The Roles of Strategic and Theatre Nuclear Forces in NATO Strategy: Part II

Abstract

The US commitment to use nuclear weapons in the defence of Western Europe represents the central military feature of the Atlantic Alliance. At the same time uncertainty about that commitment is the primary source of divisiveness and recurring strain among Alliance members. Acutely aware of their dependence on the US commitment, the Europeans are in constant need of reassurance. But dependence itself has not provided a strong enough motivation for the Alliance to embrace alternatives. As a result, the history of nuclear weapons in NATO is one of a constant struggle to maintain the credibility of deterrence and to assuage the concerns of America’s European partners. As Michael Howard puts it:

The American military presence [is] wanted in Western Europe, not just in the negative role of a deterrent to Soviet aggression but in the positive role of a reassurance to the West Europeans; the kind of reassurance a child needs from its parents or an invalid from his doctors against dangers which, however remote, cannot be entirely discounted.¹