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Deterring Armageddon: A Biography of NATO
The inside story of the world's most successful military alliance, from the wrecked Europe of 1945 to Vladimir Putin's invasion of Ukraine.
Born in the aftermath of World War II, NATO has prevented another catastrophic global war in all the different conflicts and countries that could have happened in the last 75 years. The alliance has become a major political power with influence far beyond its borders - however there is an ever-present tension over the balance of power between Europe and America, with persistent questions over which nations will be allowed to join, when NATO's armed forces will come to other countries aid, and increasingly vital questions over what the future holds.
Deterring Armageddon takes the reader from backroom deals that led to NATO's creation, through the Cold War, formation of the EU, global financial crisis, and the killing fields of the Balkans and Afghanistan. It examines how European nations have attempted to retain both autonomy and influence on the global stage while still relying on US military power to protect them from the threat of Russia, which arose once again when Russia invaded Ukraine in 2022.
NATO now faces perhaps the most dangerous era since its creation and will play a crucial war in shaping global politics and relations in the decades to come. Its history is a tale of tension, danger, rivalry, conflict, big personalities and high-stakes military posturing - as well as bureaucrats, world leaders and spies. From the Korean War to the pandemic, the Berlin and Cuba crises to the unravelling of Kabul, Deterring Armageddon tells how the alliance has shaped and been shaped by history - and looks ahead to what might happen next.
Born in the aftermath of World War II, NATO has prevented another catastrophic global war in all the different conflicts and countries that could have happened in the last 75 years. The alliance has become a major political power with influence far beyond its borders - however there is an ever-present tension over the balance of power between Europe and America, with persistent questions over which nations will be allowed to join, when NATO's armed forces will come to other countries aid, and increasingly vital questions over what the future holds.
Deterring Armageddon takes the reader from backroom deals that led to NATO's creation, through the Cold War, formation of the EU, global financial crisis, and the killing fields of the Balkans and Afghanistan. It examines how European nations have attempted to retain both autonomy and influence on the global stage while still relying on US military power to protect them from the threat of Russia, which arose once again when Russia invaded Ukraine in 2022.
NATO now faces perhaps the most dangerous era since its creation and will play a crucial war in shaping global politics and relations in the decades to come. Its history is a tale of tension, danger, rivalry, conflict, big personalities and high-stakes military posturing - as well as bureaucrats, world leaders and spies. From the Korean War to the pandemic, the Berlin and Cuba crises to the unravelling of Kabul, Deterring Armageddon tells how the alliance has shaped and been shaped by history - and looks ahead to what might happen next.
480 pages, Hardcover
First published February 1, 2024
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Displaying 1 - 28 of 28 reviews
July 20, 2024
This is a non-fiction account of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), from its inception in 1949 up until November 2023, by British journalist Peter Apps. Considering the current state of the world, I read it to get a better understanding of the world’s foremost military defence alliance. Like most members of the general public, I really didn’t know much about it other than the short snippets I’d seen in the news, so it was interesting to learn about its history in more detail – not just its role in the Cold War, in the Balkans in the 1990s, and in the rapidly changing state of geopolitics in the twenty-first century, but its numerous examples of odd incompetence, including political appointments to important positions, periods when it was riddled with spies, and its almost complete lack of ability to coordinate with national military leaders or other international bodies like the UN or the CIA.
Yet author Apps is lax in a number of areas. Other than the cover illustration, there are no maps. To really comprehend its value to European defence, and why the Russians have always felt threatened by NATO expansion, it would be instructive to show the geography of changes over the years. He fails to mention Finland’s reasons for joining and its difficulties in accession, although Sweden and Finland had intended to join together and there is a brief reference to Sweden’s problems in this regard. Strangely, there is no mention of the Nordstream 2 pipeline, which suffered sabotage in 2022 that many considered an act of war. He flirts with partisan politics in what appears to be a critical assessment of former US president Donald Trump’s comments about NATO, neglecting to relate them to similar remarks, that Apps documents himself in this same book, made by nearly every American president since Eisenhower. Although he seems to bring into question the dangerous actions of earlier leaders like Kennedy, he studiously avoids any direct criticism of current president Joe Biden’s foreign policy, despite the clearly harmful effects it has had on NATO and global security.
With these strange omissions and biases, it’s hard to evaluate the overall accuracy of the book, because I have not read anything else quite so comprehensive and up to date on this subject. But it does include 77 pages of references and interviews with NATO heavy-hitters such as current Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg, and a number of ambassadors and officials, so I must offer Mr Apps, a foreign correspondent for some decades, the benefit of the doubt.
If you’re a voter in a western country, you should probably know more about NATO, since it plays a significant role in the overall security of the world. This might be a good place to start.
Yet author Apps is lax in a number of areas. Other than the cover illustration, there are no maps. To really comprehend its value to European defence, and why the Russians have always felt threatened by NATO expansion, it would be instructive to show the geography of changes over the years. He fails to mention Finland’s reasons for joining and its difficulties in accession, although Sweden and Finland had intended to join together and there is a brief reference to Sweden’s problems in this regard. Strangely, there is no mention of the Nordstream 2 pipeline, which suffered sabotage in 2022 that many considered an act of war. He flirts with partisan politics in what appears to be a critical assessment of former US president Donald Trump’s comments about NATO, neglecting to relate them to similar remarks, that Apps documents himself in this same book, made by nearly every American president since Eisenhower. Although he seems to bring into question the dangerous actions of earlier leaders like Kennedy, he studiously avoids any direct criticism of current president Joe Biden’s foreign policy, despite the clearly harmful effects it has had on NATO and global security.
With these strange omissions and biases, it’s hard to evaluate the overall accuracy of the book, because I have not read anything else quite so comprehensive and up to date on this subject. But it does include 77 pages of references and interviews with NATO heavy-hitters such as current Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg, and a number of ambassadors and officials, so I must offer Mr Apps, a foreign correspondent for some decades, the benefit of the doubt.
If you’re a voter in a western country, you should probably know more about NATO, since it plays a significant role in the overall security of the world. This might be a good place to start.
December 15, 2025
I would say this is a great book, a very comprehensive guide to NATO. This is not an ode to NATO, neither shows how "great" the alliance is, but the chronology of events.
highly recommended to anyone interested in history.
highly recommended to anyone interested in history.
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February 15, 2025Op elke pagina een tikfout
December 28, 2024
As it settled in Paris, the alliance was also taking on much of its modern character, including the endless backdoor dealmaking. ‘Practically everything accomplished through an international organisation is accomplished not in meetings but in the delegates’ lounge over coffee, tea, martinis, whiskey or vodka,' Achilles later noted.
This is a high-level politico-diplomatic history of NATO. Don’t expect much in the way of force deployments, war plans or weapons systems. Personally I agree with this. NATO’s mission has changed so dramatically (and with reversals) over the now seventy-five years that detailed discussions of those matters would drag the narrative into the mud of technical data. NATO has served as a vehicle for inter-country desires, rivalry and (semi) co-operation and this is what the book covers (the forerunners to NATO also get a fair shake).
Initially I thought the coverage up to the end of the Cold War was short, however it became clear the split was right because:
• a surprising amount of time has passed since 1990 (close to half the existence of NATO); and
• virtually all (maybe all?) of NATO’s active military campaigns have occurred in that time period, being Bosnia-Herzegovina, Kosovo, Enduring Freedom, Ukraine (which is a little undercooked, but it does run over publishing deadlines).
At a basic level Deterring Armageddon shows the consistent themes running through the alliance’s existence, even as they change over time. The push-pull of American dominance is a critical one. France’s discomfort of American control of NATO assets during the Cuban missile crisis causes them to withdraw military cooperation.
In other instances, pre-existing military arrangements authorised US commanders to call on specific allies for certain assets without further political approval. When US authorities requested Canadian maritime patrol aircraft at the height of the crisis, for example, they were delivered immediately to the later surprise and consternation of politicians in Ottawa who might well have vetoed such a move. When de Gaulle discovered something similar had happened with French forces, it would be the start of the process that eventually saw the US and NATO kicked entirely out of France.
Post Cold War, the Eastern European countries fall over themselves in supporting American interventionism as the key to eventual NATO admission. More generally there is coverage of conventional versus nuclear forces, how exercises would send (occasionally unintentional) signals, and who was carrying the financial burden.
One very interesting aspect of the book is the relationship with the Soviet Union/Russia. This is particularly pertinent in the post Cold War era. As Apps tells it, there were a number of key moments drive the precipitous decline in temperature to the “new” Cold War. Apps does not describe them as missed opportunities, and nor would I. There is also no suggestion of there being a “blame game”. However, Deterring Armageddon provides a very interesting explainer as to how the parties got to here.
In March, the US cancelled several parts of the Bush-era Europe missile shield that had so upset the Kremlin, announcing the allocated US anti-ballistic missile rockets would instead be sent to Asia to protect against North Korea. US officials suggested it could prove a turning point back to positive relations. But Putin wasn’t interested — and found a new way to needle the US. In June 2013, US National Security Agency contractor Edward Snowden fled to Moscow via Hong Kong after leaking large numbers of US classified files that revealed widespread US global eavesdropping.Russia now offered him asylum.
I am not sure if Apps intended this, but I did find diplomatic fractiousness in Deterring Armageddon quite depressing. I guess he is writing a history, not a polemic in favour of the alliance system, but it does mean the book does not offer much in the way of answers. Those looking for a breakdown of how naval forces would cover the GIUK Gap should also look for something more niche.
For years, successive US governments had called for their European counterparts to work more closely together. Now that they were doing so, the Nixon administration hated it.
This is nonetheless a good introductory book, on the longer side but well flowing. It points you to the stresses in the alliance (perhaps less so the strengths), so I would recommend it.
This is a high-level politico-diplomatic history of NATO. Don’t expect much in the way of force deployments, war plans or weapons systems. Personally I agree with this. NATO’s mission has changed so dramatically (and with reversals) over the now seventy-five years that detailed discussions of those matters would drag the narrative into the mud of technical data. NATO has served as a vehicle for inter-country desires, rivalry and (semi) co-operation and this is what the book covers (the forerunners to NATO also get a fair shake).
Initially I thought the coverage up to the end of the Cold War was short, however it became clear the split was right because:
• a surprising amount of time has passed since 1990 (close to half the existence of NATO); and
• virtually all (maybe all?) of NATO’s active military campaigns have occurred in that time period, being Bosnia-Herzegovina, Kosovo, Enduring Freedom, Ukraine (which is a little undercooked, but it does run over publishing deadlines).
At a basic level Deterring Armageddon shows the consistent themes running through the alliance’s existence, even as they change over time. The push-pull of American dominance is a critical one. France’s discomfort of American control of NATO assets during the Cuban missile crisis causes them to withdraw military cooperation.
In other instances, pre-existing military arrangements authorised US commanders to call on specific allies for certain assets without further political approval. When US authorities requested Canadian maritime patrol aircraft at the height of the crisis, for example, they were delivered immediately to the later surprise and consternation of politicians in Ottawa who might well have vetoed such a move. When de Gaulle discovered something similar had happened with French forces, it would be the start of the process that eventually saw the US and NATO kicked entirely out of France.
Post Cold War, the Eastern European countries fall over themselves in supporting American interventionism as the key to eventual NATO admission. More generally there is coverage of conventional versus nuclear forces, how exercises would send (occasionally unintentional) signals, and who was carrying the financial burden.
One very interesting aspect of the book is the relationship with the Soviet Union/Russia. This is particularly pertinent in the post Cold War era. As Apps tells it, there were a number of key moments drive the precipitous decline in temperature to the “new” Cold War. Apps does not describe them as missed opportunities, and nor would I. There is also no suggestion of there being a “blame game”. However, Deterring Armageddon provides a very interesting explainer as to how the parties got to here.
In March, the US cancelled several parts of the Bush-era Europe missile shield that had so upset the Kremlin, announcing the allocated US anti-ballistic missile rockets would instead be sent to Asia to protect against North Korea. US officials suggested it could prove a turning point back to positive relations. But Putin wasn’t interested — and found a new way to needle the US. In June 2013, US National Security Agency contractor Edward Snowden fled to Moscow via Hong Kong after leaking large numbers of US classified files that revealed widespread US global eavesdropping.Russia now offered him asylum.
I am not sure if Apps intended this, but I did find diplomatic fractiousness in Deterring Armageddon quite depressing. I guess he is writing a history, not a polemic in favour of the alliance system, but it does mean the book does not offer much in the way of answers. Those looking for a breakdown of how naval forces would cover the GIUK Gap should also look for something more niche.
For years, successive US governments had called for their European counterparts to work more closely together. Now that they were doing so, the Nixon administration hated it.
This is nonetheless a good introductory book, on the longer side but well flowing. It points you to the stresses in the alliance (perhaps less so the strengths), so I would recommend it.
June 3, 2024
Good, comprehensive overview of NATO's history
March 21, 2025
Una historia de la OTAN desde su fundación hasta el 2023, de plena actualidad. El relato es apasionante, con suficiente detalle para conocer muchas cosas nuevas y profundizar en otras ya conocidas. Excelente.
April 13, 2025
With the future of the alliance even more precarious than it was when the book was published in February 2024, I found this to be a fascinating read. It offers a concise yet well-researched narrative of the alliance—from its inception to the present—and explores what the future might hold.
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March 26, 2024‘Semisesquicentennial’ does not roll off the tongue, nor would such an occasion normally be marked by publishers. But the North Atlantic Treaty Organization’s 75th anniversary, which arrives on 4 April 2024, has already led to the publication of a brace of new books about the past and future of the alliance which, with the recent accession of Finland, now counts 31 states among its members.
With the war in Ukraine – which has re-energised NATO even as it has kept its own involvement in a state of deliberate ambiguity – entering its third year, it is unsurprising that there should be renewed interest in the North Atlantic alliance. But underneath it all is a sense of anxiety, widely but quietly shared, that NATO may not live to see its centenary. This anniversary may be the last big one and thus a particularly appropriate time to assess what NATO has accomplished so far and guess what its future will hold.
Peter Apps’ contribution to the occasion, Deterring Armageddon, is a straightforward and breezy history of NATO. A former Reuters correspondent and British army reservist, Apps has an eye for the dramatic, and the book’s almost 500 pages contain few longueurs despite much of it being concerned with bureaucratic debates among politicians with dimly remembered names.
Like a classical tragedy, the story of NATO’s creation, as retold by Apps, possessed unity of action, time and place. The men who assisted in its establishment and who shepherded it through its first years of existence were dramatic figures in their own right. There was Ernest Bevin, the unskilled labourer turned world statesman of the nuclear age. There was Dwight D. Eisenhower, for whom supreme military command of NATO provided a welcome escape from the ennui of peacetime university administration. And there was the middle-ranking Europhile American diplomat with the impossibly WASPish name of Theodore C. Achilles, who hoped the Atlantic alliance would one day turn into a federal union.
Read the rest of the review at HistoryToday.com.
Yuan Yi Zhu is Assistant Professor of International Relations and International Law at Leiden University.
With the war in Ukraine – which has re-energised NATO even as it has kept its own involvement in a state of deliberate ambiguity – entering its third year, it is unsurprising that there should be renewed interest in the North Atlantic alliance. But underneath it all is a sense of anxiety, widely but quietly shared, that NATO may not live to see its centenary. This anniversary may be the last big one and thus a particularly appropriate time to assess what NATO has accomplished so far and guess what its future will hold.
Peter Apps’ contribution to the occasion, Deterring Armageddon, is a straightforward and breezy history of NATO. A former Reuters correspondent and British army reservist, Apps has an eye for the dramatic, and the book’s almost 500 pages contain few longueurs despite much of it being concerned with bureaucratic debates among politicians with dimly remembered names.
Like a classical tragedy, the story of NATO’s creation, as retold by Apps, possessed unity of action, time and place. The men who assisted in its establishment and who shepherded it through its first years of existence were dramatic figures in their own right. There was Ernest Bevin, the unskilled labourer turned world statesman of the nuclear age. There was Dwight D. Eisenhower, for whom supreme military command of NATO provided a welcome escape from the ennui of peacetime university administration. And there was the middle-ranking Europhile American diplomat with the impossibly WASPish name of Theodore C. Achilles, who hoped the Atlantic alliance would one day turn into a federal union.
Read the rest of the review at HistoryToday.com.
Yuan Yi Zhu is Assistant Professor of International Relations and International Law at Leiden University.
August 14, 2024
A good enough and well-written history, though at times its summary was a tad too brief. For example, it barely covered the 70s, while its discussion of France’s departure from the unified command structure (and then return in the 2000s) was so brief if you blinked you’d miss it. On the other hand, the discussion of the Afghan war was probably a touch too in-depth considering the relative lack of attention given to other issues. One of the rare history books that I wish were a bit longer.
June 18, 2024
I bought this book for my own professional development...or at least that's how I justified reading it during my planning periods. It was very topical for me as I am preparing a student for her IGCSE and though her unit of study focuses on the LoN and the UN, I found there was plenty of crossover and the developing structure of NATO was very helpful in explaining how international organizations organize themselves. I also found it interesting on a personal and future-aspiration level. That's why I suspect I'll be giving it a second read through as no matter how hard I tried to mark everything I wanted to remember there was just too much to absorb in one go. I appreciate a book comprehensive enough to be of use over and over again.
The text covers almost 100 years of history and wrangles the complex weave of nations and their interests masterfully. Though you might be worried about its size I found it perfectly accessible and even plan on using some excerpts, mainly about Kosovo and the Gulf Wars, as context for my student. For me personally, I love that it gives readers a good starting point as I was constantly marking topics I wanted to read further into and checking the references from that chapter to form a reading list.
Though I wanted to this book for my own development, I also just plain old enjoyed it. I like the historical accounts of NATO's formation in the first half of the book, but then it entered the 90s and early 2000s. As someone just developing the ability to have permanent memories during that time period it was interesting to see what events had made impressions on young me and how I had internalized/understood these events. I could actually track when I become more conscious of the world around me as the events became clearer and clearer in my initial impressions.
In summary, I would recommend this book to anybody already interested in this topic or wanting to learn more. It is timely and I think it will remain so during these turbulent and quickly evolving times.
The text covers almost 100 years of history and wrangles the complex weave of nations and their interests masterfully. Though you might be worried about its size I found it perfectly accessible and even plan on using some excerpts, mainly about Kosovo and the Gulf Wars, as context for my student. For me personally, I love that it gives readers a good starting point as I was constantly marking topics I wanted to read further into and checking the references from that chapter to form a reading list.
Though I wanted to this book for my own development, I also just plain old enjoyed it. I like the historical accounts of NATO's formation in the first half of the book, but then it entered the 90s and early 2000s. As someone just developing the ability to have permanent memories during that time period it was interesting to see what events had made impressions on young me and how I had internalized/understood these events. I could actually track when I become more conscious of the world around me as the events became clearer and clearer in my initial impressions.
In summary, I would recommend this book to anybody already interested in this topic or wanting to learn more. It is timely and I think it will remain so during these turbulent and quickly evolving times.
January 22, 2025
Книгата на Питър Апс предлага в изумително стегната форма увлекателния разказ за най-успешния познат на човечеството военен съюз. В нея авторът проследява детайлно различните етапи от развитието на НАТО, засягайки както моментите на високо напрежение между ядрените сили, така и необходимите задкулисни дипломатически ходове за опазването в максимална степен на мира след Втората световна война.
Биографията на Алианса е учебник по геополитика. Тя онагледява трудностите в намирането на баланс между нации, които са воювали помежду си през цялата първа половина на ХХ век, и които често са имали разнопосочни интереси през годините. Това, което ги обединява обаче, е стремежът към сдържане на враждебни сили и предотвратяването на ядрен армагедон - две задачи, които са изпълнени в цялост.
България е спомената 17 пъти от автора както като част от Варшавския договор, така и като кандидат и пълноправен член на НАТО. Най-важното споменаване на нашата страна е във връзка със стратегическото решение на София, Букурещ и Будапеща да затворят въздушното си пространство за руските военно-транспортни самолети в разгара на войната в Косово. По този начин са осуетени планирания руски десант на летището в Прищина и създаването на предпоставки за челен сблъсък между Русия и НАТО точно върху бурето с барут, наречено Балкански полуостров.
Подобните исторически примери изпълват страниците на книгата и дават нагледно обяснение защо Организацията на Северноаталнтическия договор трябва да бъде ревностно пазена, за да гарантира тя на свой ред, че границите и народите на нейните членове са защитени от посегателства.
Биографията на Алианса е учебник по геополитика. Тя онагледява трудностите в намирането на баланс между нации, които са воювали помежду си през цялата първа половина на ХХ век, и които често са имали разнопосочни интереси през годините. Това, което ги обединява обаче, е стремежът към сдържане на враждебни сили и предотвратяването на ядрен армагедон - две задачи, които са изпълнени в цялост.
България е спомената 17 пъти от автора както като част от Варшавския договор, така и като кандидат и пълноправен член на НАТО. Най-важното споменаване на нашата страна е във връзка със стратегическото решение на София, Букурещ и Будапеща да затворят въздушното си пространство за руските военно-транспортни самолети в разгара на войната в Косово. По този начин са осуетени планирания руски десант на летището в Прищина и създаването на предпоставки за челен сблъсък между Русия и НАТО точно върху бурето с барут, наречено Балкански полуостров.
Подобните исторически примери изпълват страниците на книгата и дават нагледно обяснение защо Организацията на Северноаталнтическия договор трябва да бъде ревностно пазена, за да гарантира тя на свой ред, че границите и народите на нейните членове са защитени от посегателства.
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May 23, 2025This book provides a great, comprehensive view of NATO. It filled in a lot of gaps and exposed me to some events in recent military history that I wasn’t aware of e.g. the war scare of 1983.
The book could have easily gotten side tracked with the particulars of each event, but it does a good job of focusing on NATO’s involvement (or lack thereof) and the specific issues it was discussing. I appreciated how the book came all the way up to the beginning of 2024, even if the last two chapters which focused on 2020-2024 and 2024-2049 felt mostly like reading the news.
Three takeaways from the book:
1) Issues that I thought were unique to current times can be traced all the way back to NATO’s inception. Questions like “Will the U.S. pull out?”, “When will Europe start taking more of the burden?”, “Will Russia feel provoked?”, etc.
2) While Angela Merkel seems to be a fine lady and good leader, her foreign policy decisions have aged like milk.
3) I love France as a country and culture, but man can they be petulant. They have nothing to hang their geopolitical hat on from the last 150 years, yet they think they are owed something.
The book could have easily gotten side tracked with the particulars of each event, but it does a good job of focusing on NATO’s involvement (or lack thereof) and the specific issues it was discussing. I appreciated how the book came all the way up to the beginning of 2024, even if the last two chapters which focused on 2020-2024 and 2024-2049 felt mostly like reading the news.
Three takeaways from the book:
1) Issues that I thought were unique to current times can be traced all the way back to NATO’s inception. Questions like “Will the U.S. pull out?”, “When will Europe start taking more of the burden?”, “Will Russia feel provoked?”, etc.
2) While Angela Merkel seems to be a fine lady and good leader, her foreign policy decisions have aged like milk.
3) I love France as a country and culture, but man can they be petulant. They have nothing to hang their geopolitical hat on from the last 150 years, yet they think they are owed something.
December 19, 2024
It was my first time reading a book on international geopolitics. I had just finished reading a couple of Jaishankar's(India's foreign minister) books and I thought this would be a good time to dive into world history.
I was frankly stunned by the depth of research involved in what was a 75 evolution of such a powerful and important organization. The best part was that it was written in a manner in which even a beginner like me could understand every minor detail about the conflicts and behind-the-scenes workings without being intimidated or bored out of confusion. Peter Apps somehow managed to keep me on the hook for some 400 odd pages despite me not knowing Jack about this institution beforehand and that is truly commendable.
I would definitely recommend this book to those who are looking for a headstart on fundamental understanding one of the most pivotal multilateral organizations in the world and it's contribution to the North Atlantic security architecture.
9.5/10
I was frankly stunned by the depth of research involved in what was a 75 evolution of such a powerful and important organization. The best part was that it was written in a manner in which even a beginner like me could understand every minor detail about the conflicts and behind-the-scenes workings without being intimidated or bored out of confusion. Peter Apps somehow managed to keep me on the hook for some 400 odd pages despite me not knowing Jack about this institution beforehand and that is truly commendable.
I would definitely recommend this book to those who are looking for a headstart on fundamental understanding one of the most pivotal multilateral organizations in the world and it's contribution to the North Atlantic security architecture.
9.5/10
January 25, 2026
An excellent one-volume history of NATO from its founding in 1949 to 2023, after the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
I have always been interested in Cold War history (loved the Kenneth Branaugh-narrated Cold War series produced in the late 1990s), and Peter Apps' well researched and insightful work hits the mark. Very readable and accessible to those who know very little about NATO or that period of history.
As a retired Air Force officer that lived and worked in three NATO countries over a 28 year career, I can attest to the book's accuracy and key theme that the North Atlantic alliance has relied on US leadership from the beginning.
I have always been interested in Cold War history (loved the Kenneth Branaugh-narrated Cold War series produced in the late 1990s), and Peter Apps' well researched and insightful work hits the mark. Very readable and accessible to those who know very little about NATO or that period of history.
As a retired Air Force officer that lived and worked in three NATO countries over a 28 year career, I can attest to the book's accuracy and key theme that the North Atlantic alliance has relied on US leadership from the beginning.
May 16, 2024
I'd been looking forward to this book, but came away disappointed. It's mostly a "and then this happened" kind of history, without much of a central argument or much in terms of new information. It's more a general overview of post-WWII trans-Atlantic history with some emphasis on NATO, then an actual biography of NATO. The early chapters feature some interesting character sketches of the individuals who did much to found the Organisation, but that type of focus is unfortunately missing in most of the book.
October 30, 2024
bland
with a serious lack of focus
I prefer books that go in with the deepest analysis of earlier periods without going excessively into recent events, which need years of reflection
If the Encyclopedia Britannica covered nato in their yearbooks, you'd get a similar feel
I think others have spoken about how this book was a disappointment with interesting biases and omissions.
I'd rather have the 4000 page book of NATO covering events up to 2005 and no further, and I don't have much patience for current issues in flux
with a serious lack of focus
I prefer books that go in with the deepest analysis of earlier periods without going excessively into recent events, which need years of reflection
If the Encyclopedia Britannica covered nato in their yearbooks, you'd get a similar feel
I think others have spoken about how this book was a disappointment with interesting biases and omissions.
I'd rather have the 4000 page book of NATO covering events up to 2005 and no further, and I don't have much patience for current issues in flux
September 8, 2024
Una biografia muy detallada de esta alianza militar que hace ademas un recorrido minucioso por los eventos historicos contemporaneos como la guerra de Corea, Vietnam, Irak y Afganistan entre otras. explica con claridad la crisis de los misiles en Cuba y ofrece proyecciones hacia el futuro de esta organización. Un libro que es necesario leer para entender un capitulo de la historia contemporanea.
December 18, 2024
Very well written history of NATO and its sometimes difficult and dangerous moments, very actual with the war in Ukraine and what many (including politicians and highly ranked military) people fear yet to come over the course of the years to come, including a test of article 5 by Putin or any other rogue state president… not to say the risks of the newly 2nd term elected Mister President D. Trump and his plans with NATO…
May 20, 2025
A history of NATO from its founding up to 2023 and a prospect for its evolution. After many deemed it 'brain-dead' the alliance returns to its raison d'être. The narrative is captivating, well researched from someone who is partially paralysed and made with enough detail to discover many new aspects and delve deeper into others. The few references to Portugal are also excellent.
A good historical guide to the alliance.
A good historical guide to the alliance.
August 8, 2024
Visi pyksta ‘ajai, NATO lėtai veikia.’ Yra to. Bet, kai paskaitai NATO istoriją - visada buvo taip. Ši knyga puikiai tai parodo. Atskiras pliusas - skaityti tokią šviežią. Kai kalba eina apie šias dienas, tai realiai kalbama apie Kallas ir Stoltenbergus. Ir dar labai faina matyt aljanso žemėlapy pažymėtą ir Lietuvos kontūrą.
August 22, 2025
An impressive work that tracks and documents the political history of a crucial institution. Could perhaps benefit from more military strategic / operational capability analysis, but it is already a fairly long book :-)
September 26, 2024
A very good book about an important organization. The strength of the book is in the background information, followed by recent operations and the current state of play. Very timely and informative.
January 12, 2025
An engaging history of NATO and the evolving role of the Alliance over the years.
April 2, 2025
The book offers a comprehensive history of NATO and its historical context. It provides a wide-ranging perspective on the events, including some seemingly insider views. I enjoyed reading it.
January 7, 2026
500 sider + om NATO fra 1949 til 2023. Veldig interessant, og detaljert, tidslinje.
March 6, 2025
An fascinating walkthrough of NATO's birth, stagnation and survival!
Apps paints a thorough picture of the inception of the alliance, focusing on individuals vital to it's creation and thereby providing a more "human" centred perspective on the alliance. NATO is throughout the book tied in to global events, with Apps providing the context necessary to understand the alliance's role in them. Apps focus on previously disregarded NATO emergencies, such as the imminent military confrontation between NATO and The Warsaw pact in 1983, really provides the book with a much more intimate portrayal of the alliance as I felt that I was provided with more substance than just a regurgitation of past headlines of NATO and global events. Apps provides a perspective of NATO as an American political and military tool, functioning as a "means to an end" for the superpower which I found interesting, intentional or not.
However, I would question the labelling of the book as a "biography of NATO". Instead, Apps occasionally spends time describing political events, often from an American perspective, where its connection to NATO feels as an afterthought. As an example of this, I found the chapter on military operations in Afghanistan especially irrelevant for the books purpose. Apps stated that there was no real NATO command tied into the operation and that states perpetuated their own military goals (i.e highlighting its irrelevancy to NATO) only to then give detailed descriptions of such states military operations, leaving questions of its ties to the broader themes and purposes of the book.
It is necessary to state that Apps still provided a great telling of American and European security politics throughout the 20th and the beginning of the 21st centuries. I think a title such as "A biography of American security policy in Europe through the 20th-21st centuries" would have been a more fitting description albeit maybe not as charming and inviting for readers. Importantly, my three star review is not meant to necessarily reflect the quality of the content, it's more a one star demotion pertaining to the aforementioned issues.
Overall a fascinating read that effectively conveys the intricacies in the relationship between America and it's European allies!
Apps paints a thorough picture of the inception of the alliance, focusing on individuals vital to it's creation and thereby providing a more "human" centred perspective on the alliance. NATO is throughout the book tied in to global events, with Apps providing the context necessary to understand the alliance's role in them. Apps focus on previously disregarded NATO emergencies, such as the imminent military confrontation between NATO and The Warsaw pact in 1983, really provides the book with a much more intimate portrayal of the alliance as I felt that I was provided with more substance than just a regurgitation of past headlines of NATO and global events. Apps provides a perspective of NATO as an American political and military tool, functioning as a "means to an end" for the superpower which I found interesting, intentional or not.
However, I would question the labelling of the book as a "biography of NATO". Instead, Apps occasionally spends time describing political events, often from an American perspective, where its connection to NATO feels as an afterthought. As an example of this, I found the chapter on military operations in Afghanistan especially irrelevant for the books purpose. Apps stated that there was no real NATO command tied into the operation and that states perpetuated their own military goals (i.e highlighting its irrelevancy to NATO) only to then give detailed descriptions of such states military operations, leaving questions of its ties to the broader themes and purposes of the book.
It is necessary to state that Apps still provided a great telling of American and European security politics throughout the 20th and the beginning of the 21st centuries. I think a title such as "A biography of American security policy in Europe through the 20th-21st centuries" would have been a more fitting description albeit maybe not as charming and inviting for readers. Importantly, my three star review is not meant to necessarily reflect the quality of the content, it's more a one star demotion pertaining to the aforementioned issues.
Overall a fascinating read that effectively conveys the intricacies in the relationship between America and it's European allies!
March 30, 2025
Възпиране на Армагедон – защо бе създадено НАТО: https://knigolandia.info/vuzpirane-na...
Когато четох последната коректура на „Възпиране на Армагедон. Биография на НАТО“ на Питър Апс през юли миналата година, не очаквах да пиша за нея в момент, в който самото съществуване на съюза ще е вече под огромна въпросителна. Толкова по-важна ми се струва сега, за да се напомни – или по-скоро за да се научи – какво точно е НАТО, защо е създаден този съюз, през какви изпитания минава през втората половина на XX век и как изобщо оцелява при постоянните предизвикателства, защото, както Апс пише: „Дори най-заклетите поддръжници на НАТО признават, че то е несъвършена институция, постоянно обзета от разделения, в която изискването за консенсус понякога води дотам, че изобщо не могат да се вземат решения.“ Точно тази прямота и откровеност превръща тази книга в нещо повече от самохвалебствен разказ за успехи – точно обратното, този автор, който сам по себе си е интересен (парализиран от раменете надолу и пише със софтуер за гласово разпознаване), разкрива недвусмислено колко сложна и противоречива е историята на НАТО, но и как в крайна сметка вече 75 години съюзът постига успех в това, за което е създаден – да предотврати Армагедон.
Ciela Books
https://knigolandia.info/vuzpirane-na...
Когато четох последната коректура на „Възпиране на Армагедон. Биография на НАТО“ на Питър Апс през юли миналата година, не очаквах да пиша за нея в момент, в който самото съществуване на съюза ще е вече под огромна въпросителна. Толкова по-важна ми се струва сега, за да се напомни – или по-скоро за да се научи – какво точно е НАТО, защо е създаден този съюз, през какви изпитания минава през втората половина на XX век и как изобщо оцелява при постоянните предизвикателства, защото, както Апс пише: „Дори най-заклетите поддръжници на НАТО признават, че то е несъвършена институция, постоянно обзета от разделения, в която изискването за консенсус понякога води дотам, че изобщо не могат да се вземат решения.“ Точно тази прямота и откровеност превръща тази книга в нещо повече от самохвалебствен разказ за успехи – точно обратното, този автор, който сам по себе си е интересен (парализиран от раменете надолу и пише със софтуер за гласово разпознаване), разкрива недвусмислено колко сложна и противоречива е историята на НАТО, но и как в крайна сметка вече 75 години съюзът постига успех в това, за което е създаден – да предотврати Армагедон.
Ciela Books
https://knigolandia.info/vuzpirane-na...
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