North Atlantic Treaty Organization
The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO for short) is a regional defense alliance, which was made when the North Atlantic Treaty was signed on April 4, 1949. The original members were Belgium, Canada, Denmark, France, the United Kingdom, Iceland, Italy, Luxembourg, The Netherlands, Norway, Portugal, and the United States. Greece, Turkey, West Germany, and Spain signed the treaty later. In 1990 the newly unified Germany replaced West Germany as a NATO member. Hungary, Poland, and the Czech Republic, and Lithuania are the newest members of NATO. In all, 19 nations are members of the alliance. 1
The purpose of NATO is to increase the strength, well-being, and freedom of its members through a system of joint security. That means that all members of the union agree to defend one another from attacks by other nations.
Until 1950 NATO consisted mainly of a promise by the United States to protect other members of the treaty. The beginning of the Korean War in June 1950 convinced the allies that the Soviets might take action against the divided Germany. The result was not only the creation of a military command system, but also the expansion of the organization, that is, new members were accepted. West Germany was accepted only under a complicated arrangement, which meant that Germany would not be allowed to make nuclear, biological, or chemical weapons. For the first ten years, NATO was mainly a military organization reliant on U.S. power for security. Towards the end of 1950, NATO made United States General Dwight D. Eisenhower the first NATO Supreme Commander. Eisenhower later became the President of the United States. 2
An important event happened in March 1953 when Stalin, ruler of Russia, died. Not long after his death, the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR) announced that it had made a hydrogen bomb. A year later, in May 1954, in the beginning of the USSR’s tests of the hydrogen bomb, the USSR suggested that it should become a member of NATO. The United States and United Kingdom refused the offer.3
When West Germany joined NATO, the USSR, together with Albania, Bulgaria, Czechoslovakia, East Germany, Hungary, Poland and Romania, formed the “Warsaw Pact” to fight the apparent threat from NATO. In 1957, France, West Germany, Belgium, Luxembourg, the Netherlands and Italy agreed to create “Euratom” and the “European Economic Community” (EEC). Euratom was established to help supervise the peaceful use of atomic energy as well as promoting joint projects among its members.4
The 1960’s began with increased tensions between the United States and the USSR. In May 1960, the USSR shot down an American spy plane. Later that year the Russian leader Nikita Khrushchev went to the General Assembly at the United Nations. There, he agreed that there is actually no threat from the so-called Western governments.5
In 1962, US President John F. Kennedy asked the Soviets to ban nuclear tests, because during the 1950’s, both the USA and USSR did hundreds of nuclear blasts.6
In 1965, NATO was shocked when President Charles de Gaulle of France announced that France would leave from NATO. This meant that, even though France could take part in decision-making, French forces would not be under the control of NATO commanders. France also announced that it would pursue its own nuclear deterrent against any possible aggression.7
In 1967 NATO’s political headquarters were opened in Brussels, Belgium and its military headquarters opened in Mons, Belgium. In 1968 troops of the Warsaw Pact invaded Czechoslovakia after the communist government there collapsed. In the wake of the invasion, Albania withdrew from the Warsaw Pact.8
Among the more recent NATO military conquests was the bombing of the Serbian county of Kosovo in 1999.9
