Cold War Canada: A time of collective security and political urging.

Essay by dhsiaocaHigh School, 10th gradeA, February 2007

download word file, 4 pages 3.4

Even before the closure of World War II, the Allies agreed that they needed to set up an organization that could defuse disputes between nations before the occurrence of war. It was evident that this organization would need the support of various countries, and have enough power to carry out such immense mediating tasks.

In 1945, based on faith in the philosophy of collective security, representatives of Canada, Great Britain and the United States of America, signed the historic charter alongside 47 other countries that commenced the establishment of the United Nations.

Unfortunately, it was soon realized, with the trial discharge of an atomic bomb by the Soviet Union in 1949, that the set up of the United Nations had one major flaw. Canadian Prime Minister Louis St. Laurent outlined this flaw: "[the members of the UN] are fully aware of the shortfall... to provide the nations of the world with the security which they require..."

(291-292). As it stood, the organization's crude physical protection scheme, comprised of a undeveloped "unpaid assistant militia", would not be able to defend its members in the event of a devastating Communist attack.

With that one trial of an atomic bomb, the arms race had started. With a twisted ideology that was, "[the] basic reason why Russia has not attacked [the Allies] is that we can outproduce her... " (259), both sides began stockpiling weapons capable of destroying entire nations within a matter of minutes. With that, the cracks already forming within the United Nations' system of member defense grew too wide to support its colossal duty.

In a time when many countries started questioning the effectiveness of the United Nations, the North Atlantic Treaty Organization was formed. With a total of 12 original countries, Canada included, the treaty signed in 1949 also employed...