fuck why do I keep forgetting that? They pretty much already function as one. I swear some NATO countries had existing disputes at time of joining. Turkey and Syria had cooled over Hatay at the time though so I guess that shouldn’t count. Still Federal Germany was contesting Poland through half the cold war
…yeah I know. Federal Germany is the west one, Democratic is east. Federal Republic of Germany annexed the DDR, hence why the name remains the same. Also what are you saying? the FRG was contesting territory of Poland’s for quite a while, also when NATO started there was no East Germany. Hell there was no Soviet Bloc. The FRD/G forms May 23rd 1949, the DDR forms October 7th 1949 in response. NATO forms April 4th 1949. So both the FRG and NATO predate the DDR, the DDR only existed in response. Importantly so did the Warsaw Pact, only forming in May 1955 in response to FRG joining NATO which had been a line in the sand as the Soviets had been pushing for a unified neutral Germany since day one.
Even when they formed the DDR the intent was unification and neutrality, but the west refused any terms that didn’t allow a remilitarized Germany IN NATO.
These things did not just spring up fully formed and diametrically opposed like a western textbook will tell you.
fuck why do I keep forgetting that? They pretty much already function as one. I swear some NATO countries had existing disputes at time of joining. Turkey and Syria had cooled over Hatay at the time though so I guess that shouldn’t count. Still Federal Germany was contesting Poland through half the cold war
When NATO started West Germany was the member and East Germany was part of the Soviet block.
…yeah I know. Federal Germany is the west one, Democratic is east. Federal Republic of Germany annexed the DDR, hence why the name remains the same. Also what are you saying? the FRG was contesting territory of Poland’s for quite a while, also when NATO started there was no East Germany. Hell there was no Soviet Bloc. The FRD/G forms May 23rd 1949, the DDR forms October 7th 1949 in response. NATO forms April 4th 1949. So both the FRG and NATO predate the DDR, the DDR only existed in response. Importantly so did the Warsaw Pact, only forming in May 1955 in response to FRG joining NATO which had been a line in the sand as the Soviets had been pushing for a unified neutral Germany since day one.
Even when they formed the DDR the intent was unification and neutrality, but the west refused any terms that didn’t allow a remilitarized Germany IN NATO.
These things did not just spring up fully formed and diametrically opposed like a western textbook will tell you.