NATO and the Marshall Plan's role in Cold War stability

NATO

The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) and the Marshall Plan played an instrumental role in the Cold War. The purpose of this discussion is to explore the connection between NATO and the Marshall Plan and how they affected the Cold War. Let us begin this discussion by describing NATO and the Marshall Plan.

NATO and the Marshall Plan

NATO can best be described as an alliance of 26 North American and European countries. The purpose of the alliance was to fulfill the goals established by the North Atlantic Treaty that was implemented in 1949. The North Atlantic Treaty contains 16 articles and the primary purpose of the treaty is to resolve conflict with peaceful means, to protect freedom and civility, to supply mutual aid (North Atlantic Treaty Organization). The articles of the North Atlantic Treaty also assert that any attack against one of the countries is an attack against the entire alliance (North Atlantic Treaty Organization). It also provides provisions related to the authority of the Security Council (North Atlantic Treaty Organization). With these things being understood the primary purpose of NATO is to provide a forum for Canada, the United States, and European countries to discuss security issues that involve the aforementioned countries (North Atlantic Treaty Organization).

According to Kaplan (1999) the formation of NATO in 1949 marked an abandonment of a tradition of both political and military noninvolvement with Europe that stretched back to the end of the Franco-American alliance of 1778 (Kaplan 1999). Even though the United States had close relationships with allies in World Wars I and II, the relationship was that of an "associate" during World War I and as an informal collaborator during World War II. The author also explains that the ending of isolationism marked America's acceptance of responsibility as a superpower, giving legitimacy to the massive economic aid to Western Europe under the Marshall Plan. In the effort to bring political stability to a continent threatened by Soviet expansion, the United States also committed itself to the political and military integration of the West. In another sense the creation of NATO, with the United States as a partner of Europe, may be considered an extension of Thomas Jefferson's conception of an "empire of liberty (Kaplan 1999, pg.1)."

The Connection between NATO and the Marshall Plan

The most obvious connection between NATO and the Marshall Plan is the concept of creating an alliance in the wake of two World Wars (Carpenter & Conry, 2001). The Marshall Plan marked the beginning of this alliance or what Marshall referred to as "spiritual federation of the West" (Bonds 2002). In other words the Marshall plan laid the foundation for NATO which is basically an alliance of the world's super powers. Both the Marshall Plan and NATO also set the foundation for economic development and the assurance of security. According to the Hoover Digest, "The Marshall Plan, like NATO, created an intricate network of intra-European and transatlantic contacts among businessmen, civil servants, and trade unionists (Duignan & Gann)."

This network has proved beneficial in many ways. One of the most obvious benefits of both the Marshall Plan and NATO was the economic stability that is encouraged in Europe and North America (Haftendorn, 1996). The Marshall Plan served the purpose of providing assistance to Europe in their efforts to rebuild while NATO provide all of the nations in the alliance with the ability to secure its borders which in turn allowed for political, social and economic stability (Agnew & Entrikin, 2004). This political social and economic stability are still apparent in the nations that were part of the original NATO alliance.

NATO the Marshall Plan and how they affected the Cold War

As it relates to the affect of the Marshall Plan and NATO on the cold War Cohen et al. (2003) asserts that throughout the cold war the alliance of nations created by NATO were deeply connected to one another. The manner in which this connection was effected was debatable at the time. The author explains that some observers believed it was effected by nuclear arrangements on the Central Front that guaranteed that in the event of war they would all experience the same fate (Cohen et al. 2003). However other observers believed that the deep connection was based on common values associated with the world's great democratic alliance (Cohen et al. 2003). The author also explains the Cold War lasted, it was not that important to discern the nature of the bonding element, for whatever the geochemists might have said about the molecular makeup of the glue, the reality of bipolar, superpower rivalry rendered it easy to believe that the alliance was immune to dissolution; in the words of Glenn Snyder, writing at a time of heightened transatlantic bickering during the Reagan years, the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) "cannot break up. Since [it] is a product of the bipolar structure of the system, it cannot collapse or change basically until that structure changes (Cohen et al. 2003, pg 109). www.questia.com/PM.qst?a=o&d=102024254"

It can be surmised that the strength of the NATO alliance led by the United States was so strong that the communist Nations led by the Soviet Union could not gain the upper hand (Summy & Salla, 1995).

The Cold War marked a time when political ideologies were at war with one another (Powaski, 1998). The Marshall Plan and subsequently the development of the NATO alliance made it apparent that the democratic nations were prepared to work together to defeat the spread of communism.

Conclusion

The purpose of this discussion was to explore the connection between NATO and the Marshall Plan and how they affected the Cold War. The research found that the Marshall Plan was developed in an effort to assist in the rebuilding of European nations following two World Wards. The research also found that NATO is an alliance that was created following the Marshall plan and that NATO was designed to ensure security and stability for the nations that are a part of the alliance. As it related to the cold war the research indicates that the Marshall Plan and NATO created a strong alliance between the democratic superpowers led by the United States. This alliance was unified in their endeavors to prevent the spread of communism.