Return of AlliancesAs communism spread through eastern Europe, the western forces became increasingly fearful. In order to try to stop further communist expansion, the western countries formed a new alliance. On April 4th, 1949, a meeting was held in Washington, DC. During this meeting, the foreign ministers wrote and signed the North Atlantic Treaty and the North Atlantic Treaty Organization was formed. The countries involved were Belgium, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, France, Britain, Italy, Denmark, Norway, Portugal, Iceland, Canada, and the United States. The members of NATO agreed to help any of the other members if they were attacked. NATO still exists. Click here to visit their current official website for more information.
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Response to NatoNATO's agreement to give assistance if anyone attacked another member seemed like a hostile act towards the Eastern Powers. Feeling threatened, they formed their own alliance. They called it the Treaty of Friendship, Co-operation, and Mutual Assistance but today it is known as the Warsaw Pact, sometime shortened to WarPac. The members of the pact were Albania, Bulgaria, Czechoslovakia, East Germany, Hungary, Poland, Romania, and the Soviet Union. The formation of the Warsaw Pact led to a negative division of Europe. It also created an Alliance system like that which led to the beginning of World War I.
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CURRENT NATO HEADQUARTERS
brinkmanship
Brinkmanship is known as the willingness to go to the edge of war. The United States and the Soviet Union during the cold war were on the brink of war. During president Eisenhower's presidency, John Foster Dulles, a firm anti-communist, warned that if the soviets or its supporters attacked, the US would "retaliate instantly, by means and at places of our own choosing." Because of this, the United States was required to strengthen its air force and also make more nuclear weapons. The Soviet Union started building its military in response to the United States. This led to the beginning of the arms race.