NATO Expansion
Overview
The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) is a military alliance formed in 1949 with the signing of the North Atlantic Treaty in Washington, D.C. The organization is founded on a system of collective security, whereby member states agree to stand together in mutual defense of each other in the event of a military strike or attack against any one member.
NATO formed during the Cold War (1945–1991), a prolonged period of political and military rivalry between the United States and the Soviet Union. During the Cold War, the coalition acted as the principal alliance system between the United States, Canada, and democratic Western European countries against the Soviet Union and its satellite states in Europe's Eastern Bloc. In the first...
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