Posted to Germany: Early Cold War Canadian Military Policy and Its Impact on One Family’s Experience

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jayne Elliott
Keyword(s):  
Cold War ◽  
North Atlantic ◽  
Hospital Setting ◽  
Military Hospital ◽  
Military Policy ◽  
The North ◽  
Military Life ◽  
British Military ◽  
The North Atlantic ◽  
Canadian Military

In the summer of 1954, military surgeon Major Robert Elliott was posted to the British Military Hospital in Iserlohn, Germany, to provide medical care to Canadian soldiers, members of the 5,500-strong Canadian Brigade that had earlier been stationed there as part of Canada’s commitment to the North Atlantic Treaty Organization. Like many other military families, Elliott’s family had to remain behind until suitable accommodation for them could be found. Based on the letters that Elliott wrote home to his wife during their eight-month separation, this article provides a glimpse of how both old and new Canadian military policies during the early Cold War period had an impact on his work and his family. The Canadian government’s decision to place the Brigade under British control reflected, in part, the long-standing attachment to Britain, but Elliott was often frustrated with how imperial/colonial relations played out in the hospital setting. And the military’s initial reluctance to officially allow dependents to join their loved ones overseas, a new phenomenon in Canadian military life, undoubtedly contributed to his confusion and anxiety over when family quarters would finally be finished.

Soviet Atomic Blackmail and the North Atlantic Alliance

1957 ◽  
Vol 9 (3) ◽  
pp. 307-328 ◽  
Author(s):  
Hans Speier
Keyword(s):  
Cold War ◽  
North Atlantic ◽  
Nuclear Weapons ◽  
Atomic Weapons ◽  
The North ◽  
The North Atlantic ◽  
Future War ◽  
The Cold War

The uncertainty about whether atomic weapons will be used in future war, whether local or general, lends itself to political exploitation in the cold war. The efficiency of nuclear weapons in wartime, and their resulting threat-value in either war- or peacetime, constitute their political-military worth. In peacetime, the threat-value of weapons can be exploited in many ways: by an ultimatum, by authoritative or inspired statements on capabilities or intentions, by studied disclosures of new weapons at ceremonial occasions, by means of maneuvers, redeployments of forces, or by so-called demonstrations.

Beyond the Cold War Chessboard

Worldview ◽  
1974 ◽  
Vol 17 (6) ◽  
pp. 21-22
Author(s):  
John W. Holmes
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Cold War ◽  
North Atlantic ◽  
North American ◽  
The Other ◽  
The North ◽  
Common Interests ◽  
The North Atlantic ◽  
The Cold War

The problem in judging M. Servan-Schreiber's message is that he reaches some sound conclusions on the basis of dubious premises, from which he derives recommendations which could be disastrous.There may be some satisfaction in seeing a Frenchman concerned with le défi, russe instead of le défi américain, but his interpretation of one is as crude as was his interpretation of the other. The shock of revelation that there are common interests of the Atlantic countries in economic as well as strategic matters is understandably more startling to a Frenchman than to others. It was all set out in 1949 in Article 2 of the North Atlantic Treaty and was restated eloquently in 1973 by Mr. Kissinger. But last spring European leaders were included to see the latter as a self-interested plea from a weak United States to a prosperous Europe. The North American countries were reminded that their role in Europe was simply to defend it on request.

An Institutionalist Reinterpretation of Cold War Alliance Systems: Insights for Alliance Theory

2003 ◽  
Vol 36 (2) ◽  
pp. 341-362 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kirsten Rafferty
Keyword(s):  
Cold War ◽  
Comparative Analysis ◽  
Southeast Asia ◽  
North Atlantic ◽  
North Atlantic Treaty Organization ◽  
Economic Stability ◽  
The North ◽  
The North Atlantic ◽  
Alliance Theory ◽  
Strategic Context

This article formulates a model of alliance persistence and evolution to account for two aspects of behaviour that are largely neglected by traditional alliance theory. It argues that states that encounter common threats to military and nonmilitary interests (like political and economic stability) are likely to institutionalize their military pacts. This process raises material and normative obstacles to exiting the alliance, even as the performance of the alliance falters or the strategic context undergoes fundamental changes. The article tests several of the model's hypotheses by engaging in a comparative analysis of two Cold War alliance systems: the North Atlantic Treaty Organization and the Southeast Asia Treaty Organization.

Spiritual Rearmament

2021 ◽  
pp. 212-237
Author(s):  
James D. Strasburg
Keyword(s):  
Cold War ◽  
North Atlantic ◽  
American Politics ◽  
Spiritual Leadership ◽  
North Atlantic Treaty Organization ◽  
Free Enterprise ◽  
Third Way ◽  
American Military ◽  
The North ◽  
The North Atlantic

This chapter documents evangelical Protestant efforts to “spiritually rearm” Germany and Europe in an era of Cold War militarization. These spiritual efforts complemented a vast increase in American military capabilities during the early 1950s, as well as West Germany’s entry into the North Atlantic Treaty Organization. The evangelical pursuit of Europe’s “spiritual rearmament” signaled the rising prominence of Protestant evangelicals in American politics and diplomacy. Vying for spiritual leadership of their nation, Protestant evangelicals prepared to spread across the globe a gospel of faith, freedom, and free enterprise. In response to Cold War rearmament campaigns, a growing number of American ecumenists began to adopt Europe’s “third way” theology.

The North Atlantic Treaty Organization

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Bastian Giegerich
Keyword(s):  
Cold War ◽  
North Atlantic ◽  
North Atlantic Treaty Organization ◽  
The Political ◽  
Post Cold War ◽  
The North ◽  
Strategic Direction ◽  
The North Atlantic ◽  
Operational Activities ◽  
Out Of Area

NATO, founded as a collective defence alliance, has spent most of the post-cold-war period transforming itself into a security management organization. Its ability to adapt has been the basis of NATO’s continued relevance. At the same time, NATO’s adjustments in functional and geographic scope have triggered debate about its strategic direction and the political and military requirements necessary to fulfil current and future roles. This chapter will assess NATO’s evolution by concentrating on the bargaining processes among member states that shaped the direction of NATO’s strategic guidelines and its out-of-area operational activities. The objective is to trace the extent to which a common strategic outlook has emerged among the European members of NATO.

THE NEW POLICY OF THE NORTH ATLANTIC TREATY ORGANISATION FOR CIVIL-MILITARY COOPERATION (CIMIC)

2017 ◽  
Vol 184 (2) ◽  
pp. 111-127
Author(s):  
Wojciech ZABOROWSKI
Keyword(s):  
Comparative Analysis ◽  
North Atlantic ◽  
The Political ◽  
Military Policy ◽  
Military Cooperation ◽  
The North ◽  
Principal Directions ◽  
The North Atlantic

The paper presents a comparative analysis of two documents forming the political basis for the concept of civil-military cooperation (CIMIC) in the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation, namely NATO Military Policy on Civil-Military Cooperation (CIMIC) and Civil-Military Interaction (CMI) no. MC 0411/2, approved on 5 May 2014, and its predecessor entitled NATO Military Policy on Civil-Military Co-operation (CIMIC) no. MC 0411/1, published on 6 July 2001. The analysis of the structure of both documents, their substance and thematic scope as well as their origin and background made it possible to identify the principal directions in the transformation of the CIMIC concept since its beginnings and to present its new elements, mainly the issue of civil-military interaction. The article discusses also the further anticipated directions of changes arising from the assumptions of the new NATO policy for CIMIC and CMI and the progress made so far in operationalising the strategic assumptions contained in MC 0411/2, including in particular the works on a new NATO doctrine concerning CIMIC and CMI.

The War Scare That Wasn't: Able Archer 83 and the Myths of the Second Cold War

2020 ◽  
Vol 22 (3) ◽  
pp. 86-118
Author(s):  
Simon Miles
Keyword(s):  
Cold War ◽  
North Atlantic ◽  
Nuclear War ◽  
Post Exercise ◽  
Warsaw Pact ◽  
The North ◽  
The North Atlantic ◽  
The Stability ◽  
The Cold War ◽  
New Evidence

Did the Cold War of the 1980s nearly turn hot? Much has been made of the November 1983 Able Archer 83 command-post exercise, which is often described as having nearly precipitated a nuclear war when paranoid Warsaw Pact policymakers suspected that the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) was using the exercise to launch a preemptive nuclear strike. This article challenges that narrative, using new evidence from the archives of the former Warsaw Pact countries. It shows that the much-touted intelligence effort to assess Western intentions and capabilities, Project RYaN, which supposedly triggered fears of a surprise attack, was nowhere near operational at the time of Able Archer 83. It also presents an account of the Pact's sanguine observations of Able Archer 83. In doing so, it advances key debates in the historiography of the late Cold War pertaining to the stability and durability of the nuclear peace.

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