1 January 2018. A NATO Flotilla Sails Back Into the Cold War. NATO & Warsaw Pacts Keeping the balance of military power between the forces of NATO and those of the Warsaw Pact, of West and East, was of great importance in keeping international peace and stability. In 1988, NATO’s plan for the defense of Western Europe was the doctrine of forward defense, in which Soviet and Warsaw Pact forces were stopped as … Pact and assess their importance in the development of the cold war. Cold War NATO Army Groups A particularly important development was SHAPE's announcement in September 1963 that NATO's first line of defense was being moved forward to … That included the USSR, Bulgaria, Hungary, Romania, Poland, Czechoslovakia, and East Germany. During the Cold War, NATO's mission expanded to prevent nuclear war. After months of Moscow’s provocations, the U.S. and U.K. sent surface ships to the Barents Sea for the first time in 35 years. The Role of Nato and the Warsaw Pact in the Cold War. The point is that in its relations with Russia NATO starts relying on the Cold War schemes and attempts to project force towards Russia. Tensions had long been brewing between the eastern bloc and its frontrunner’s and big brother, The Soviet Union and the western powers primarily led by the united States of America. Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Alexander Grushko NATO’s Purpose After the Cold War Throughout history military alliances have formed to balance either countervailing power or the perceived threat thereof. Nato's Cold War roots Nato has 19 members; Switzerland and Austria are neutral Fifty years ago, unsettled by a war which had rocked political and economic confidence, the … At the height of the Cold War in the 1960s, Moscow possessed hundreds of submarines—far more than NATO could muster and enough to devastate NATO shipping in the event of full-scale war. After West Germany joined NATO, the communist countries formed the Warsaw Pact alliance.