NATO: American Commitment

Figure 1.-- Once American units became established and the decision was made to remain in Europe, officers and ranking NCOs were allowed to bring their families over. The United States never attempted to match Soviet forces in Europe. It was substantial enough to mean that a Soviet attack on Western Europe would mean war with the nuclear-armed United States. And the American NATO force, including dependants, was large enough that the United States could not adandon it in case of war. It was the American nuclear umbrella that backed NATO and guaranted the security of western Europe. Here we see Santa arriving to viit some of the dependant children.

The United States never attempted to match Soviet forces in Europe. Even during the War, American mnpower in Europe was only a fraction of the size of the massive Soviet Red Army. With the drawdown of the American forces after the War, the United States even with Britush and French assistance could not have begun to have stopped. Even when West Germany joined NATO (May 9, 1955), the Western forces wre no match for Soviet/Warsaw Pact forces. This meant the remilitarization of Germany. It was not what the United States planned at the end of World War II, but was a reaction to the Soviet threat. Never said publically, the American forc was not designed to stop an all out Soviet offensive. It was substantial enough to mean that a Soviet attack on Western Europe would mean war with the nuclear-armed United States. And the American NATO force, including dependants, was large enough that the United States could not adandon it in case of war. It was the American nuclear umbrella that backed NATO and guaranted the security of western Europe. The question arises, would the United States ever have launched a nuclear war, once the Soviets had nuclear wepons, had they attacked. The Europeans, especially the French, were not at all sure about that. In the 1970s as the ban the bomb moverment gained momentum, many Europeans were as afraid of an American nuclear response as of a Soviet invasion. They of course has not experiencded life in a Communist police state. Fortunately, the Soviets took the threat seriously enough so that the commitment and American resolve was never testd. Rather they would test the Europeans. The Soviets decided to deploy a new generation of IRBMs. And at the same time they would promte and sunsidize the Ban the Bomb campaign in Western Europe. In the end it would be the Germans who would decide the fate of Euripe. They had to decide in democratic elections between Willy Brandt's Ost Poltik and accomodation /Finlandization or Helmt Kohl's policy of standing with the Americans and defying Soviet domination.

Created: 3:47 AM 2/24/2018
Last updated: 3:47 AM 2/24/2018