History of NATO
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The North Atlantic Treaty Organization or NATO is the result of an establishment of a military alliance among governments from Europe and America. This alliance came into existence when the North Atlantic Treaty was signed on April 4, 1949.
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Headquartered in Brussels, Belgium, the organization works on a system of collective defense strategies. All member states are required to be on the same page as far as mutual defense is concerned, when threatened by a third party.
Initially, NATO was considered just another political association, but the Korean War changed all that. Member states sprung into action, and an inclusive military organization was formed, under the guidance of 2 U.S. supreme commanders.
Lord Ismay was the first secretary general of the NATO, and he had stated that the organization's aim was ensure that the Russians do not become all powerful, the Americans have a foothold in Europe, and the Germans do not rise like they did during Hitler's regime.
However, in 1966, France withdrew from the military alliance, over doubts regarding the nature of the relationship that US had with other European member states.
In 1989, once the Berlin Wall came down, the NATO saw a number of former socialist countries sign up as members. This occurrence took place between 1999 and 2004. The overall membership reached 28 on April 1, 2009, with the inclusion of Croatia and Albania.
NATO has designed its strategies after the 9/11 attacks on the World Trade Center, and has sent military instructors to Iraq and stationed its troops in Afghanistan.
The Berlin Plus agreement, which was signed on December 16, 2002 between NATO and the EU, allows the EU to use the assets belonging to the NATO only when the EU was to take steps independently at the time of a crisis taking place on an international level.
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