NATO facts for kids
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Organisation du traité de l'Atlantique nord
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Logo
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Flag
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_in_NATO_blue.svg)
Member states shown in dark blue.
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| Abbreviation | NATO, OTAN |
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| Formation | 4 April 1949 |
| Type | Military alliance |
| Headquarters | Brussels, Belgium |
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Membership
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Official language
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English and French |
| Jens Stoltenberg | |
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Chair of the NATO Military Committee
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Rob Bauer |
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Supreme Allied Commander Europe
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Christopher G. Cavoli |
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Supreme Allied Commander Transformation
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Philippe Lavigne |
| Expenses (2023) | NATO Total: US$1.264 trillion NATO Europe and Canada: US$404 billion |
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The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), or North Atlantic Alliance, the Atlantic Alliance, the Western Alliance, is a military alliance. It was established by the North Atlantic Treaty in 1949 and it was signed in Washington, D.C., USA, on April 4, 1949. Its headquarters are in Brussels, Belgium. Its other official name means the same in French, Organisation du traité de l'Atlantique nord (OTAN).
Contents
Languages
NATO has two official languages, English and French, as defined in Article 14 of the North Atlantic Treaty.
History
Its members in 1949 were the United States, Belgium, the Netherlands, Luxembourg, France, the United Kingdom, Canada, Portugal, Italy, Norway, Denmark and Iceland. On 18 February 1952, Greece and Turkey also joined.
When West Germany joined the organization on 9 May 1955 it was described as "a decisive turning point in the history of our continent" by Halvard Lange, Foreign Minister of Norway at the time., the result was the Warsaw Pact, signed on 14 May 1955 by the Soviet Union and its satellite states as response to NATO.
After the Cold War in 1999 three former communist countries, Hungary, the Czech Republic, and Poland joined NATO. On 29 March 2004 seven more Northern European and Eastern European countries joined NATO: Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania and also Slovenia, Slovakia, Bulgaria, and Romania.
Croatia and Albania received NATO membership invitation on 3 April 2008. The Republic of Macedonia received the only conditional invitation because it was vetoed by Greece because of its name dispute with Greece.
Montenegro joined on 5 June 2017. Having changed its name to end the dispute, North Macedonia joined NATO on 27 March 2020 and became its 30th member. Ireland officially joined NATO on 8 September 2020 as an observer.
In April 2023, Finland joined NATO, following efforts to join since the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine. Sweden joined in March 2024.
Apart from this, Iceland also threatened to leave during the Cod Wars, which would put the UK at fault, and NATO would lose a key position in the North Atlantic. They did not leave as they won the Cod Wars.
Related pages
Images for kids
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West Germany joined NATO in 1955, which led to the formation of the rival Warsaw Pact during the Cold War.
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The Fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989 marked a turning point in NATO's role in Europe, and a section of the wall is now displayed outside NATO Headquarters.
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German KFOR soldiers on patrol in southern Kosovo in 1999
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KFOR-MSU Carabinieri Patrols in front of the Ibar Bridge in Mitrovica, Kosovo, 2019
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General Austin S. Miller (right) became commander of U.S. and NATO forces in Afghanistan in September 2018 and oversaw the withdrawal until July 2021.
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USS Farragut destroying a Somali pirate skiff in March 2010
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Libyan Army Palmaria howitzers destroyed by the French Air Force near Benghazi in March 2011
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Protestors at a February 2022 rally against Russia's invasion of Ukraine march past the statue of Tsar Alexander II in Senate Square in Helsinki
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Partnership for Peace conducts multinational military exercises like Cooperative Archer, which took place in Tbilisi in July 2007 with 500 servicemen from four NATO members, eight PfP members, and Jordan, a Mediterranean Dialogue participant.
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The North Atlantic Council convening in 2010 with a defence/foreign minister configuration
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See also
In Spanish: OTAN para niños
