Synopses & Reviews
The fiftieth anniversary of the long entanglement between the United States and NATO is an appropriate occasion to reflect. One of the few NATO studies to concentrate on the history of the alliance, particularly the relationship between its senior partner and its European allies, this study examines critical issues in depth, to uncover the ability of the allies to surmount their internal divisions and to confront their Soviet adversary. While NATO archives are still not fully open, the use of declassified documents from the National Archives and the presidential libraries are of invaluable assistance in considering the historical role of America in the alliance, and the continuing relevance of the organization in U.S. foreign policy.
The twelve chapters of this book, provide analyses of important issues in the organization's history, and are connected by brief contexual narratives. The resulting picture depicts a fifty-year history in which the difficulties in arriving at a consensus among the fifteen allies, each understandably concerned with its own national interests, rival those of the alliance in dealing with the Communist threat. The implosion of the Soviet empire in the early 1990s left the organization in search of new reasons for its own existence. While centrifugal forces are arguably greater today than they were during the Cold War, none of the allies seeks to terminate this long entanglement.
Review
[A] treasure chest ... Kaplan... proves wrong those who believe that history must be boring. For example, his essay `NATO: A Counterfactual History' offers a thought-provoking speculation about the path Europe might have taken had NATO never been created ... this chapter alone is worth the price of the entire book.NATO Review
Review
...the individual chapters are insightful, well-researched, and elegantly crafted pieces...Canadian Journal of History
Synopsis
Concentrates on the long entanglement between the United States and NATO, elaborating on the ability of the allies to surmount their internal divisions and to confront their Soviet adversary.
Synopsis
The 50th anniversary of the long entanglement between the United States and NATO is an appropriate occasion to reflect. One of the few NATO studies to concentrate on the history of the alliance, particularly the relationship between its senior partner and its European allies, this study examines critical issues in depth to uncover the ability of the allies to surmount their internal divisions and to confront their Soviet adversary. While NATO archives are still not fully open, the use of declassified documents from the National Archives and the presidential libraries are of invaluable assistance in considering the historical role of America in the alliance and the continuing relevance of the organization in U.S. foreign policy.
About the Author
LAWRENCE S. KAPLAN is University Professor Emeritus of History and Director Emeritus of the Lyman L. Lemnitzer Center for NATO and European Union Studies at Kent State University. He is currently Adjunct Professor of History at Georgetown University.
Table of Contents
Origins of the Alliance, 1948-1949
An Unequal Triad
The "Atlantic" Component of NATO
The Mutual Defense Assistance Act of 1949
NATO in the First Generation, 1950-1967
The Impact of Sputnik on NATO
The Berlin Crisis, 1958-1962
Les debats strategiques
NATO in the Second Generation, 1968-1989
The U.S. and NATO in the Johnson Years
NATO and the Nixon Doctrine
The INF Treaty and the Future of NATO
NATO in the Third Generation, from 1991
NATO after the Cold War
NATO at Fifty
NATO: A Counterfactual History
Appendix: Text of North Atlantic Treaty
Bibliographical Essay
Index