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Jul 4, 2023 · NATO’s essential and enduring purpose is to safeguard the freedom and security of all its members by political and military means. Collective defence is at the heart of the Alliance and creates a spirit of solidarity and cohesion among its members. NATO’s goal: peace and security in Europe and North America.
Established in the aftermath of World War II, the organization implements the North Atlantic Treaty, signed in Washington, D.C., on 4 April 1949. [4] [5] NATO is a collective security system: its independent member states agree to defend each other against attacks by third parties.
- Overview
- Historical background
- Organization
The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) is a military alliance originally established in 1949 to create a counterweight to Soviet armies stationed in central and eastern Europe after World War II. When the Cold War ended, NATO was reconceived as a “cooperative-security” organization.
What does NATO stand for?
NATO is an acronym for North Atlantic Treaty Organization.
How many countries are in NATO?
Currently 31 countries are members of NATO.
Which countries are in NATO?
After World War II in 1945, western Europe was economically exhausted and militarily weak (the western Allies had rapidly and drastically reduced their armies at the end of the war), and newly powerful communist parties had arisen in France and Italy. By contrast, the Soviet Union had emerged from the war with its armies dominating all the states of central and eastern Europe, and by 1948 communists under Moscow’s sponsorship had consolidated their control of the governments of those countries and suppressed all noncommunist political activity. What became known as the Iron Curtain, a term popularized by Winston Churchill, had descended over central and eastern Europe. Further, wartime cooperation between the western Allies and the Soviets had completely broken down. Each side was organizing its own sector of occupied Germany, so that two German states would emerge, a democratic one in the west and a communist one in the east.
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In 1948 the United States launched the Marshall Plan, which infused massive amounts of economic aid to the countries of western and southern Europe on the condition that they cooperate with each other and engage in joint planning to hasten their mutual recovery. As for military recovery, under the Brussels Treaty of 1948, the United Kingdom, France, and the Low Countries—Belgium, the Netherlands, and Luxembourg—concluded a collective-defense agreement called the Western European Union. It was soon recognized, however, that a more formidable alliance would be required to provide an adequate military counterweight to the Soviets.
Spurred by the North Korean invasion of South Korea in June 1950 (see Korean War), the United States took steps to demonstrate that it would resist any Soviet military expansion or pressures in Europe. Gen. Dwight D. Eisenhower, the leader of the Allied forces in western Europe in World War II, was named Supreme Allied Commander Europe (SACEUR) by the North Atlantic Council (NATO’s governing body) in December 1950. He was followed as SACEUR by a succession of American generals.
The North Atlantic Council, which was established soon after the treaty came into effect, is composed of ministerial representatives of the member states, who meet at least twice a year. At other times the council, chaired by the NATO secretary-general, remains in permanent session at the ambassadorial level. Just as the position of SACEUR has always been held by an American, the secretary-generalship has always been held by a European.
- David G. Haglund
Mar 18, 2024 · Summary. Established during the Cold War, NATO is a transatlantic security alliance composed of thirty-two member countries, including the United States. NATO has focused on deterring Russian...
Jan 27, 2022 · CNN — As tensions rise between Russia and Ukraine, the role that the North Atlantic Treaty Organization plays in the region has come into focus. NATO is a European and North American defense...
Mar 27, 2022 · It's a military and political alliance that was founded in 1949 in response to the actions of the Soviet Union.
