North Atlantic Treaty Organization; Organisation du traité de l'Atlantique nord (OTAN); НАТО, Организация Североатлантического договора · 1949–present

North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO)

북대서양조약기구 (NATO)

A collective-security military alliance founded on 4 April 1949 by 12 signatories: the United States, Canada, and ten Western European nations, under the North Atlantic Treaty. Article 5 of the treaty codifies the principle of collective defense: an armed attack against one member is an attack against all. NATO served as the military backbone of the Western bloc against the Soviet Union and the Warsaw Pact during the Cold War, hardening the economic division created by the Marshall Plan into a permanent military one, and has continued to expand eastward after the Cold War.

Sources

  1. Wikipedia (EN) Founded 4 April 1949 with 12 original signatories; Article 5 collective defense; Cold War role as counterweight to Soviet Union; 32 current members; post-Cold War eastern expansion.
  2. Wikipedia (RU) Russian-language article: Организация Североатлантического договора (НАТО), военно-политический блок; основан 4 апреля 1949 года; 12 стран-основателей; цель защиты от советской экспансии.
  3. history.state.gov U.S. State Department Office of the Historian: NATO as first peacetime U.S. military alliance outside Western Hemisphere; direct lineage from Marshall Plan economic division to NATO military division; Soviet refusal of Marshall Plan reinforced east-west split; Brussels Treaty (1948) and Vandenberg Resolution as precursors.
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