Questions over NATO

As someone preparing to join the Royal Air Force it is imperative I have a large knowledge base of NATO, its history and information that can link it with the UN. I thought there would be nowhere better to recieve all this info than a forum for History students!!!

If anyone could spare 5 minutes to help me out and give me an overview of NATO I'd be massively grateful.

Cheers to all

Dave

Reply 1

hannah88

Erm, I don't know a huge amount...... but it was formed after the second world war and after the Berlin Blockade which is seen as the first real confrontation of the Cold War. NATO firmly involved the US in European affairs and ensured that they had a military presence to be able to deal with the threat the Soviet Union posed.

Whereas in the UN- the communist USSR was a member, NATO was made up of western democatic powers all following capitalism.
That meant that the US could pursue military action without having to go through the UN- because anything they wanted to do would be vetoed in the UN by the USSR. It gave the US a way to by-pass the UN but still be acting legitimately.

There is a quote (can't remember who said it- I think it was someone at the foreign office at the time- I think he had a vaguely amusing name) anyway he said the purpose of NATO was "to keep the Yanks in, the Germans down and the Russians out"- those are pretty much the main ideas for its creation.

Hope that helps......and that it is all true! :smile: