NATO the North Atlantic Treaty

NATO

The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) and the Marshall Plan played an instrumental role in the Cold War. The purpose of this discussion is to explore the connection between NATO and the Marshall Plan and how they affected the Cold War. Let us begin this discussion by describing NATO and the Marshall Plan.

NATO and the Marshall Plan

NATO can best be described as an alliance of 26 North American and European countries. The purpose of the alliance was to fulfill the goals established by the North Atlantic Treaty that was implemented in 1949. The North Atlantic Treaty contains 16 articles and the primary purpose of the treaty is to resolve conflict with peaceful means, to protect freedom and civility, to supply mutual aid (North Atlantic Treaty Organization). The articles of the North Atlantic Treaty also assert that any attack against one of the countries is an attack against the entire alliance (North Atlantic Treaty Organization). It also provides provisions related to the authority of the Security Council (North Atlantic Treaty Organization). With these things being understood the primary purpose of NATO is to provide a forum for Canada, the United States, and European countries to discuss security issues that involve the aforementioned countries (North Atlantic Treaty Organization).

According to Kaplan (1999) the formation of NATO in 1949 marked an abandonment of a tradition of both political and military noninvolvement with Europe that stretched back to the end of the Franco-American alliance of 1778 (Kaplan 1999). Even though the United States had close relationships with allies in World Wars I and II, the relationship was that of an "associate" during World War I and as an informal collaborator during World War II. The author also explains that the ending of isolationism marked America's acceptance of responsibility as a superpower, giving legitimacy to the massive economic aid to Western Europe under the Marshall Plan. In the effort to bring political stability to a continent threatened by Soviet expansion, the United States also committed itself to the political and military integration of the West. In another sense the creation of NATO, with the United States as a partner of Europe, may be considered an extension of Thomas Jefferson's conception of an "empire of liberty (Kaplan 1999, pg.1)."

The Marshall Plan

The Marshall Plan was first brought to the attention of the world in 1947 through a speech presented at Harvard by Secretary of State George C. Marshall. The Marshall plan was formulated following World War II and the purpose of the plan was to assist Europe in rebuilding. According to the United States Department of State, the Marshall plan proposed that the United States give $20 billion to European Nations for relief. However, the monetary contribution was dependent upon the ability of European nations to work together to develop a plan concerning how the money was to be used.

The Marshall marked the first time that Europe had to act as a unified economic unit. Initially the Marshall Plan offered aid to the Soviet Union and its allies; however, Stalin rejected the plan as a hoax and would not participate ("The Marshall Plan"). Many believe that the Russian rejection of the plan made it possible for the plan to pass through Congress ("The Marshall Plan").

The State Department also explains that the Marshall Plan was also advantageous for the American economy. Indeed, the money would be used by European nations to purchase goods from the United States ("The Marshall Plan"). In addition, these goods had to be shipped using American merchant vessels ("The Marshall Plan"). By 1953 the benefits of the Marshall Plan could be seen. By this time America had placed $13 billion into European nations and these nations had regained much of their infrastructure and stability ("The Marshall Plan"). The plan was also inclusive of West Germany which allowed the nation to be reintegrated into relationship with the European community ("The Marshall Plan"). The state department also reports that the Marshall plan only provided economic assistance; however following the Korean War military assistance was also included in the plan ("The Marshall Plan").

The Connection between NATO and the Marshall Plan

The most obvious connection between NATO and the Marshall Plan is the concept of creating an alliance in the wake of two World Wars (Carpenter & Conry, 2001). The Marshall Plan marked the beginning of this alliance or what Marshall referred to as "spiritual federation of the West" (Bonds 2002). In other words the Marshall plan laid the foundation for NATO which is basically an alliance of the world's super powers. Both the Marshall Plan and NATO also set the foundation for economic development and the assurance of security. According to the Hoover Digest, "The Marshall Plan, like NATO, created an intricate network of intra-European and transatlantic contacts among businessmen, civil servants, and trade unionists (Duignan & Gann)."

This network has proved beneficial in many ways. One of the most obvious benefits of both the Marshall Plan and NATO was the economic stability that is encouraged in Europe and North America (Haftendorn, 1996). The Marshall Plan served the purpose of providing assistance to Europe in their efforts to rebuild while NATO provide all of the nations in the alliance with the ability to secure its borders which in turn allowed for political, social and economic stability (Agnew & Entrikin, 2004). This political social and economic stability are still apparent in the nations that were part of the original NATO alliance.

NATO the Marshall Plan and how they affected the Cold War

As it relates to the affect of the Marshall Plan and NATO on the cold War Cohen et al. (2003) asserts that throughout the cold war the alliance of nations created by NATO were deeply connected to one another. The manner in which this connection was effected was debatable at the time. The author explains that some observers believed it was effected by nuclear arrangements on the Central Front that guaranteed that in the event of war they would all experience the same fate (Cohen et al. 2003). However other observers believed that the deep connection was based on common values associated with the world's great democratic alliance (Cohen et al. 2003). The author also explains the Cold War lasted, it was not that important to discern the nature of the bonding element, for whatever the geochemists might have said about the molecular makeup of the glue, the reality of bipolar, superpower rivalry rendered it easy to believe that the alliance was immune to dissolution; in the words of Glenn Snyder, writing at a time of heightened transatlantic bickering during the Reagan years, the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) "cannot break up. Since [it] is a product of the bipolar structure of the system, it cannot collapse or change basically until that structure changes (Cohen et al. 2003, pg 109). www.questia.com/PM.qst?a=o&d=102024254"