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Everything To Know About NATO

NATO is an intergovernmental military alliance between 30 countries from Europe and North America for collective security against the Soviet Union.

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Everything To Know About NATO

NATO has been fingered by many political analysts, international bodies and governments as one of the major causes of the ongoing Russian-Ukraine Crisis.

Recall that the Russian Leader, President Vladimir Putin, while announcing Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, accused NATO of threatening the historic future of Russia and demanded that Ukraine never join NATO.

He also demanded that NATO remove its forces and military infrastructure from member states that joined the alliance from 1997 and not deploy “strike weapons near Russia’s borders”.

What is NATO?

NATO is an acronym for the North Atlantic Treaty Organization also called the North Atlantic Alliance, an intergovernmental military alliance between 28 European countries and 2 North American countries.

The organization was established in 1949 by the United States, Canada, and several Western European nations to provide collective security against the Soviet Union.

Since its founding, the organiz has admitted additional 18 member states, increasing the alliance from the original 12 countries to 30. The most recent member state to be added to NATO was North Macedonia on 27 March 2020.

According to NATO’s website,  membership of the alliance is open to “any other European state in a position to further the principles of this Treaty and to contribute to the security of the North Atlantic area.” Thereby recognizing Bosnia and Herzegovina, Georgia, and Ukraine as aspiring members.

List of Countries Under NATO

As earlier stated NATO has thirty members, mainly in Europe and North America. Twelve of these thirty are original members who joined in 1949, while the other eighteen joined in one of eight enlargement rounds.

  • BELGIUM (1949)
  • CANADA (1949)
  • DENMARK (1949)
  • FRANCE (1949)
  • ICELAND (1949)
  • ITALY (1949)
  • LUXEMBOURG (1949)
  • NETHERLANDS (1949)
  • NORWAY (1949)
  • PORTUGAL (1949)
  • THE UNITED KINGDOM (1949)
  • THE UNITED STATES (1949)’
  • GREECE (1952)
  • TURKEY (1952)
  • GERMANY (1955)
  • SPAIN (1982)
  • CZECH REPUBLIC (1999)
  • HUNGARY (1999)
  • POLAND (1999)
  • BULGARIA (2004)
  • ESTONIA (2004)
  • LATVIA (2004)
  • LITHUANIA (2004)
  • ROMANIA (2004)
  • SLOVAKIA (2004)
  • SLOVENIA (2004)
  • ALBANIA (2009)
  • CROATIA (2009)
  • MONTENEGRO (2017)
  • NORTH MACEDONIA (2020)

History

The founding members of NATO signed the North Atlantic Treaty on April 4, 1949. It worked in conjunction with the United Nations, the World Bank, and the International Monetary Fund. The organizations were created during the 1944 Bretton Woods Conference.

NATO’s primary purpose was to defend member nations from threats by communist countries. The U.S. also wanted to maintain a presence in Europe. It sought to prevent a resurgence of aggressive nationalism and to foster political union. In this way, NATO made the formation of the European Union possible. U.S. military protection gave European nations the safety needed to rebuild after World War II’s devastation.

During the Cold War, NATO’s mission expanded to prevent nuclear war. After West Germany joined NATO, the communist countries formed the Warsaw Pact alliance, which included the USSR, Bulgaria, Hungary, Romania, Poland, Czechoslovakia, and East Germany. In response, NATO adopted the “Massive Retaliation” policy. It promised to use nuclear weapons if members of the Pact attacked.

How Does NATO Work?

NATO’s mission is to protect the freedom of its members and the stability of their regions. Its targets include weapons of mass destruction, terrorism, and cyber-attacks.

A key aspect of the alliance is Article 5, which states that “an armed attack against one Ally is considered an attack against all Allies.”5  In other words, if someone attacks one NATO nation, all NATO nations will retaliate.

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