Origins of NATO

The onset of the Cold War during the 1940s persuaded the nations of Western Europe and North America to consider the formation of a military security system. This collection of papers by scholars from Britain, France, Germany, Holland and the United States highlights the complex and divergent nature of the diplomatic process that led to the conclusion of the North Atlantic Treaty in 1949. It provides an introduction to the historical origins of an institution which is now having to re-think its role in the wake of the collapse of the communist regimes of Eastern Europe and the USSR.