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 had the objective of inhibiting the advance of the socialist bloc on the European continent, fighting the Soviet Union and its Eastern European allies and provide mutual aid to all member countries.
Twelve countries initially signed the treaty of its formation: United States, Canada, United Kingdom, France, Belgium, Iceland, Netherlands, Luxembourg, Denmark, Norway, Finland, Portugal and Italy. Later, Greece, Turkey, West Germany and Spain joined the organization.
In contrast, the Soviet Union and Eastern Europe (socialist group) formed in 1955, the Warsaw Pact, with the aim of protecting the socialist regime and expanding its area of influence. However, in 1991, with the disintegration of the socialist bloc and the end of the Soviet Union, the pact was dissolved. which strengthened NATO, which in 1999 attracted Eastern European countries such as the Czech Republic, Hungary, Albania and Croatia.
With the new world order, the need arose to redefine the role of NATO, thus, its objective today is to guarantee the basis of security policy throughout Europe and North America.
Today, the following countries are part of NATO: United States, Canada, Belgium, Denmark, France, Netherlands, 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.