IRLS416  - The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO)

This course will explain how an alliance of nations, formed to protect its member countries from a re-emergence of post-World War II Germany, transformed itself in order to protect Western Europe from the Warsaw Pact. It will delve into how an alliance that was purely defensive in origin evolved into an organization that conducted offensive operations in Bosnia-Herzegovina and attacked a sovereign nation in an attempt to bring peace to Kosovo. It will conclude with a study on the possible future of NATO in the changing environment of Europe and America. The scope of this course focuses on the role of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) since it’s founding to the present. The course includes the formation of the Alliance, the study of the member countries military forces, the organization and purposes of the various NATO Headquarters, the role of NATO in the Cold War, and the role NATO is playing today in the stabilization of Europe.