The North Atlantic Treaty Organization has been a silent partner on the world stage for more than half of the century and the most successful political-military alliance in history. The United Nations and their peacekeeping efforts have had the spotlight for the past few years. However the driving force behind any successful agreement or, if needed, action on the part of several countries has been because of the strong foundation and experience of NATO and its members. The following report will chronicle the events leading up to the creation of NATO, its first decade, the constant struggle with communism in the decades that proceed, and finally the challenges for NATO today and in the future.
             In the years after World War II, a new threat encroached upon the leaders of Western Europe and their hopes of a stable peace. This threat would be from the growing dominance of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR) in Eastern Europe. The USSR had an increasing appetite for the smaller countries to her west. These aggressive demands for territory and the placing of installations in taken countries fueled the fears of many that the USSR was marching toward a third world war. Britain and France, not wanting to make the mistake again of appeasing this new menace until it was too late, developed the Dunkirk Treaty in 1947. This treaty in essence pledged a common defense against any aggression. The USSR answered this by creating a European Communist organization called the Cominform and it rejected the European Recovery Program, which is commonly known as the Marshall Plan. The Marshall Plan, named for the US Secretary of State, was basically a financial bailout for the European nations. These nations were starving because of the slow and near stopping of the coal and agricultural industries after WWII. The US offered millions of dollars to all of Europe to aid in rebuilding for four reasons. First, Europe had been a great marketplace imp...