive Retaliation, which was a statement that if the Soviet Union attacked any NATO member, NATO would respond with nuclear attacks on the Soviet Union. 

While this may sound extreme, it was a way of ensuring that neither NATO, nor the Soviets and their Warsaw Pact allies would risk starting a war, ensuring a long lasting peace to the region. This also led to the extremely tense Cuban Missile Crisis which brought the world closer to a nuclear war than ever before.

NATO ended up extending far beyond a military alliance. Political alliances formed through NATO, and scientific and technological cooperation increased in response to the Soviet Union's pulling ahead in the space race with the launch of the Sputnik Satellite in 1956.

Today, NATO is 31 nations strong and will soon be 32 nations with the addition of Sweden. Ukraine, Bosnia and Herzegovina, and Georgia all wish to join. Since NATO's formation, no major wars have happened in Europe, the Soviet Union collapsed, and the European Union was created.

For anyone to doubt the significant importance of the NATO alliance or to brush aside the peace and stability it has brought with it, is to ignore history, ignore horrendous tragedy, and to empower tyranny.

President Truman at the signing of the North Atlantic Treaty:

“For us, war is not inevitable. We do not believe that there are blind tides of history which sweep men one way or another. In our own time we have seen brave men overcome obstacles that seemed insurmountable and forces that seemed overwhelming. Men with courage and vision can still determine their own destiny. They can choose slavery or freedom, war or peace. I have no doubt which they will choose. The Treaty we are signing today is evidence of the path they will follow. 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.”

https://www.history.com/topics/world-war-i/league-of-nations

https://www.history.com/topics/world-war-i/treaty-of-versailles-1

https://www.nato.int/cps/en/natohq/declassified_139339.htm