[EDU-TEST] NATO: The World’s Largest Alliance
What is NATO? Trace NATO’s history and learn how the organization’s mission has evolved over seventy-five years, from the end of World War II to Russia’s war in Ukraine.
By experts and staff
- Updated
Following the end of World War II, the relationship between the Soviet Union and other Allied powers deteriorated. As a result, the United States, Canada, and a group of ten European countries organized themselves for a new geopolitical reality. In 1949, they created the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), an alliance to preserve a free, integrated, and democratic Europe. NATO was established to particularly combat the growing influence of the Soviet Union.
In international relations, an alliance is a group of countries that come together to promote their common security interests. In many cases, alliances promise military support if one member is threatened. This formal commitment is known as mutual security. The core of NATO’s strength comes from Article 5 of its founding treaty—a commitment that an attack on one member country will be considered an attack on the entire alliance.
All kinds of countries benefit from alliances. For smaller, weaker countries that lack resources to mount a proper defense, joining an alliance can be the only realistic path to maintaining security and deterring potential foes. Larger or stronger countries use alliances to increase their military might. Large countries sometimes also use alliances to assert their influence over smaller countries. Specifically, alliances have been leveraged by powerful countries to discourage nuclear proliferation among smaller, weaker countries.
1949-1991: NATO Origins
As World War II came to a close, the alliance between the Soviet Union and Western powers deteriorated. Europe needed a plan for maintaining long-term peace. Under terms outlined at the Yalta and Potsdam Conferences, Soviet Premier Joseph Stalin was given temporary control of Poland and a portion of Germany. However, it quickly became clear that the Soviet Union had greater ambitions. The Soviets sponsored communist-led coups in Czechoslovakia and surrounding east European territories. Fearful of further Soviet encroachment on Western Europe, these countries discussed forming an organization capable of providing mutual security
1940The Birth of NATO
The Soviet Union’s alarming expansion and failure to comply with the terms of the Potsdam and Yalta Conferences led to the creation of NATO. It was established as a means to preserve a unified, democratic Europe. The defensive alliance was formed in 1949 and consisted of twelve members: the United States, Canada, and ten European countries. NATO’s founding members structured the organization so that all decisions would be made through consensus. Despite the alliance’s egalitarian structure, the United States’ leading role was clear from the start; a supreme allied commander Europe (SACEUR), a position that an American has always held, leads NATO’s military operations.
1952 - 1955Early Expansion to Bring in West Germany
NATO’s founding members believed that expanding the alliance was crucial to ensuring peace in Europe. They offered membership to Greece and Turkey in 1952 and West Germany in 1955. The inclusion of West Germany was an especially consequential decision given Germany’s history of provoking conflict in Europe. With its entry into NATO, West Germany became more integrated with Western Europe. In exchange for NATO membership, the West Germans also committed to never manufacturing weapons of mass destruction. In the words of NATO’s first secretary-general, the purpose of NATO was to “keep the Soviet Union out, the Americans in, and the Germans down.”