NATO Armies Today - Elite Series, 16 Author:Nigel Thomas The defeat of Hitler on 8 May 1945 left Western Europe militarily vulnerable and economically exhausted. Not so the Soviet Union, which had since 1940 annexed 180,000 square miles of Eastern Europe, occupied a further 390,000 square miles, and now seemed poised to advance still further westwards with its six-million strong forces. The increasing... more » Soviet threat brought forth demands for a permanent Western Military alliance, and on 4 April 1949, the North Atlantic Treaty was signed in Washington DC. This volume by Nigel Thomas explores the history, organisation and uniforms of NATO armies as they were in the late 80s.« less