Osprey Elite 16 : NATO Armies Today

The defeat of Hitler on 8 May 1945 left Western Europe militarily vulnerable and economically exhausted. Not so the Soviet Union, which had since 1940 annexed 180,000 square miles of Eastern Europe, occupied a further 390,000 square miles, and now seemed poised to advance still further westwards with its six-million strong forces. The increasing Soviet threat brought forth demands for a permanent Western Military alliance, and on 4 April 1949, the North Atlantic Treaty was signed in Washington DC by the 12 founder-members - Belgium, Canada, Denmark, France, Great Britain, Iceland, Italy, Luxembourg, Netherlands, Norway, Portugal and the United States. Since 1949 NATO has responded successfully to a series of pressures, external - from the Soviet bloc; and internal - from disputes between member countries. Nigel Thomas explores the history, organisation and uniforms of NATO armies as they were in the late 1980s, with a wealth of accompanying photographs and 12 full page colour plates by Ron Volstad.

Contents

• The Nato Alliance
• Norway
• Denmark
• Canada
• Belgium
• Netherlands
• France
• Luxembourg
• Germany
• Italy
• Greece
• Spain
• Portugal
• Iceland
• The Plates