The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) is an intergovernmental military alliance based on the North Atlantic Treaty which was signed in 1949. This article talks about NATO and its importance for the TISSNET.
What is the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO)?
- NATO stands for the North Atlantic Treaty Organization which is also called the North Atlantic Alliance.
- It is an intergovernmental military alliance based on the North Atlantic Treaty which was signed on 4 April 1949.
- The organization constitutes a system of collective defence whereby its member states agree to mutual defence in response to an attack by a non-member external party.
- NATO’s headquarters are located at Boulevard Leopold III in the city of Brussels, Belgium, where the Supreme Allied Commander resides.
Why was NATO formed?
The organisation was formed as a means to ensure collective security in western Europe. Even though World War 2 had come to an end, the deteriorating relations between two former allies, the United States and the USSR would eventually lead to the Cold War. The USSR sought to expand its influence in Europe through the spread of communism, while the US saw the ideology of the USSR as a threat to its way of life. Hence it saw the need to form NATO.
NATO – A Brief Background
- The Treaty of Brussels, signed on 17 March 1948 by Belgium, the Netherlands, Luxembourg, France, and the United Kingdom, is considered the precursor to the NATO agreement. This treaty established a military alliance, later to become the Western European Union
- North Atlantic Treaty, which was signed in Washington, DC on 4 April 1949, was a result of the talks for the military alliance. It included the five Treaty of Brussels states, United States, Canada, Portugal, Italy, Norway, Denmark and Iceland
- Three years later, on 18 February 1952, Greece and Turkey also joined
- The incorporation of West Germany into the organisation on 9 May 1955 was described as “a decisive turning point in the history of our continent” by Halvard Lange, Foreign Minister of Norway at the time
- One of its immediate results was the creation of the Warsaw Pact, signed on 14 May 1955 by the Soviet Union and its satellite states as a formal response to this event, firmly establishing the two opposing sides of the Cold War
NATO Members 2022
At present, the intergovernmental military alliance, NATO, comprises 30 countries from the original 12 countries that signed the North Atlantic Treaty on 4 April 1949. The founding members of NATO are– Belgium, Canada, Denmark, France, Iceland, Italy, Luxembourg, Netherlands, Norway, Portugal, United Kingdom and the United States.
North Macedonia is the latest country to join NATO member states while Bosnia and Herzegovina, Georgia and Ukraine are aspiring members of NATO.
NATO Headquarters
The NATO headquarters are located in Brussels, Belgium, while the headquarters of Allied Command Operations is near Mons, Belgium.