What is NATO? Full Form, Countries, History, Map, & Facts

What is NATO, what is NATO full form and what are its member countries ? NATO is being discussed during Russia’s attack on Ukraine.

Russia attacked Ukraine because it did not want Ukraine to become a member of NATO. Whereas Ukraine tried to become a member of NATO.

In such a situation, it is important to know what is this organization named NATO, which countries are involved in it and how it works.

Due to the fear of Russian attack in Ukraine, it was being said that NATO countries have also prepared their army. But the reality is that Ukraine is the only one facing Russia’s attack.

General Jens Stoltenberg, Secretary General of NATO’s Western Military Alliance, issued a statement saying that NATO will take all necessary steps to protect the Allies. But for the time being it looks like this.

So let’s know what is this NATO and how does it work and which countries are involved in it?

NATO Short Introduction

What is NATO? | NATO Full Form

NATO full form is North Atlantic Treaty Organization ie North Atlantic Treaty Organization. It is a military alliance. It was established on 4 April 1949. Its headquarter is in Brussels (Belgium).

The organization has created a system of collective security, whereby member states agree to cooperate with each other in the event of an external attack.

The organization was nothing more than a political organization in the first few years of its formation.

But the Korean War acted as a motivator for the member states and a unified military structure was created under the guidance of two US supreme commanders.

Lord Ismay became the first NATO Secretary General, whose remarks aimed at the organization, ‘to keep the Russians out, the Americans down and the Germans down’.

Like relations between Europe and America, the organization’s strength fluctuated.

Under these circumstances, France withdrew from the NATO military structure from 1966, thereby becoming an independent nuclear deterrent.

On 6 February 2019, Macedonia became the 30th member of NATO.

After the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989, the organization moved east into the Balkans, and several Warsaw Pact countries joined the coalition in 1999 and 2004.

With the admission of Albania and Croatia on 1 April 2009, the membership of the alliance increased to 28.

NATO is preparing afresh to meet new challenges following the September 11, 2009 terrorist attacks in the United States, including the deployment of troops to Afghanistan and the deployment of trainers to Iraq.

The combined military spending of all NATO members accounts for more than 70% of the world’s defense spending, with the United States alone accounting for half of the world’s military spending and the UK, France, Germany and Italy spending 15%.

Objective of NATO

Acting as a barrier during the invasion of Europe.

Stopping the so-called expansion of the Soviet Union in Western Europe and preparing people mentally in case of war.

To provide a protective umbrella for European nations through their programs for military and economic development.

To organize the countries of Western Europe into a single thread.

Thus the purpose of NATO was to protect the ‘free world’ as a commitment to communism and, if possible, to America’s commitment to defeating communism.

The 6 member states of NATO act as security forces between each other’s countries.

Structure of NATO

NATO is headquartered in Brussels. Its structure is made up of 4 parts-

Council: This is the highest organ of the nuts. It is made up of ministers of state. Its ministerial meeting is held once in a year. The main responsibility of the council is to implement the clauses of the agreement.

Sub-Council: This council is a council of diplomatic representatives appointed by the member states of NATO. They deal with matters of common interest relating to the organization of NATO.

Defense Committee: It consists of the Defense Ministers of NATO member countries. Its main function is to discuss defence, strategy and military related topics in NATO and non-NATO countries.

Military Committee: Its main function is to advise the NATO Council and its Defense Committee. It consists of the Chiefs of Army Staff of the member countries.

Role and nature of NATO

The nature and role of Naat can be understood in the light of its treaty provisions.

The signatories, as stated at the beginning of the treaty, shall undertake the responsibility of protecting the liberty, historical heritage, civilization of their people, democratic values, individual liberty and the rule of law of the Member States.

It would be the duty of these nations to cooperate with each other, thus this treaty took the form of a cooperative treaty.

Article 5 of the provisions of the treaty states that in the event of an attack on any one country or more than one country of the treaty.

IT shall be deemed to be an attack on all the signatory states and all the signatory states shall be united. And resolve this situation through military action.

In this view, the nature of that treaty is to provide a security umbrella to the member states.

The Soviet Union called NATO a military organization of imperialist and aggressive countries and declared it anti-communist in nature.

Impact of NATO

The NATO organization, created under the patronage of Western Europe, strengthened the integration of Western Europe. It established great cooperation among its members.

For the first time in history, the powers of Western Europe accepted the permanent submission of some of their armies to an international military organization.

By assuring military security to the dilapidated European countries from World War II, the US gave both countries such a security

given an area under which they could fearlessly carry out their economic and military development programs.

With the formation of NATO, the policy of US isolation ended and it could no longer remain neutral on European issues.

The formation of NATO fueled the Cold War. The Soviet Union saw this as an opposition to communism and in response tried to establish its influence in Eastern European countries by organizing a military organization called the Warsaw Pact.

NATO also influenced US foreign policy. No one was ready to listen to any debate against its foreign policy and increased America’s intervention in Europe through NATO.

The excessive US intervention in Europe made the European countries think that the socio-economic problems of Europe should be solved from the European point of view. This approach paved the way for the formation of the ‘European Community’.

NATO Countries

When NATO was formed, the United States, Britain, Belgium, Canada, Denmark, France, Iceland, Italy, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Norway and Portugal were its 12 founding members.

At present the number of its members (NATO Countries) is 30. North Macedonia is the newest member to join in the year 2020.

History of NATO

After World War II, there was a rapid development of the Cold War between the two superpowers, the Soviet Union and the US, which appeared on the world stage.

Under the Fulton Speech and the Truman Doctrine, when asked to stop communist spread, the Soviet Union in response violated international treaties and blocked Berlin in 1948.

In this sequence, it was believed that an organization should be created, whose combined forces could protect them. Member Country.

Britain, France, Belgium, the Netherlands and Luxembourg signed the Treaty of Brussels in March 1948. Its purpose was collective military assistance and socio-economic cooperation.

Also, the treaties promised that if any of them were attacked in Europe, all four remaining countries would give all possible help.

Against this background, with the siege of Berlin and growing Soviet influence in mind, the US took the situation into its own hands and established the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), taking the first very powerful step towards a military bloc.

The North Atlantic Treaty was signed subject to the provisions of the regional organizations in Article 15 of the United Nations Charter.

It was established on 4 April 1949 in Washington, which was signed by 12 countries.

These countries were France, Belgium, Luxembourg, Britain, Netherlands, Canada, Denmark, Iceland, Italy, Norway, Portugal and the United States.

Before the end of the Cold War, Greece, Turkey, West Germany, Spain also became members, and even after the Cold War, the number of NATO members continued to expand.

In 1999 Poland, Hungary and the Czech Republic joined the Missouri convention, increasing membership to 19.

In March 2004, 7 new nations were made its members, as a result of which the number of members increased to 26. Its headquarters are in Brussels, the capital of Belgium.

Reasons for the establishment of NATO

After World War II, the Soviet Union refused to withdraw its forces from Eastern Europe and attempted to establish a communist regime there.

America took advantage of this and raised anti-communist slogans. and warned European countries of the communist danger. As a result, European countries agreed to create an organization that would protect them.

Western European countries suffered a lot during World War II. Therefore, America was a great hope for their economic reconstruction, so they supported the establishment of NATO by America.

Expansion of NATO: NATO after the Cold War

After the establishment of NATO, the war between two superpowers (the US and the then Soviet Union) began to take a dangerous turn.

The Cold War also ended with the dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1990-91. The Warsaw Pact also ended.

But America did not dissolve NATO, but NATO expanded further under American leadership. In such a situation, the question arises that what is the justification for this organization formed during the Cold War era to exist after the end of the Cold War.

The role of NATO was redefined by the US in the post-Cold War period.

Under this it was said that it is a medium for the development of mutual cooperation and relations in the regions of the whole of Europe.

Not only this, he also tried to legitimize the role of NATS in the development and spread of democratic values ​​and ideals.

America removed the role of NATO from the factional politics of the Cold War and gave it a global character. NATO is now considered important in peacekeeping.

Along with this, its role in the elimination of international terrorism is also being underlined. The role and expansion of NATO after the Cold War can be seen under the following points-

During the 1991 Gulf War, Albania was provided civil and military aid by NOTO.

NATO’s role was also important in the context of collective security. It talked about combating international terrorism and protection from ‘rogue countries’ that threaten humanity.

The 2002 Prague summit proposed the creation of a Rapid Response Force under NATO to counter terrorist attacks and rogue states’ responses.

NATO membership does not discriminate against ideological and former opposition parties.

At the 1991 Missouri Convention, membership was granted to three new nations, Poland, Hungary and the Czech Republic.

As a result, the number of members increased to 19, and the three Cold War-era Estonias, Lithuania, Latvia, Slovenia, and the total number of members and members increased to 26.

In this way now the countries of Eastern Europe also joined. The integration of NATO and Europe strengthened.

Although Russia had initially expressed concern over the expansion of NATO, according to the changing international situation, there is talk of bringing Russia under it for mutual cooperation with NATO member countries.

The Secretary-General of NATO and the Secretary-General of the United Nations have emphasized the positive aspects of NATO expansion, according to them it will promote mutual cooperation by strengthening politico-economic ties.

NATO expansion is not a threat to Russia. NATO needs Russia and Russia needs NATO.

NATO emerged from this expansion as a major representative in Europe. NATO, representing the unification of Western Europe during the Cold War era, represents the integration of Europe as a whole in the post-Cold War period.

Despite the positives said in favor of the expansion of NATO, it is also criticized. In fact, the role of NATO violates the role of the United Nations in relation to peacekeeping, mutual cooperation, etc.

It should be understood that the United Nations was established as an international organization aimed at world peace, whereas NATO was established as. a regional organization.

But despite this, the role of NATO in establishing peace in the international context parallels that of the UNO. And now the US Senate has passed a bill to give India NATO ally status.

Source External Reference Link

• Official website
• NATO collected news and commentary at Al Jazeera English
• NATO collected news and commentary at Dawn
• NATO collected news and commentary at The Guardian
• “NATO collected news and commentary”. The New York Times.
• “Timeline: Nato – A brief look at some of the key dates in the organisation’s history“

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