August 24, 1949: NATO Treaty Goes into Effect, Is it Effective Today?

A Brief History

On August 24, 1949, one of the most significant military alliances of modern times went into effect as the North Atlantic Treaty Organization became a Cold War reality. Spearheaded by the United States as a coalition against possible invasion of European countries by the Soviet Union, our former ally during World War II, this Western alliance included 12 original countries pledging mutual support in the event of a Soviet or other attack. Today, the number of participating nations has ballooned to 28, including historical enemies such as Greece and Turkey and many former Soviet Bloc Eastern European countries.

Digging Deeper

The Soviets countered this Western alliance with their own version, the Warsaw Pact, in 1955. With the disintegration of the Soviet Union and fall of communism in most East European countries in 1991, the Warsaw Pact was dissolved, and the question arose whether or not NATO had thus outlived its usefulness.

Instead of NATO going away, 13 countries have joined the alliance since the fall of communism, with the main potential enemies being Russia (flexing its muscles under strong man Valdimir Putin) and the scourge of terrorism originating in the Middle East.

Screenshot of https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Member_states_of_NATO (accessed 23 August 2016).

NATO maintains a unified command structure in case of war in which multiple countries participate, and conducts virtual exercises as well as actual physical military maneuvers. Squabbling among member nations and inconsistent adherence to military spending promised by member nations has created friction among members and within individual countries, especially the United States where political candidates, such as Presidential candidate Donald Trump, have either demanded increased spending and participation by member nations (the US spends fully half of NATO military spending) or that the US withdraw from the alliance. Russia of course feels threatened by NATO and strongly objects to former communist bloc nations joining the alliance, especially former Soviet Republics such as Ukraine (not currently a member).

NATO also has a main idea military equipment standardization, which in practice has failed miserably. After insisting NATO adopt the 7.62x51mm rifle and machine gun caliber, the US went off and switched to 5.56x45mm caliber for their M-16 family of weapons. When NATO agreed on the commonly used 9x19mm pistol round, the US stuck with their old favorite, the .45 ACP caliber pistol (switching to 9mm in the 1980’s).

Projects to come up with a standard NATO tank and fighter plane also fell by the wayside, but in spite of these problems the fact that no NATO country was invaded by the USSR or its puppets by definition proves the deterrent effect of the alliance.

NATO military force was never used during the Cold War, but since then has been used in the former Yugoslavia and in the War on Terror, including in Afghanistan, as anti-piracy operations at sea, and in Libya, as well as a training force in Iraq.

Is NATO still relevant?

Question for students (and subscribers): Should we allow Ukraine and other countries sure to rile the Russians to join? Should the US attempt to force member spending commitments and military participation in the War on Terror? What is the role of NATO in today’s world, and should it even still exist? What needs to be done to make the alliance more effective politically and militarily? If you have any of these answers or opinions, please share them with us and your fellow readers in the comments section below this article.

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