How the formation of NATO and the Warsaw Pact increased tension between the superpowers during the Cold War?
NATO and the Warsaw Pact were set up primarily for the possibility of massive movements of Armies and Armor meeting once again in Europe battling as they had when Napoleon attacked Russia in the 19th century and Hitler’s attack of Russia in the 20th century. NATO was made up mainly of western European nations as well as Canada and the United States. The Warsaw Pact was made up of the Soviet Union nations. Tension was centered in Berlin and the Berlin wall separating Russia from the 3 Allied Powers occupying West Berlin and the Soviets controlling East Berlin. The ultimate point of tension was “Checkpoint Charlie.” Eastern and Western Europe were still separated by the Iron Curtain (the name Churchill gave to the eastern and western European divide).
