Abstract
It has been a major objective of the North Atlantic Alliance to involve the Americans in the defence of Europe. It was the United States view from the beginning that, while they must take chief responsibility in the strategic nuclear field and play a large part in naval operations, the ‘hard core of ground power in being’ would have to come from Europe.1 To this view they have steadily adhered, and their attitude towards a land force contribution has been coloured accordingly. A presidential message dated 10 March 1955 stated:
It will be the policy of the United States to continue to maintain in Europe, including Germany, such units of its armed forces as may be necessary and appropriate to con?stitute its fair share to the forces needed for the joint defence of the North Atlantic Area while a threat to that area exists, and will continue to deploy such forces in accordance with agreed North Atlantic Strategy for the defence of this area.2
A senior serving officer in the British Army.
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Notes
Gen. Omar Bradley, testimony to House of Representatives Committee on Foreign Affairs, Hearings, Mutual Defence Assistance Act of 1949, 81st Congress, 1st Session, p. 71. Quoted in R. N. Rosecranz, Defence of the Realm (New York: Columbia Univ. Press, 1968) p. 95.
John Strachey, On the Prevention of War (London: Macmillan, 1962) p. 247.
Remarks by Secretary of Defence Robert S. McNamara before United Press editors and publishers, San Francisco, Calif, 18 Sep 1987. Quoted in Ralph Lapp, The Weapons Culture (New York: Norton, 1968) p. 210. Emphasis added.
Jacques Isnard, ‘La réforme du service nationale’, Le Monde, 6 June 1970, quoting the National Union of French Students (UNEF).
Quoted by Fred Mulley, The Politics of Western Defence (London, 1962) p. 99.
Helmut Schmidt, Defence or Retaliation (Edinburgh: Oliver & Boyd, 1962) p. 99.
Trevor Cliffe, Military Technology and the European Defence, Adelphi Paper No. 89 (London: International Institute for Strategic Studies, 1972).
Sir Basil Liddell Hart, Deterrent or Defence (London: Stevens, 1960) pp. 165–73.
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© 1974 National Defence College
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Garnett, J.C. (1974). Strategies of European Nations. In: Garnett, J.C. (eds) The Defence of Western Europe. Palgrave Macmillan, London. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-349-02001-0_6
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-349-02001-0_6
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