70 years ago, on April 4, 1949, a NATO bloc aimed against the USSR was created. The military-political bloc was preparing a nuclear war against the Soviet Union. But he was late. Russia was already ready to repulse the Western predator.
Power Diplomacy
Currently, most ordinary people are sure that after the storming of Berlin and the surrender of Nazi Germany, peace and tranquility have come to the planet for a long time. In reality, the military-political situation in the world after the end of the Great Patriotic War was extremely dangerous. The masters of the West immediately began to prepare for the third world war - the war against the USSR. Britain and the United States planned to attack Soviet troops in Europe in the summer of 1945. However, this plan had to be abandoned. London and Washington were frightened by the might of the Soviet armed forces, which could already capture all of Western Europe. Then the West began to prepare for nuclear bombing of the Soviet Union with the help of strategic aviation.
The masters of the West sought to destroy the Soviet civilization, which showed humanity an alternative way of development, a new world order based on social justice, the possibility of co-prosperity of all countries and peoples. As a result of World War II, the United States finally took a dominant position in the Western world, pushing the British Empire, which was in crisis, to the position of a junior partner. Having taken the leading political, financial, economic and military positions in the capitalist world, the masters of Washington hoped that it would allow them to achieve world domination. In a message from US President H. Truman to Congress on December 19, 1945, it was reported about the "burden of constant responsibility for the leadership of the world", which fell on the United States, about the "need to prove that the United States is determined to maintain its role as the leader of all nations." In the next message in January 1946, Truman already called for the use of force in the interests of the struggle for world domination of the United States, so that it would be used as the basis of relations with other countries.
As a result, there was no peace, but a "cold war", which did not develop into a "hot" one only because the West could not destroy the USSR with impunity, was afraid of a retaliatory strike. The Western capitalist powers began to pursue a policy from a position of strength, suppressing the workers', socialist, communist and national liberation movements in the world, tried to destroy the camp of socialism, to establish their own world order. A new arms race began, the creation of American military bases around the USSR and its allies, aggressive military-political blocs directed against the socialist camp.
The United States became the leading military, naval and air power in the West, and tried to maintain these positions and expand military production. The war fabulously enriched US corporations associated with military production. In 1943 - 1944. the profits of US corporations have reached a huge size - over $ 24 billion a year. In 1945, they dropped to $ 20 billion. This did not suit the big business tycoons and the military circles. At this time, the influence of the Pentagon on the domestic and foreign policy of the country increased significantly. The interests of the owners of large corporations, the army and intelligence (special services) begin to merge. Diplomacy connects with military interests and intelligence. Traditional methods of diplomacy - negotiations, compromises, agreements, equal cooperation, etc. - are fading into the background. Politics from a position of strength, blackmail, intimidation, "atomic diplomacy" and "dollar diplomacy" come to the fore.
To cover and justify power diplomacy, the West began to unleash the myth of the "Russian threat". Within the USA and England themselves, in order to suppress freedoms and publicity, any possible resistance, a frenzied "fight against communism", a "witch hunt" begins. A wave of arrests, repression and reprisals is sweeping across the United States. Many innocent people have been imprisoned for "anti-American activities." This allowed the masters of the United States to mobilize the country and society again to "fight the communist threat." Totalitarianism is established in the USA. The myth of the "Russian threat", artificially imposed fear and hysteria make the American population an obedient toy in the hands of the ruling circles.
American politicians openly call for a war against the USSR, for the use of nuclear weapons. The United States then had thousands of strategic bombers, airfields located from the Philippines to Alaska, in the South Atlantic and other regions, which made it possible to drop atomic bombs anywhere in the world. The United States is using a temporary advantage in the possession of nuclear weapons and is scaring the world with a "nuclear club".
Speech by Winston Churchill in Fulton, Missouri, March 5, 1946
Cold War
One of the active supporters of "power diplomacy" was D. Kennan, who in 1945-1947. served as Counselor at the US Embassy in Moscow. He drew up and sent three memoranda with the State Department: "The international situation of Russia on the eve of the end of the war with Germany" (May 1945); "Memorandum of February 22, 1946"; "United States and Russia" (winter 1946). They substantiated the doctrine of "containment of communism". Kennan called for strengthening the propaganda of the myth that the USSR allegedly seeks "to destroy the inner harmony of our society, to destroy our traditional way of life," to destroy the United States. Kennan later admitted that he was acting in the spirit of the ruling circles of the United States, and never thought that the Soviet government wanted to start a world war and was inclined to start such a war.
Kennan's "Doctrine of Containment" was adopted by American diplomacy. This meant not only "containment", but about the suppression of socialism by force, the forcible export of counterrevolution. In 1946, the former British Prime Minister W. Churchill was in the United States for several months, who met with Truman and other high-ranking American leaders. During these meetings, the idea arose of organizing a speech that would become a kind of manifesto for the West. Churchill spoke on March 5, 1946 at Westminster College in Fulton, Missouri. The British politician said that the capitalist countries are again threatened by a world war and the reason for this threat is the Soviet Union and the international communist movement. Churchill called for the toughest policy towards the USSR, threatened to use nuclear weapons and called for the creation of a military-political alliance to impose his will on the Union. To do this, he proposed to form an "association of English-speaking peoples." Also, West Germany was to join this union.
At the same time, Washington used the financial and economic difficulties of England (spending on the world war, maintaining positions in Europe and fighting the national liberation movement in the colonies) to finally turn Britain into its junior partner. In 1946, the United States provided England with an onerous loan. During negotiations on the fate of Greece and Turkey, Washington suggested that London transfer its "legacy" to the hands of the Americans in order to ease the burden of financial problems and close the issue of public criticism to which British policy in Greece was subjected. In February 1947, London formally agreed to transfer the authority to provide "aid" to Greece and Turkey to the United States. The British announced the withdrawal of their troops from Greece.
On March 12, 1947, in Truman's message to Congress, Greece and Turkey were named countries that are under the "communist threat", to overcome which they were provided with "aid" of $ 400 million. Greece and Turkey were to be the foremost bulwarks of the West. Truman argued that the USSR poses a threat to the United States and rejects the possibility of peaceful coexistence and cooperation between states. He called for the implementation of the "doctrine of containment", part of which was America's military preparation, the formation of military-political blocs, and submission to the political, financial and economic dictates of the United States of other countries and peoples. In fact, it was a call for a "crusade" of the West against the USSR. The Truman Doctrine finally ushered in a new era in international politics - the Cold War.
Turkey and Greece were very important to the West, as they were strategic gates leading to the Black Sea, to the southern underbelly of Russia. The United States received bases for air strikes against the largest cities in Russia from a relatively close distance. American weapons, American military and civilian specialists were sent to Turkey and Greece. The Turkish elite actively cooperated with the Americans. In Greece, right-wing radicals were in power, who received power from the British, so they easily agreed to cooperate with the new leader of the West. In the next few years, Greece and Turkey were turned into military footholds of the West against the USSR.
In addition, the United States, as heirs to Britain, was actively exploring the riches of the Middle East. So, if in 1938 the share of American corporations accounted for 14% of Middle Eastern oil, before 1951 it was already 57.8%.
US President Harry Truman addresses Congress in Washington. March 12, 1947
Moscow's position
Russia, exhausted by the bloody war, did not want war. The union needed peace. The head of the Soviet government, Joseph Stalin, in an interview with Pravda, assessed Churchill's speech as a "dangerous act" aimed at sowing the seeds of discord between states and as an "ultimatum" to nations that do not speak English: "Recognize our domination voluntarily, and then everything will be all right - otherwise, war is inevitable …”This was the orientation towards war against the Soviet Union.
The Kremlin pursued a policy of peace and international cooperation. In the Union, the demobilization of troops was carried out, military production was transferred to a peaceful track. Soviet troops left the territories of the countries liberated during the world war. At the beginning of 1946, the Soviet army was withdrawn from the island of Bornholm, which belonged to Denmark (at the beginning of World War II, the island was captured by the Germans, it was liberated by Soviet troops in May 1945), from Persia and northeastern China.
The Soviet Union took an active part in the work of the United Nations (UN), which began work in 1946. The Soviet representative to the UN General Assembly A. A. Gromyko stated that the organization's success depends on its consistent implementation of the principle of cooperation between equal sovereign states, that its main task is to protect large and small countries from aggression. The socialist states raised questions: about the suppression of imperialist intervention in Greece and Indonesia; on the withdrawal of Anglo-French troops from Syria and Lebanon. The Soviet delegation raised the question of a general reduction in armaments. Also during 1946, negotiations were held on the essence of peace treaties with Italy, Bulgaria, Hungary, Romania and Finland; control over nuclear energy; on the principles of the policy of the allied powers in relation to Japan; the future of Korea, Austria and Germany. While Anglo-American propaganda was screaming about the inevitability of a new world war, Moscow argued that there was no such inevitability, that it was possible to live in peace, to cooperate with each other.
Creation of the NATO bloc
The economic basis of the new "crusade" of the West to the East was the "Marshall plan" (How Stalin responded to the Marshall plan). The financial and economic power of the United States was used to enslave other countries. Washington used the post-war difficulties of European countries to "restore Europe", crushing its economy, finance, trade, and, as a result, foreign and military policy. In this regard, the USSR and the countries of people's democracies refused to participate in the Marshall Plan. The plan came into effect in April 1948: 17 European countries, including West Germany, participated in its implementation.
The implementation of this plan marked a sharp turn in the policy of the great Western powers towards West Germany. Previously defeated Germany was considered an occupied territory, the Germans had to "pay for everything." West Germany was now becoming an ally of the victorious powers. The military-economic power of West Germany began to be actively restored in order to direct it against the USSR: in the first year of the implementation of the "Marshall Plan", West Germany received $ 2,422 million, Britain - $ 1,324 million, France - $ 1,130 million, Italy - $ 704 million …
The Marshall Plan was created by the American military and became the military-economic backbone of the NATO bloc. One of the American military ideologists, Finletter, noted: "NATO would never have come into existence if it had not been preceded by the Marshall Plan." This plan made it possible to organize a new Western military-political grouping, which relied on the enormous resources and economic potential of the United States.
In 1946-1948. London tried to lead the process of creating an anti-Soviet bloc. Churchill in his speeches called for the creation of a "united Europe" to fight the Soviet Union. He called England the only country that can unite three blocs: the British Empire, the countries where English is spoken and the countries of Western Europe. England was to become the main communications center of such an alliance, a naval and air hub. Churchill regarded Germany as the main military force of a united Europe. He called for an early military and economic revival of Germany's potential. Thus, in fact, London was repeating the policy of the pre-war years, before World War II, when the masters of England and the United States made their main bet on Hitler's Germany to organize a "crusade" of all of Europe against the Soviet Union. Germany was again to become a "battering ram" of the West in the fight against the Russians. Churchill urged to hasten with such a war and unleash it before the "Russian communists" master atomic energy.
On March 4, 1947, England and France concluded a treaty of alliance and mutual assistance in Dunkirk. The next step towards the unification of Western countries into an anti-Soviet military alliance was the conclusion on March 17, 1948 in Brussels for a period of 50 years of a treaty between Great Britain, France, the Netherlands and Luxembourg on the creation of the Western Union. The Brussels agreement provided for the creation of permanent bodies of the Western Union: an advisory council, a military committee and a military headquarters. The British Field Marshal Montgomery was placed at the head of the military headquarters in the city of Fontainebleau.
Soviet diplomacy revealed the aggressive goals of the Western Union even before its conclusion. On March 6, 1948, Moscow sent the corresponding notes to the governments of the USA, England and France. The Soviet government exposed the West's desire for a separate solution to the German problem and sagaciously noted that the United States, Italy and West Germany would be involved in the future Western military bloc. That West Germany would be turned into a strategic base for future aggression in Europe. Moscow noted that both the American economic aid plan and the British political Western Union oppose Western Europe to Eastern Europe. Subsequent events have shown the correctness of these estimates.
After the entry into force of the Marshall Plan, Washington negotiated the creation of a military bloc of Western European countries led by the United States. The "Berlin crisis" artificially created by the West was used as a pretext. In order to mislead world public opinion, where the ideas of collective security put forward by the USSR even before the outbreak of World War II were strong, American diplomacy covered up its aggressive designs with concern for common security.
The Americans held preliminary negotiations on the creation of a military alliance with the governments of all countries that joined the Marshall Plan. Ireland, Sweden, Switzerland and Austria have declined to participate in this military alliance. Greece and Turkey joined it later (in 1952), as did West Germany (in 1955). The North Atlantic Treaty was signed on April 4, 1949 by 12 countries: two North American countries - the USA, Canada, ten European countries - Iceland, England, France, Belgium, the Netherlands, Luxembourg, Norway, Denmark, Italy and Portugal. The Western Alliance remained, but its armed forces were transferred under the general command of NATO.
The goals of the military bloc were the most aggressive. American politicians and the military spoke openly about this. One of them, D. Doolittle, said that the United States must be "physically, mentally and morally prepared to drop bombs on Russian industrial centers." The Chairman of the House of Representatives Commission on Military Appropriations K. Kennon noted that the US needed the NATO bloc to obtain bases from which American planes could "strike at Moscow and all other cities of Russia."
The Americans wanted to use the countries of Western Europe as their "cannon fodder" in the war with the USSR. One of the architects of NATO, Senator Dean Acheson (US Secretary of State since January 1949) said in Congress: "As an ally, Western Europe represents 200 million free people who can give their abilities, their reserves and their courage to our joint defense." The American military saw the future war as a repetition of World War II, when huge masses of people and military equipment were involved. The West European allies of the United States had to stop the Soviet tank armada. The United States followed the strategy of "contactless" war, when the American strategic aviation will strike at the vital centers of the USSR (including nuclear ones), and the territory of America will be safe, will not become the arena of a fierce battle. It is clear that these plans did not cause an explosion of joy among Washington's Western European allies. However, the Americans had the tools to push through their interests.
Thus, NATO was created as an aggressive policy instrument of the masters of the West. To suppress the world socialist, communist and national liberation movement. For the war with the USSR. For the military and political dominance of the United States on the planet.
The creation of the Alliance contributed to the arms race, in the transformation of Western states into a huge military machine, led by the United States, which was supposed to dominate the planet. Already on April 5, 1949, the European members of NATO turned to Washington for the promised military and economic assistance. The corresponding program was immediately developed and on July 25, 1949 presented to Congress in the form of a draft law "On military assistance to foreign states."The bill was approved by Congress and put into effect. To supply weapons and monitor the military spending and economies of NATO countries, the American government created a special Office for Mutual Security (located in Paris). This Office contributed to the further economic enslavement of the countries of Western Europe.
