Everything Everywhere Daily: History, Science, Geography & More - NATO: The North Atlantic Treaty Organization

Episode Date: May 30, 2022

On April 4, 1949, representatives of 11 North American and European countries assembled in Washington DC to sign a treaty of mutual defense. That treaty, and the organization which it spawned, has served as the basis for defense policy for Western Europe and North America for almost 75 years.  Over that time, the membership in the organization has grown and its original purpose has changed.  Learn more about NATO, the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, on this episode of Everything Everywhere Daily. Record your family memories at Storyworth https://storyworth.com/everything Subscribe to the podcast!  https://podfollow.com/everythingeverywhere/ -------------------------------- Executive Producer: Darcy Adams Associate Producers: Peter Bennett & Thor Thomsen   Become a supporter on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/everythingeverywhere Update your podcast app at newpodcastapps.com Discord Server: https://discord.gg/UkRUJFh Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/everythingeverywhere/ Twitter: https://twitter.com/everywheretrip Website: https://everything-everywhere.com/everything-everywhere-daily-podcast/ Everything Everywhere is an Airwave Media podcast." or "Everything Everywhere is part of the Airwave Media podcast network Please contact [e-mail] to advertise on Everything Everywhere. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

On April 4th, 1949, representatives of 11 North American and European countries assembled in Washington, D.C. to sign a treaty of mutual defense. That treaty, and the organization which it spawned, has served as the basis for defense policy in Western Europe and North America for almost 75 years. And over that time, the membership of this organization has grown and its original purpose has changed. Learn more about NATO, the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, on this episode of Everything Everywhere Daily. What if your perceptions about the past were wrong? ThruLine is a podcast that takes you back in time to uncover the parts of the story that may have gone unnoticed. It effectively turned day into night. And how it shaped the world now.

Time travel with us every week on the ThruLine podcast from NPR. At the end of World War II, many policymakers in the United States and Europe assume that their problems were over. Hitler and Mussolini had been defeated and the Allies had won. However, it soon became obvious that the alliance that was created for the purpose of defeating Nazi Germany had served its purpose and was an alliance no more. The Soviets never pulled out of the Eastern European countries that they occupied. They installed communist governments and backed a military coup in Czechoslovakia in 1948. The Soviet's intentions became crystal clear when they began a blockade of West Berlin in the summer of 1948,

with the intent of pushing out the Western powers that occupied the Western part the city. A year before in 1947, France and the United Kingdom had signed the Treaty of Dunkirk, which was a self-defense pact. Oddly enough, the intent of the treaty wasn't protection from the Soviet Union so much as it was protection from a potentially resurgent Germany. The next year, just a few months before the West Berlin blockade, several more European countries joined this defense pact. In March of 1948, Belgium, the Netherlands, France, Luxembourg, and United Kingdom signed the Treaty of Brussels. The Treaty of Brussels, unlike the Treaty of Dunkirk, also specifically took into consideration defense against the Soviets, as well as a potential

resurgent Germany. In addition to defense, the Treaty of Brussels also had economic aspects, and it served as the starting point for what would become the European Union. From a defense standpoint, the Treaty of Brussels was lacking. Many other countries in Europe were not signatories to the treaty, and most importantly, the Europeans needed the United States in their corner if they were to have any hope of defending themselves against the Soviets. Talks began in earnest with high-ranking officials in the United States to join this alliance and to expand it to other European states. This culminated in the signing of the North Atlantic Treaty on April 4, 1949 in Washington, D.C. In addition to the five signatories of the Treaty of Brussels,

it was also signed by the United States, Canada, Portugal, Italy, Norway, Denmark, and Iceland. The organization, which was created by the treaty, is known as the North Atlantic Treaty Organization or NATO. The purpose of NATO, according to its first general secretary, the British Lord General Ismay, was to, quote, keep the Russians out, keep the Americans in, and keep the Germans down. There are several articles to the treaty, but the core article is Article 5, which stipulates that an attack against one country is to be considered an attack against all members. There are a few things about the treaty which are often misunderstood. For starters, the treaty does not specify that any country has to provide no

military support to any other country. If one member is attacked, there is nothing that says any other country has to provide military assistance. In fact, the exact wording in Article 5 only says that each member must provide, quote, such action as the member state deems necessary, including the use of armed force, to restore and maintain the security of the North Atlantic area. End quote. This is, of course, really open-ended. A country might just deem that pleasant words of support might be all they need to do, and there's nothing in the treaty that would require them to do anything else. In practice, this probably won't happen, but there is also nothing stopping it from happening. Article 5 has only been invoked once in the history of the treaty, and that was after September 11, 2001.

The other thing that the treaty delineates is in Article 6, that specifies that only attacks in North America or Europe are attacks that can invoke Article 5. So, for this reason, the UK could not invoke Article 6. Article 5 when Argentina invaded the Falkland Islands. The Falkland Islands are not part of the North Atlantic. Likewise, if the Spanish cities of Ceuta and Malia, which are on the African continent, were to be invaded by Morocco, it could also not invoke Article 5. Furthermore, attacks on integral part of countries like French Guiana or even the state of Hawaii could not invoke Article 5. The main reason for Article 6 was at the time the treaty was signed, many of the countries had colonies, and nobody wanted to get involved in wars to defend colonies.

Article 4 allows for military consultation. This has been invoked seven times in history, most recently, in February of 2022. This usually happens when something is happening in a neighboring country to one of the treaty members. The organization of NATO has two components, a civilian body that governs the organization and provides oversight and a military command. The civilian wing is called the North Atlantic Council. This is a representative body that has a government. consists of all the member states. Each country appoints an ambassador to NATO who sits on the council. The Secretary General of NATO, who is the chair of the council, is traditionally always a European.

There is nothing in theory preventing an American or a Canadian from serving in this position, but it just hasn't been done. On the military side, at the top is the NATO military committee. The military committee consists of the highest ranking military officer in each country. For example, the American representative on the committee is the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of staff. The job of the military committee is to advise the civilian North Atlantic Council. Under the military committee are the actual military commanders. There are two Supreme Allied commanders in NATO, and both positions are always held by Americans. There is the Supreme Allied Commander Atlantic and the Supreme Allied Commander, Europe. The Supreme

Allied Commander Atlantic is a naval position, and the headquarters is in Norfolk, Virginia. The Supreme Allied Commander Europe is an army position, and it is headquartered. ordered in Brussels along with the rest of the NATO command structure. Just as the commanders are always American, the deputy commanders are always British. All of the member nations retain their sovereignty and control over their own militaries, so the supreme commanders actually have limited power. In the event of a war, the organizational structure would probably become much more unified. After NATO was created in 1949, the organization continued to evolve.

The first countries to join after ratification were Greece and Turkey, who both joined in 1952. By 1955, the concern of a resurgent Germany had gone away, and the role of Germany in a new Europe had been totally reconsidered. This reconsideration led to West Germany joining the alliance on May 9, 1955. The entry of West Germany into NATO was the immediate cause of the creation of the Warsaw Pact, which was created just one week later. Also in 1955, the Allied occupation of Austria ended. As part of their removal, Austria signed the Moscow Memorandum. which established Austria as a neutral country. This prevents Austria from joining any military alliance,

taking part in any war, or hosting military bases for any foreign country. And that is why, to this day, Austria has never joined NATO. A big blow to NATO came in 1958, when Charles de Gaulle took French forces out of the NATO command structure. France didn't technically leave NATO,

but all U.S. forces were removed from France. There were secret talks between the United States and France detailing how French forces would be quickly integrated back into NATO in the event of a war. France did eventually rejoin the NATO command structure again in 2009. Greece removed its forces from the command structure in 1974 after the Turkish invasion of northern Cyprus and rejoined in 1980. The first new NATO member in almost 30 years joined in 1982 when Spain signed the treaty. The fall of the Soviet Union and the collapse of the Iron Curtain led to the largest change in the history of the organization, When East and West Germany unified in 1990, it meant that East Germany would leave the Warsaw Pact and join NATO.

The agreement with the Soviet Union was that no NATO troops would be stationed in the former East Germany. But in 1991, the Soviet Union collapsed and the Warsaw Pact was dissolved. This, of course, changed the entire raison d'etra for the existence of NATO. In the 1990s, many of the former Warsaw Pact countries wanted stronger ties with Europe, and having been occupied for almost 50 years, wanted the protection that NATO provided. In 1999, Poland, Hungary, and the Czech Republic were invited to NATO, and they all enthusiastically accepted. Five years later, in 2004, NATO saw the largest increase in membership since the treaty was first signed. Bulgaria, Romania, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Slovakia, and Slovenia all became members.

Albania and Croatia joined in 2009, Montenegro joined in 2017, and North Macedonia, Unionia joined in 2020. As of the time of recording this episode, Sweden and Finland have applied for NATO membership, but their applications have not been formally accepted as of yet. Other countries which have been considered for membership include Bosnia and Herzegovina, Kosovo, Georgia, and Ukraine. Membership for Ukraine, as I'm sure most of you following the news know, has been a huge point of contention in the recent Russian-Ukraine conflict.

In addition to formal membership, there are also bilateral agreements that NATO has with other countries. These agreements mostly have to do with planning and cooperation. Countries which have worked with NATO include Colombia and Japan. While NATO isn't as centrally controlled as most people think, there is still a large amount of coordination. NATO countries have standardized on most military equipment and techniques. There is a standard NATO round of ammunition, so any soldier from any army could use the same ammo.

There are equivalent military ranks, standard doctrines, ways to build airfields, and battlefield tactics. There are always exercises and maneuver which are being held so different armies know how to work with each other. NATO was founded and still remains a U.S. dominated organization. In addition to the Supreme Allied commanders always being American, the U.S. spends twice the amount of money on defense than all other NATO countries combined. NATO is unquestionably the most important military alliance in the world today.

In fact, it might be the most important alliance in history. It has certainly been the most powerful and one of the most stable. Even though the original mission for NATO has long since passed, it will probably still remain relevant for decades to come. Everything Everywhere Daily is an Airwave Media podcast. The executive producer is Darcy Adams. The associate producers are Thor Thompson and Peter Bennett. Today's review comes from listener Dan Last over at Apple Podcasts in the United States. He writes,

Wow, where have I been for the last 700 episodes? I was brought here on a recommendation for the King Tut episode, and I've been blown away at the variety of topics and information of the past episodes. This podcast pace is excellent with the right balance of facts and historical detail told in the perfect amount of time. I look forward to many more episodes. Thanks, Dan, and congratulations for discovering the show. You have your work cut out for you if you want to get caught up on all the past episodes. Remember, if you leave a review or send me a boostogram, you two can have it read on the show.