What is NATO?
NATO is the acronym for North Atlantic Treaty Organization, a political-military alliance created on April 4, 1949, during the Cold War, which brought together Western and capitalist countries led by the United States.
NATO’s aim was to inhibit the advancement of the socialist bloc on the European continent by confronting the Soviet Union and its Eastern European allies and providing mutual aid to all member countries.
Twelve countries initially signed the treaty of their formation: the United States, Canada, United Kingdom, France, Belgium, Iceland, the Netherlands, Luxembourg, Denmark, Norway, Portugal and Italy. Later on, the organization joined Greece, Turkey, West Germany and Spain.
By contrast, the Soviet Union and Eastern Europe (the socialist group) formed the Warsaw Pact in 1955, with the aim of protecting the socialist regime and expanding its sphere of influence. However, in 1991, with the disintegration of the socialist bloc and the end of the Soviet Union, the pact was dissolved, a fact that strengthened NATO, which in 1999 attracted Eastern European countries such as the Czech Republic, Hungary, Albania and Croatia.
With the new world order, there has been a need to redefine NATO’s role, so its aim today is to secure the basis of security policy throughout Europe and North America.
Today, NATO includes the United States, Canada, Belgium, Denmark, France, Holland, Iceland, Italy, Luxembourg, Norway, Portugal, United Kingdom, Greece, Germany, Spain, Poland, Czech Republic, Hungary, Bulgaria, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia, Croatia, Albania, Turkey and Macedonia.