Chapter 10: The Establishment of NATO and the Confrontation with Communism, 1949 (Part I)

On March 5, 1946, former British Prime Minister Winston Churchill delivered a speech entitled “The Sinews of Peace” at Westminster College in the United States. In that speech, Churchill used the metaphor of an “Iron Curtain” to describe the relationship between the Western countries and the Soviet Union: “From Stettin in the Baltic to Trieste in the Adriatic, an iron curtain has descended across the Continent. Behind that line lie all the capitals of the ancient states of Central and Eastern Europe—Warsaw, Berlin, Prague, Vienna, Budapest, Belgrade, Bucharest, and Sofia. All these famous cities and the populations around them lie in what I must call the Soviet sphere, and all are subject, in one form or another, not only to Soviet influence but to a very high and in some cases increasing measure of control from Moscow.” This speech later became known as the “Iron Curtain Speech.”

The Iron Curtain Speech marked the opening of the strategic “contest” between Britain and the United States on one side and the Soviet Union on the other. Within a year of the speech, the United States introduced the Truman Doctrine and the Marshall Plan. The Truman Doctrine held that “the seeds of totalitarian regimes are nurtured by misery and want,” and that only by eliminating poverty could the roots of totalitarianism be destroyed. At its core, the Truman Doctrine asserted that the United States must assume leadership responsibility for the world, assisting free nations in resisting totalitarian rule. The Marshall Plan was the economic implementation of the Truman Doctrine, designed to help Europe recover from the devastation of war, revive its economy, and escape poverty and deprivation.

The North Atlantic Treaty Organization was the military implementation of the Truman Doctrine. Its purpose was to counter the threat posed by the “Iron Curtain” to Europe and North America. On April 4, 1949, twelve countries from Europe and North America established the North Atlantic Treaty Organization to prevent the expansion of Soviet communism in Europe. Under the treaty, an attack on any one member would be considered an attack on all, triggering collective security protections. NATO became a powerful military alliance that deterred Soviet aggression and served as a stronghold against communism.

Today, the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) has thirty member states. NATO was originally founded when twelve countries from Europe and North America signed the Washington Treaty. At its inception, NATO included the United States, Canada, and ten European countries, with the primary purpose of containing the Soviet Union. Over time, it expanded into a security alliance of thirty nations. NATO’s fundamental objective is to safeguard the freedom and security of its members through political and military means and to prevent the expansion of Soviet communism in Europe. It is the principal security instrument of the transatlantic community and an embodiment of the shared democratic values of its members. Its establishment permanently linked the security of North America and Europe and advanced the United States’ goal of building a whole, free, and peaceful Europe.

Article 5 of the North Atlantic Treaty states: “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 and consequently they agree that, if such an armed attack occurs, each of them, in exercise of the right of individual or collective self-defense recognized by Article 51 of the Charter of the United Nations, will assist the Party or Parties so attacked by taking forthwith, individually and in concert with the other Parties, such action as it deems necessary, including the use of armed force, to restore and maintain the security of the North Atlantic area. Any such armed attack and all measures taken as a result thereof shall immediately be reported to the Security Council of the United Nations. Such measures shall be terminated when the Security Council has taken the measures necessary to restore and maintain international peace and security.”

The military alliance formed by the signatories to the North Atlantic Treaty effectively countered the Soviet communist bloc. If any member state were attacked, it would receive collective security protection from all treaty members. NATO thus became a powerful military alliance that deterred Soviet action and stood as a bastion against communism. Over time, NATO expanded into an organization composed of thirty member countries from North America and Europe.

NATO consists of two main components: a political dimension and a military dimension. It provides a forum for dialogue and cooperation among partner countries and NATO members, working jointly to achieve peace and stability. Article 4 of the treaty ensures consultation among allies on security issues of common concern. These issues have expanded beyond the narrow threat once posed by the Soviet Union to include critical missions in Afghanistan, peacekeeping operations in Kosovo, and new security threats such as cyberattacks, as well as global challenges including terrorism and piracy that affect the Alliance and its global network of partners.

On October 23, 1954, the United States, Britain, France, and other Western countries signed the Paris Agreements, deciding to end the occupation of the Federal Republic of Germany, admit it into NATO, and allow it to rearm. On May 5, 1955, West Germany formally joined NATO. In response, the Soviet Union and its allies convened from May 11 to 14, 1955, in Warsaw, where the Soviet Union, the German Democratic Republic, Czechoslovakia, Hungary, Romania, Bulgaria, and Poland signed the Warsaw Pact. The treaty declared that, in light of West Germany’s accession to a military bloc opposed to other European states and its remilitarization, the participating countries would take joint measures in organizing armed forces and establishing a unified command to ensure their security. Article 4 of the Warsaw Pact stipulated that member states mutually pledged to defend peace and to provide military assistance to one another in the event that one or more signatory states were subjected to military attack. The treaty also provided for the establishment of a unified military command to guarantee the effectiveness of the alliance.

The Warsaw Pact solidified the division between East and West. Unlike NATO, the Warsaw Pact was not merely a defensive alliance among sovereign states. Through this military bloc, the Soviet Union was able to strengthen its military dominance in the region. More importantly, the Warsaw Pact ensured the Soviet Union’s political control over Eastern Europe, with the communist “big brother” firmly in charge. The supreme commander of the Warsaw Pact had to be a Soviet officer, and hundreds of thousands of Soviet troops were stationed on the territory of member states. In East Germany alone, the number of Soviet troops exceeded 350,000.