The victory in Europe and rejoicing all over the world is the greater because of the recollection of the triumph of Nazi barbarism and its final overthrow. But the celebrations didn't last long. World War II had left a trail of destruction in Europe, killing 36 million people, many of them civilians and displacing millions. The end of the Nazi rule had also paved the way for the Soviet expansion in Eastern Europe. The Soviet Union was emerging as a superpower.
This had Western Europe and the US worried. Tensions were high and political instability was gripping Europe, with Germany at the core of it. Despite their differences, the UK, the US, France, and the Soviet Union came together in 1947 to decide on Germany's future.
But there was little success. Following the failed meeting, this guy, the then-UK Foreign Secretary Ernest Bevin, was committed to finding a solution. The Western powers had to organize themselves to defend against Joseph Stalin's expansionist ambitions. and the Soviet military power.
A year later, Bevin's persistence led to the formation of the Brussels Treaty, signed by Belgium, France, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, and the UK. The treaty aimed to show cooperation among Western European countries and encouraged the U.S. to join the alliance. On April 4, 1949, the U.S. did join. The North Atlantic Treaty was signed in Washington, D.C. by 12 countries.
Then-U.S. President Harry Truman underlined the purpose of the treaty. To maintain friendly relations and economic cooperation with one another.
To consult together. Whenever the territory or independence of any of them is threatened, and to come to the aid of any one of them who may be attacked. So what exactly did Truman mean by this? Here's the thing. Article 5 states, If a NATO ally is the victim of an armed attack, each and every other member of the alliance will consider this act of violence as an armed attack against all members, and will take the actions it deems necessary to assist the ally attacked.
In 1952, more countries joined NATO. Turkey and Greece. Then three years later, West Germany followed. This was the last straw for the Soviet Union, and it responded by forming its own alliance. This was the Warsaw Pact.
And just like NATO, the Warsaw Pact was a treaty of collective defense among the Soviet Union and its communist partners in Eastern Europe. Then came the nuclear arms race. Over the next 10 years, nuclear weapons were heavily developed and tested.
The UK, France, and the US were testing and experimenting in different parts of the world. In 1961, the Soviets detonated the world's most powerful nuclear weapon, Tsar Bomba, estimated to be at least a 50 megaton atmospheric blast. The range of this bomb was massive and just to put it into context, it was 3,000 times more powerful than the atomic bomb dropped on Hiroshima.
Now both NATO and the Soviet Union were in possession of the world's deadliest nuclear weapons. They were both capable of using these weapons of mass destruction, but an attack on the other would be suicide, as these weapons were enough to wipe out both sides. It was a danger everyone was aware of, and as a result, a non-proliferation treaty was signed in 1968. Many non-nuclear nations agreed to never acquire nuclear weapons, while the nations in possession of nuclear weapons, including the US, the UK, and the Soviet Union, agreed to disarm in time. Over the next few decades, NATO was gaining in strength.
Whereas the Soviet Union was struggling to hold on to Eastern Europe. Political and economic instability was escalating, and everyday life was not a socialist utopia. During the 1970s and 1980s, the Soviets were one of the top oil and gas producers. But as the price of oil started to decrease, the country was left to struggle with an economic burden. Even as the economy got worse, military spending continued due to the Cold War and the war in Afghanistan.
The world was advancing in research and development, but the Soviets were making little progress. Rallies were being held in Soviet-ruled Eastern Europe. The revolutions of 1989 in Poland, Hungary, East Germany, Bulgaria, Czechoslovakia and Romania gained momentum.
Following weeks of civil unrest, the East German government gave in. On November 9, 1989, citizens of East Germany were allowed to visit West Germany, and in the joy of reunification, crowds climbed over the Berlin Wall and started to bring it down. With countries declaring independence from the Soviet Union, the Warsaw Pact started to disintegrate. and on December 26, 1991, the Soviet Union collapsed.
After the collapse of the Soviet Union, was there really a need for NATO? After all, Hastings'Lionel Ismay, the first Secretary General of NATO, had once said the purpose of NATO was to keep the Soviet Union out, the Americans in, and the Germans down. But NATO didn't disintegrate. Instead, it took on a new role. It saw itself as a source of peace and security and decided to expand its missions globally.
As instability was slowly gripping Europe again, NATO found an opening. and took on a peacekeeping role in Bosnia and Herzegovina. A few years later, it did the same in Kosovo too. Critics questioned their involvement and success while NATO was trying to justify the reason for its existence.
The early 2000s were a chance for NATO to expand beyond its borders. In 2001, specifically after 9-11, NATO invoked Article 5 for the first time, the same article that considers an attack on an ally as an attack on all members. It launched its biggest-ever combat operation in Afghanistan.
with the aim to stabilize the region, train Afghan forces, and make sure the war-torn country won't be a safe haven for terrorists ever again. It has been 17 years since the war in Afghanistan started and the US and NATO are still there. So are the Taliban and Al-Qaeda.
It also had many missions in Africa, South Asia, and the Mediterranean Sea. But things started to change in 2014 when Russia annexed Crimea. Some say Russia was provoked by NATO, while others say it was pure Russian aggression.
This was a wake-up call for NATO and it started to take extra measures in the Baltics. So, is NATO still around because the Soviets might come back? Or is it trying to protect its members from aggressive nationalism?