NATO, From Berlin to Bosnia. Trans-Atlantic Security in Transition
Abstract
In mid-September 1994, North Atlantic Treaty Organization forces deployed to Poland alongside troops from seven former Warsaw Pact members to conduct the first joint peacekeeping exercise under the mantle of the newly formed "Partnership for Peace." Exercise "Co-operative Bridge 94," as it was called, involved less than 1,000 military personnel-not a particularly significant deployment in purely military terms. But in political terms, it was, according to General George Joulwan, NATO's Supreme Allied Commander in Europe, "a truly historic occasion." As German Defense Minister Volker Riihe noted, "Anyone who knows even a little bit about history knows this is not a routine event when Polish and German soldiers are working together." Certainly this was not a "routine" event by any standard. It was, in fact, an event that less than five years ago would have been considered unthinkable. But since the fall of the Berlin Wall in November 1989-described at the time by a NATO officer as "the bonfire of the certainties" events in Europe have moved so rapidly that even the unthinkable has become reality in security affairs. During this period, even the "routine"? functioning of the Alliance has ceased to be routine, and the nature of the American leadership role has been called into question on both sides of the Atlantic. From the fall of the Berlin Wall through the first use of NATO forces in combat in Bosnia in 1994, NATO has found itself in a race to keep up with these dramatic changes in the trans-Atlantic security environment.
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- Jan 01, 1995
- Accession Number
- ADA421921
Entities
People
- S. N. Drew
Organizations
- National Defense University