Major pacts
1. NATO
The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) (also called the North Atlantic Alliance, the Atlantic Alliance, or the Western Alliance) is a military alliance established by the signing of the North Atlantic Treaty on 4 April 1949. Headquartered in Brussels,Belgium, the organization constitutes a system of collective defence whereby its member states agree to mutual defence in response to an attack by any external party.For its first few years, NATO was not much more than a political association. However, the Korean War galvanized the member states, and an integrated military structure was built up under the direction of two U.S. supreme commanders. The first NATO Secretary General Lord Ismay, famously described the organization's goal was "to keep the Russians out, the Americans in, and the Germans down". Throughout the Cold War doubts over the strength of the relationship between the European states and the United States ebbed and flowed, along with doubts over the credibility of the NATO defence against a prospective Soviet invasion - doubts that led to the development of the independent French nuclear deterrent and the withdrawal of the French from NATO's military structure from 1966.
After the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989, the organization became drawn into the Balkans while building better links with former potential enemies to the east, which culminated with the former Warsaw Pact states - except Albania - joining the alliance in 1999 and 2004. Since the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks, NATO has attempted to refocus itself to new challenges and has deployed troops to Afghanistan and trainers to Iraq.
Beginnings
The Treaty of Brussels, signed on 17 March 1948 by Belgium, the Netherlands, Luxembourg, France and the United Kingdom is considered the precursor to the NATO agreement. The treaty and the Soviet Berlin Blockade led to the creation of the Western European Union's Defense Organization in September 1948. However, participation of the United States was thought necessary in order to counter the military power of the USSR, and therefore talks for a new military alliance began almost immediately.These talks resulted in the North Atlantic Treaty, which was signed in Washington, D.C. on 4 April 1949. “ The Parties of NATO agreed that an armed attack against one or more of them in Europe or North America shall be considered an attack against them all. Consequently they agree that, if such an armed attack occurs, each of them, in exercise of the right of individual or collective self-defense will assist the Party or Parties being attacked, individually and in concert with the other Parties, such action as it deems necessary, including the use of armed force, to restore and maintain the security of the North Atlantic area.”
Such action as it deems necessary, including the use of armed force does not necessarily mean that other member states will respond with military action against the aggressor(s). Rather they are obliged to respond, but maintain the freedom to choose how they will respond. This differs from Article IV of the Treaty of Brussels (which founded the Western European Union) which clearly states that the response must include military action. It is however often assumed that NATO members will aid the
attacked member militarily. Further, the article limits the organization's scope to Europe and North America, which explains why the invasion of the British Falkland Islands did not result in NATO involvement.The outbreak of the Korean War in 1950 was crucial for NATO as it raised the apparent threat level greatly (all Communist
countries were suspected of working together) and forced the alliance to develop concrete military plans.
In 1954, the Soviet Union suggested that it should join NATO to preserve peace in Europe. The NATO countries, fearing that
the Soviet Union's motive was to weaken the alliance, ultimately rejected this proposal.
A major reason for Germany's entry into the alliance was that without German manpower, it would have been impossible to
field enough conventional forces to resist a Soviet invasion.
Indeed, one of its immediate results was the creation of the Warsaw Pact, signed on 14 May 1955 by the Soviet Union,
Hungary, Czechoslovakia, Poland, Bulgaria, Romania, Albania, and East Germany, as a formal response to this event, thereby
delineating the two opposing sides of the Cold War.
During most of the duration of the Cold War, NATO maintained a holding pattern with no actual military engagement as an
organization. On 1 July 1968, the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty opened for signature: NATO argued that its nuclear weapons
sharing arrangements did not breach the treaty as U.S. forces controlled the weapons until a decision was made to go to war,
at which point the treaty would no longer be controlling. Few states knew of the NATO nuclear sharing arrangements at that
time, and they were not challenged.
On 30 May 1978, NATO countries officially defined two complementary aims of the Alliance, to maintain security and pursue
détente. This was supposed to mean matching defences at the level rendered necessary by the Warsaw Pact's offensive
capabilities without spurring a further arms race.
On 12 December 1979, in light of a build-up of Warsaw Pact nuclear capabilities in Europe, ministers approved the deployment
of U.S. GLCM cruise missiles and Pershing II theatre nuclear weapons in Europe. The new warheads were also meant to
strengthen the western negotiating position in regard to nuclear disarmament. This policy was called the Dual Track policy.
Similarly, in 1983–84, responding to the stationing of Warsaw Pact SS-20 medium-range missiles in Europe, NATO deployed
modern Pershing II missiles tasked to hit military targets such as tank formations in the event of war. This action led to peace
movement protests throughout Western Europe.
2. Warsaw Pact
Officially named the Warsaw Treaty of Friendship, Cooperation and Mutual Assistance, the Warsaw Pact was an organization of communist states in Central and Eastern Europe. It was established on May 14, 1955 in Warsaw, Poland. It was an initiative of
the Soviet Union, which actually had all the power among the members.This treaty was in response to the NATO treaty, in that there was a political Consultative Committee, followed by a civilian secretary general, while down the chain of command there was a military commander in chief and a combined staff, although the similarities between the two international organizations ended there. Members of the Warsaw Pact pledged to defend each other if one or more of the members were attacked. The treaty also
stated that relations among the signatories were based on mutual non-interference in internal affairs and respect for national sovereignty and independence. In 1991, the Warsaw Pact broke up when most of the Communist governments fell, changing
to a democratically elected form as the Soviet Union dissolved. The Warsaw Pact was divided into two branches: the Political Consultative Committee, which coordinated all non-military activities, and the Unified Command of Pact Armed Forces, which had authority over the troops assigned to it by member states and was headed by the Supreme Commander, who at the same time was the First Deputy Minister of Defence of the USSR.
NATO and the Warsaw Pact countries never engaged each other in armed conflict, but fought the Cold War for more than 35 years often through 'proxy wars'. In 1989, many Eastern European citizens were tired of communist rule, and they overthrew
their governments. Hungary, Czechoslovakia, Albania, the Soviet Union, East Germany, Poland, Romania, and Bulgaria all overthrew their governments. The Soviet Union, Czechoslovakia and East Germany all ceased to exist.The Warsaw Pact was officially dissolved at a meeting in Prague on 1 July 1991.In 1999, the former Warsaw Pact members and successor states Hungary, Poland and the Czech Republic joined NATO.
Bulgaria, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Romania, and Slovakia followed suit in March 2004.
3. Major features of the Cold War
3.1 The arms race
At the geopolitical level of the 20th century, the United States and the Soviet Union developed more and better nuclear weapons during the Cold War. Immediately after World War II, the United States was behind the Soviet Union in the area of
intermediate range missiles, but they managed to catch up with the help of German scientists. The Soviet Union committed their command economy to the arms race and, with the deployment of the SS-18 in the late 1970s, achieved first strike parity.
However, the strain of competition against the great spending power of the United States created enormous economic problems during Mikhail Gorbachev's attempt at konversiya, the transition to a consumer based, mixed economy, and hastened
the collapse of the Soviet Union. Because the two powers were competing with one another instead of aiming for a predefined goal, both nations soon acquired a huge capacity for overkill. The nuclear arms race was a competition for supremacy in nuclear warfare between the United States allies, the Russian Army
and their respective allies during the Cold War. During the Cold War, in addition to the American and Soviet nuclear stockpiles, other countries also developed nuclear weapons, though none engaged in warhead production on the same size as the two
superpowers.
3.2 The space race
The 'Space Race' was a competition of space exploration between the Soviet Union and the United States, which lasted roughly from 1957 to 1975. It involved the efforts to explore outer space with artificial satellites, to send humans into space, and to
land people on the Moon.Space Race effectively began after the Soviet launch of Sputnik 1 on 4 October 1957. The term originated as an analogy to the
arms race. The Space Race became an important part of the cultural, technological, and ideological rivalry between the United States and the Soviet Union during the Cold War. Space technology became a particularly important arena in this conflict,
because of both its potential military applications and the morale-boosting social benefits.Technology, especially in aerospace engineering and electronic communication, advanced greatly during this period. The effects of the Space Race however went far beyond rocketry, physics, and astronomy. "Space age technology" extended to
fields as diverse as home economics and forest defoliation studies, and the push to win the race changed the very ways in which students learned science.
American concerns that they had fallen so quickly behind the Soviets in the race to space led quickly to a push by legislators and educators for greater emphasis on mathematics and on the physical sciences in American schools. The United States'
National Defense Education Act of 1958 increased funding for these goals from childhood education through the post-graduate level. To this day over 1,200 American high schools retain their own planetarium installations, a situation unparalleled in any other country worldwide and a direct consequence of the Space Race.
The scientists fostered by these efforts helped develop for space exploration technologies which have seen adapted uses ranging from the kitchen to athletic fields. Dried watermelon and ready-to-eat foods, in particular food sterilisation and package
sealing techniques, stay-dry clothing, and even no-fog ski goggles have their roots in space science. Today over a thousand artificial satellites orbit earth, relaying communications data around the planet and facilitating remote sensing of data on weather, vegetation, and human movements to nations who employ them. In addition, much of the microtechnology which fuels everyday activities from time-keeping to enjoying music derives from research initially driven by the Space Race. And with all these advances since the first Sputnik was launched, the former Soviet Union's R-7 rocket, that marked the beginning the space race, is still in use today, notably servicing the ISS.Although its pace has slowed, space exploration continues to advance long after the demise of the Space Race. The United States launched the first reusable spacecraft (space shuttle) on the 20th anniversary of Gagarin's flight, 12 April 1981. On 15
November 1988, the Soviet Union launched Buran, their first and only reusable spacecraft. These and other nations continue to launch probes, satellites of many types, and huge space telescopes.
The possibility of a second international space race appeared at the end of the 20th century, with the European Space Agency taking the lead in commercial rocket launches with Ariane 4, and competing in unmanned space exploration with NASA. ESA's
efforts have culminated into ambitious plans such as the Aurora Programme that intends to send a human mission to Mars no later than 2030 and has set various flagship missions to reach this goal. With U.S. President George W. Bush's similar
announcement in 2004, outlining a timeframe for the construction and mission plan of the Crew Exploration Vehicle (a subsequent return to the Moon and later to Mars by 2030), the two major space agencies have similar plans. The ESA has teamed up with Russia. They are likely to co-fund and develop the Crew Exploration Vehicle counterpart, Kliper, which is scheduled to launch in 2011, years earlier than its American opponent, which is in an early draft status. As of 2006 the ESA has
yet to fund a study of Kliper. Other nations are also capable of increasing competition in space exploration, most notably Japan, China, and India. Although
China's funding is not in the same league with ESA or NASA, the successful manned space flights of Shenzhou 5 and Shenzhou 6 and plans for a space station by the Chinese space program of the People's Republic of China have shown what the country
can accomplish. The United States military is evidently keeping a close watch on China's space aspirations, with the Pentagon releasing a report in 2006 detailing concerns about China's growing space power. In early 2007 China launched a ballistic
missile to destroy a satellite, frustrating international observers as this had violated a consensus not to attempt such maneuvers in space that have military undertones. This was some token that the space race had not really ever ended and
actually had only expanded. In addition to China, India also has active space programs, with India's national space agency,ISRO, planning to launch an unmanned lunar mission, Chandrayaan-1, by early 2008. India also has plans for manned space
flights and an unmanned mission to Mars in 2012. The Japanese Space Agency, JAXA, has launched a moon probe, SELENE in 2007. SELENE is touted as the most sophisticated lunar exploration mission in the post-Apollo Era.Few countries have successfully launched a satellite independently. The countries which have accomplished this include
(sequentially, as of February, 2007), former Soviet Union, U.S.A., France, Japan, China,U.K., India and Israel. Kazakhstan has rocket and satellite development technology and hosts the Baikonur Cosmodrome launch facility which is used by other
countries particularly Russia. Brazil made three attempts at satellite launching in 97, 99, 03 years but none of these were successful. By the end of 2006, the total number of satellites launched worldwide was 5,736. The CIS and the U.S. launched roughly 88% of these.
The possibility of a second international space race appeared at the end of the 20th century, with the European Space Agency taking the lead in commercial rocket launches with Ariane 4, and competing in unmanned space exploration with NASA. ESA's
efforts have culminated into ambitious plans such as the Aurora Programme that intends to send a human mission to Mars no later than 2030 and has set various flagship missions to reach this goal. With U.S. President George W. Bush's similar
announcement in 2004, outlining a timeframe for the construction and mission plan of the Crew Exploration Vehicle (a subsequent return to the Moon and later to Mars by 2030), the two major space agencies have similar plans. The ESA has teamed up with Russia. They are likely to co-fund and develop the Crew Exploration Vehicle counterpart, Kliper, which is scheduled to launch in 2011, years earlier than its American opponent, which is in an early draft status. As of 2006 the ESA has
yet to fund a study of Kliper.
Commercial space race
Another kind of space race may differ in nature from the original Soviet-American competition, as it could occur between commercial space enterprises. Early efforts in what is commonly referred to as space tourism, to run the first commercial trips
into orbit, culminated on April 28, 2001 when American Dennis Tito became the first fee-paying space tourist when he visited the International Space Station on board Russia's Soyuz TM-32. The Ansari X Prize, a competition for private suborbital
spaceships, has also evoked the prospect of a new space race by private companies. In late 2004, British aviator-financier Richard Branson announced the launch of Virgin Galactic, a company which will use SpaceShipOne technology, with hopes of
launching sub-orbital flights by 2008.
3.3 Cuban Missile Crisis
It was a military standoff between the United States, the Soviet Union, and Cuba during the Cold War. In Russia (and most Europe), it is termed the "Caribbean Crisis," while in Cuba it is called the "October Crisis." The crisis ranks with the Berlin
Blockade as one of the major confrontations of the Cold War, and is often regarded as the moment in which the Cold War came closest to a nuclear war.
The climax period of the crisis began on October 15, 1962, when United States reconnaissance photographs taken by an American U-2 spy plane revealed missile bases being built in Cuba, and ended two weeks later on October 28, 1962, when
President of the United States John F. Kennedy and United Nations Secretary-General U Thant reached an agreement with the Soviets to dismantle the missiles in Cuba in exchange for a no invasion agreement and a secret removal of the Jupiter and Thor
missiles in Turkey.
3.4 Arms reduction treaties
START (for Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty) is a treaty between the United States of America and the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR) on the Reduction and Limitation of Strategic Offensive Arms. The treaty was signed by the United States and
the USSR, that barred its signatories from deploying more than 6,000 nuclear warheads atop a total of 1,600 ICBMs,submarine-launched ballistic missiles, and bombers. START negotiated the largest and most complex arms control treaty in history, and its final implementation in late 2001 resulted in the removal of about 80% of all strategic nuclear weapons then in existence. Proposed by United States' President Ronald Reagan, it was renamed START I after negotiations began on the second START treaty, which became START II.
START II, the Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty, which was signed by United States President George H. W. Bush and Russian President Boris Yeltsin on January 3, 1993, banned the use of MIRVs on ICBMs and is hence often cited as the De-MIRV-ing
Agreement. A multiple independently targetable reentry vehicle (MIRV) is a collection of nuclear weapons carried on a single intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) or a submarine-launched ballistic missile (SLBM). Using a MIRV warhead, a single
launched missile can strike several targets, or fewer targets redundantly. By contrast a unitary warhead is a single warhead on a single missile. Thus the destruction capability is greatly increased by MIRVs but the number of targets does not increase.
START II followed START I and, although ratified, the treaty has never entered into force; in other words never been activated.On June 14, 2002, one day after the U.S. withdrew from the Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty, Russia withdrew from START II. The
historic agreement started on June 17, 1992 with the signing of a 'Joint Understanding' by the presidents. The official signing of the treaty by the presidents took place on January 3, 1993. It was ratified by the U.S. Senate on January 26, 1996 with a vote of 87-4. However, Russian ratification was stalled in the Duma for many years.
No comments:
Post a Comment