NATO

NATO, officially the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (French: Organisation du Traité de l'Atlantique Nord, or OTAN) is an international military alliance composed of 31 member countries from North America and Europe. Initailly, it was formed to combat communism, the Soviet Union, and the Warsaw Pact. Following the end of the Cold War, the alliance remained in place as they expand their membership eastward, some of the new countries were from the former Warsaw Pact and the Soviet Union.
== Members ==
Co-Founders:
🇧🇪 Belgium, 🇨🇦 Canada, 🇫🇷 France, 🇩🇰 Denmark, 🇮🇸 Iceland, 🇮🇹 Italy, 🇱🇺 Luxembourg, 🇳🇱 the Netherlands, 🇳🇴 Norway, 🇵🇹 Portugal, 🇬🇧 the United Kingdom, and 🇺🇸 the United States
Joined during the Cold War:
1952: 🇬🇷 Greece and 🇹🇷 Turkey
1955: 🇩🇪 Germany (as West Germany, joined as a reunified country in 1990)
1982: 🇪🇸 Spain
Joined after the Cold War:
1999: 🇨🇿 , 🇭🇺 , and 🇵🇱 
2004: 🇧🇬 , 🇪🇪 , 🇱🇻 , 🇱🇹 , 🇷🇴 Romania, 🇸🇰 , and 🇸🇮 
2009: 🇦🇱 Albania and 🇭🇷 
2017: 🇲🇪 
2020: 🇲🇰 
2023: 🇫🇮 Finland
2024: 🇸🇪 Sweden
Category:Alliances/Organizations
Category:Cold War