Deterring Armageddon: A Biography of NATO

<p><b>From Reuters columnist Peter Apps, comes this history of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization - the alliance that saved the world. <br></b><br>Published to coincide with the 75th anniversary of NATO, Apps covers the aftermath of World War II, the Cold War, German reunification, Trump''s threats to withdraw from the organisation, and NATO''s current role in the Russia-Ukraine war. <br><br>Bringing to life key individuals and crucial events, the book will use the story of NATO as a way of tracing the major political and international developments of the twentieth century. It investigates the renewed threat from Russia, NATO''s expansion to Finland and Sweden, and Ukraine, Georgia and Bosnia''s attempt to join the coalition.<br><br>Finally, it asks how the alliance will overcome the pressures of conflicting interests from its member states - is our collective defence, as President Joe Biden called it, still ''a sacred obligation''? - and how will NATO remain relevant going forward

''HUGELY IMPRESSIVE'' - THE INDEPENDENT''AN ASTONISHINGLY FINE HISTORY'' - COUNTRY LIFE''FASCINATING'' - DAILY MAILThe history of the world''s most successful military alliance, from the wrecked Europe of 1945 to Vladimir Putin''s invasion of Ukraine.As they signed NATO into being after World War II, its founders fervently believed that only if the West''s democracies banded permanently together could they avoid a catastrophic global atomic conflict. Over the 75 years since, the alliance has indeed avoided war with Russia, also becoming a major political, strategic and diplomatic player well beyond its borders. It has survived disagreements between leaders from Eisenhower, Churchill and de Gaulle to Trump, Stoltenberg and Merkel, faced down Kremlin foes from Stalin to Putin and endured unending questions and debate over what new nations might be allowed to join.Deterring Armageddon takes the reader from backroom deals that led to NATO''s creation, through the Cold War, the Balkans and Afghanistan to the current confrontation with the Kremlin following the invasion of Ukraine. It examines the tightrope walked by alliance leaders between a powerful United States sometimes flirting with isolationism and European nations with their ever-evolving wishes for autonomy and influence. Having spent much of its life preparing for conflicts that might never come, NATO has sometimes found itself in wars that few had predicted - and with its members now again planning for a potential major European conflict.It is a tale of tension, danger, rivalry, conflict, big personalities and high-stakes military and diplomatic posturing - as well as espionage, politics and protest. From the Korean War to the pandemic, the Berlin and Cuba crises to the chaotic evacuation from Kabul, Deterring Armageddon tells how the alliance has shaped and been shaped by history - and looks ahead to what might be the most dangerous era it has ever faced.''Utterly eye-opening - compelling, haunting and continually illuminating. As Peter Apps so brilliantly demonstrates in this gripping book, the story of the NATO alliance is in many ways a parallel global history of the last 75 years. As well as all the outbreaks of seething tension between the US and its European allies - and the counter-moves of rival powers - this is also an account of just how often in those postwar years that we all stood on the edge of the most terrible abyss. With mesmerising fluency, and dazzling research, Apps follows the criss-crossing threads of the Cold War and beyond. Those threads converge in our shadowed present, and the conflict in Ukraine. In order to fathom today''s dark world, Apps has explored a labyrinth of once-classified history, and he brings dazzling clarity.'' - Sinclair McKay