NATO

The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (sometimes known as the North Atlantic Alliance, the Atlantic Alliance or the Western Alliance), also simply called NATO, is a military alliance that is mostly in Europe and North America. Its other official name means the same in French: Organisation du traité de l'Atlantique nord (OTAN).

It was established by the North Atlantic Treaty, which was signed in Washington, DC, United States, on April 4, 1949. Its headquarters are in Brussels, Belgium.

 Languages 
NATO has two official languages, English and French, as defined in Article 14 of the North Atlantic Treaty.

 History 
Its members when it was founded on 4 April 1949 were the United States, Belgium, the Netherlands, Luxembourg, France, the United Kingdom, Canada, Portugal, Italy, Norway, Denmark and Iceland. On 18 February 1952, Greece and Turkey also joined.

When West Germany joined on 9 May 1955, it was described as "a decisive turning point in the history of our continent" by Norwegian Foreign Minister Halvard Lange. The Warsaw Pact was signed on 14 May 1955 by the Soviet Union and its satellite states as a defense to NATO.

Iceland threatened to leave during the 1970s Cod Wars, which would put the United Kingdom at fault, and NATO would lose a key position in the North Atlantic. Iceland won the Cod Wars and did not end up leaving.

After the Cold War ended, three former communist countries, Hungary, the Czech Republic and Poland, joined NATO in 1999. On 29 March 2004, seven more Northern and Eastern European countries joined NATO: Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania, Slovenia, Slovakia, Bulgaria and Romania.

Croatia and Albania received invitation for NATO membership on 3 April 2008. The Republic of Macedonia received only a conditional invitation because a full invitation was vetoed by Greece over a naming dispute.

Montenegro joined on 5 June 2017.  Having changed its name to end its dispute with Greece,
North Macedonia joined NATO on 27 March 2020 and became its 30th member.
Ireland became an observer of NATO on 8 September 2020.

In April 2023, Finland joined NATO, following efforts to join since the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine. Sweden joined NATO in March 2024. 

 Membership 
Here are the 32 NATO members: 


































1000px|alt=A world map with countries in blue, cyan, orange, yellow, purple, and green, based on their NATO affiliation.NATO members Membership Action Plan Enhanced Opportunities Partners Individual Partnership Action Plan Partnership for Peace Mediterranean Dialogue Istanbul Cooperation Initiative Global Partners

 Partnership For Peace 
NATO also has a program called the Partnership for Peace (PfP), which is a program of cooperation between NATO and partner countries in/near Europe. the program includes Armenia, Austria, Azerbaijan, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Georgia, Ireland, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Malta, Moldova, Serbia, Switzerland, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Ukraine, and Uzbekistan.thumb|Member states of NATO are not obligated to come to the defence of territory south of the Tropic of Cancer.

Related pages
 United Nations

 Further reading 
 Asmus, Ronald D. Opening NATO's Door: How the Alliance Remade Itself for a New Era Columbia U. Press, 2002. 372 pp.
 Bacevich, Andrew J. and Cohen, Eliot A. War over Kosovo: Politics and Strategy in a Global Age. Columbia U. Press, 2002. 223 pp. 
 Eisenhower, Dwight D. The Papers of Dwight David Eisenhower. Vols. 12 and 13: NATO and the Campaign of 1952: Louis Galambos et al., ed. Johns Hopkins U. Press, 1989. 1707 pp. in 2 vol.
 Daclon, Corrado Maria Security through Science: Interview with Jean Fournet, Assistant Secretary-General of NATO, Analisi Difesa, 2004. no. 42
 Ganser, Daniele Natos Secret Armies: Operation Gladio and Terrorism in Western Europe,  
 Gearson, John and Schake, Kori, ed. The Berlin Wall Crisis: Perspectives on Cold War Alliances Palgrave Macmillan, 2002. 209 pp. 
 Gheciu, Alexandra. NATO in the 'New Europe''' Stanford University Press, 2005. 345 pp.
 Hendrickson, Ryan C. Diplomacy and War at NATO: The Secretary-General and Military Action After the Cold War Univ. of Missouri Press, 2006. 175 pp. 
 Hunter, Robert. "The European Security and Defense Policy: NATO's Companion - Or Competitor?" RAND National Security Research Division, 2002. 206 pp.
 Jordan, Robert S. Norstad: Cold War NATO Supreme Commander - Airman, Strategist, Diplomat St. Martin's Press, 2000. 350 pp. 
 Kaplan, Lawrence S. The Long Entanglement: NATO's First Fifty Years. Praeger, 1999. 262 pp. 
 Kaplan, Lawrence S. NATO Divided, NATO United: The Evolution of an Alliance. Praeger, 2004. 165 pp. 
 Kaplan, Lawrence S., ed. American Historians and the Atlantic Alliance. Kent State U. Press, 1991. 192 pp. 
 Lambeth, Benjamin S. NATO's Air War in Kosovo: A Strategic and Operational Assessment Santa Monica, Calif.: RAND, 2001. 250 pp. 
 Létourneau, Paul. Le Canada et l'OTAN après 40 ans, 1949–1989 Quebec: Cen. Québécois de Relations Int., 1992. 217 pp. 
 Maloney, Sean M. Securing Command of the Sea: NATO Naval Planning, 1948–1954. Naval Institute Press, 1995. 276 pp. 
 John C. Milloy. North Atlantic Treaty Organisation, 1948–1957: Community or Alliance? (2006), focus on non-military issues
 Powaski, Ronald E. The Entangling Alliance: The United States and European Security, 1950–1993. Greenwood, 1994. 261 pp. 
 Ruane, Kevin. The Rise and Fall of the European Defense Community: Anglo-American Relations and the Crisis of European Defense, 1950–55 Palgrave, 2000. 252 pp. 
 Sandler, Todd and Hartley, Keith. The Political Economy of NATO: Past, Present, and into the 21st Century. Cambridge U. Press, 1999. 292 pp. 
 Smith, Jean Edward, and Canby, Steven L.The Evolution of NATO with Four Plausible Threat Scenarios. Canada Department of Defense: Ottawa, 1987. 117 pp.
 Smith, Joseph, ed. The Origins of NATO Exeter, UK U. of Exeter Press, 1990. 173 pp. 
 Telo, António José. Portugal e a NATO: O Reencontro da Tradiçoa Atlântica  Lisbon: Cosmos, 1996. 374 pp. 
 Zorgbibe, Charles. Histoire de l'OTAN'' Brussels: Complexe, 2002. 283 pp.

 References 

 Other websites 

 NATO Official Website
 Basic NATO Documents

Category:1949 establishments