POS 301: Milestone 1

Influence of the Cold War on Formation of NATO and EU Student’s Name Institution Course Number and Name Instructor’s Name Date Influence of the Cold War on the Formation of NATO and EU The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) and the European Union (EU) are key alliances whose formations were significantly influenced by the Cold War. The Cold War describes a period of political and ideological conflict between communist and capitalist countries. The communist countries were the Soviet Union and its allies while capitalist countries were the US and its allies. After George Kennan sent the famous Long Telegram to the State Department, British PM Winston Churchill met with President Truman, which marked the beginning of anti-Soviet sentiment in the US. With the US, Soviet Union, and Britain failing to achieve a durable settlement, the Cold War emerged. In this sense, NATO and EU emerged as responses of the US and allies to protect themselves militarily and economically from the threat of communism. The need for the US and Western Europe to counter the potential military aggression of the Soviet Union gave rise to NATO. Established in 1949, NATO was primarily intended to act as a deterrent against m...