ANALYSIS/OPINION:
Russia’s invasion of Ukraine is raising questions left unresolved in the immediate aftermath of the Cold War, when President George H.W. Bush hoped to bequeath to his successors a peaceful, stable Europe whose nations would remain part of NATO.
Among the questions is whether Russia would integrate with Europe, as the Soviet Union’s former republics (such as the Baltic states) and satellite states (such as Poland) joined the Western military alliance. With its unprovoked attack on Ukraine, Russia has turned into a pariah country as President Vladimir Putin attempts to reverse his nation’s diminished geopolitical status.
In this episode of History As It Happens, historian Jeffrey Engel discusses the causes of the first major war in Eastern Europe since 1945. It was not inevitable that relations between the West and the former Soviet Union would deteriorate, but certain issues — such as the North Atlantic Treaty Organization enlargement, Russia’s economic plight, and Mr. Putin’s revanchist ideas — have helped pave the road to war in 2022.
“It’s not that the Bush administration and people at the end of the Cold War within U.S. policy-making circles thought that war was unthinkable. They thought about it all the time. They just thought the best way to prevent war in Europe was for the United States to be present,” said Mr. Engel, the founding director of the Center for Presidential History at Southern Methodist University and author of “When the World Seemed New: George H.W. Bush And The End Of The Cold War.”
Bush’s insistence on maintaining NATO as the bedrock of post-Cold War stability led to many discussions and agreements across the mid-1990s that neither ruled out NATO expansion nor made it inevitable.
Each side in today’s conflict claims history as an ally. While Mr. Putin contends Russia was betrayed by the offer of NATO membership to Ukraine, the U.S. and its European allies insist such nations have the right to choose their alliances.
But it is one thing to agree to a European security structure on paper. It is entirely more difficult to enforce it, as Ukraine — a non-NATO member — implores the West to come to its assistance.
For the full interview with Jeffrey Engel, listen to this episode of History As It Happens.
