Warsaw Pact
Warsaw PactIn the new world of the Cold War, the search for security led to the formation of new military alliances. In Eastern Europe, eight nations came together in Warsaw in 1955 to form a military alliance known as the Warsaw Pact. Albania, Bulgaria, Czechoslovakia, East Germany, Hungary, Poland, and Romania joined the Soviet Union in forming the alliance that countered NATO in Western Europe and North America. Once again, Western and Eastern Europe were divided into opposing alliance systems.
|
NATO and
|
The North Atlantic Treaty Organization, or NATO, was formed in April of 1949. Belgium, Luxemburg, the Netherlands, France, Britain, Italy, Denmark, Norway, Portugal, and Iceland joined the US and Canada to sign a treaty in which the powers agreed to provide mutual assistance if any one of them was attacked. West Germany and Turkey joined NATO a few years later.
|
The idea behind NATO and the Warsaw Pact was simple; if one nation was attacked, the other member nations would provide assistance. The alignment of almost every European nation into either NATO or the Warsaw Pact showed the political division that had taken place in Europe after World War II. The division was the base of the military standoffs that took place during The Cold War.
Although each alliance was comprised of many nations, The United States and the Soviet Union were the main powers of NATO and the Warsaw Pact, respectively. The Soviet Union, however, did play a more controlling and decision-making role in the Warsaw Pact than the US did in NATO. The formation of NATO was important because it committed the US to the defense of Western Europe via treaty obligation. It affirmed that the US could not again pursue a policy of isolationism if another major world war were to take place. The US was now a playing a leading role in Western Europe.
Although each alliance was comprised of many nations, The United States and the Soviet Union were the main powers of NATO and the Warsaw Pact, respectively. The Soviet Union, however, did play a more controlling and decision-making role in the Warsaw Pact than the US did in NATO. The formation of NATO was important because it committed the US to the defense of Western Europe via treaty obligation. It affirmed that the US could not again pursue a policy of isolationism if another major world war were to take place. The US was now a playing a leading role in Western Europe.