It is important to notice that no military operation was conducted by NATO during the Cold War. It looks like a paradox but it is in fact the meaning  of the Cold War. In a sense, only proxy wars  were permitted at that time to avoid the use of nuclear power.
This limitation in practice didn’t mean that the real  confrontation was impossible.
The nuclear escalation and the space race were the prooves of this dangerous option.
The sacred Alliance had to take care of all the problems and not only at the military level. At that time geopolitics was everywhere. The Western Union and the NATO  later were the founders for the building of the new Europe. A free Europe.
After the Hague Congress of 1948, the founding of the Council of Europe in 1949 was crucial. The International Authority for the Ruhr was used to create the European Coal and Steel Community.
Without the Marshall Plan this would be impossible.. But the sacred Alliance made the impossible to create the robust Europe.