When discussing the Russia, Ukraine war it’s good to have basic knowledge of NATO and why that might cause tensions between the East and West.

 https://www.history.com/topics/cold-war/formation-of-nato-and-warsaw-pact

When discussing the Russia, Ukraine war it’s good to have basic knowledge of NATO and why that might cause tensions between the East and West. After WWII NATO was formed to prevent the further expansion of communism. The Soviet Union over threw the democratic government in Czechoslovakia, installed satellite communist governments in Eastern Europe and began to flex its muscles as the world’s super power. American and its Western European allies became nervous, thus NATO was formed. 

The Warsaw Pact (1955) was created less than 2 weeks after West Germany was admitted into NATO. Soviet leaders feared Germany gaining clout on the world stage and again investing in its military. However this fear was shared by both sides involved in the Cold War because Germany had been heavily involved in WWI & WWII. The Warsaw Pact put the Soviet Union decisively in charge and they used it to keep their members in line. When the Soviet Union was dissolved, so was the Warsaw Pact.

These two alliances divided Europe as most European countries aligned with one of these two opposing alliances. These rival alliances and a strongly divided Europe set the stage for the Cold War (1945-1991). Ukraine became interested in joining NATO in 2008 and Russia found itself bordered by many NATO allies and losing influence in a founding republic of the USSR.

Direct Quotes:

In 1949, the prospect of further Communist expansion prompted the United States and 11 other Western nations to form the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO). The Soviet Union and its affiliated Communist nations in Eastern Europe founded a rival alliance, the Warsaw Pact, in 1955.

The discussions between the Western nations concluded on April 4, 1949, when the foreign ministers of 12 countries in North America and Western Europe gathered in Washington, D.C., to sign the North Atlantic Treaty. It was primarily a security pact, with Article 5 stating that a military attack against any of the signatories would be considered an attack against them all.

The original membership of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) consisted of Belgium, Britain, Canada, Denmark, France, Iceland, Italy, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Norway, Portugal and the United States.

Unhappy with its role in the organization, France opted to withdraw from military participation in NATO in 1966 and did not return until 1995.

The formation of the Warsaw Pact was in some ways a response to the creation of NATO West Germany formally joined NATO on May 5, 1955, and the Warsaw Pact was signed less than two weeks later, on May 14. Joining the USSR in the alliance were Albania, Bulgaria, Czechoslovakia, the German Democratic Republic (East Germany), Hungary, Poland and Romania.

The alliance provided a mechanism for the Soviets to exercise even tighter control over the other Communist states in Eastern Europe and deter pact members from seeking greater autonomy. When Soviet leaders found it necessary to use military force to put down revolts in Hungary in 1956 and in Czechoslovakia in 1968, for example, they presented the action as being carried out by the Warsaw Pact rather than by the USSR alone.

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