Trudne początki Paktu Północnoatlantyckiego. Europa bez szans w starciu ze Związkiem Radzieckim

#Postwar #History Hi! In this installment of the Postwar series, I explored the forgotten history of NATO's origins. When the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) was formed, it wasn't a military alliance. The Americans wanted to "appease" the Europeans. If the Soviet Union had wanted to attack Western Europe at that moment, it would have been hopeless. Initially, only two American divisions were stationed on the Old Continent. This was clearly insufficient to deter the USSR. Some openly described NATO as a bluff against Stalin's ambitions. By the late 1940s, it had become almost clear that tensions between East and West were steadily escalating and that at some point a conflict would break out between the two sides. Meanwhile, post-1945 Europe was completely devastated and defenseless. Even the British didn't have a penny to modernize their military capabilities. The same was true for the French. Europeans were completely at the mercy of the Americans. The breakthrough came with talks between representatives of Great Britain, the United States, and Canada in Washington in July 1948. The most troublesome were some American congressmen who opposed the inclusion of a provision in the future defense pact stipulating mutual assistance among NATO members in the event of an attack. This meant maintaining a large American army in Europe. Ultimately, Congress agreed to the establishment of the new organization, with the stipulation that it be an Atlantic defense pact, not a European-American alliance. Watch this episode of the Postwar series. Image source: Public Domain