What is the full form of NATO?

The full form of NATO is the North Atlantic Treaty Organization. It is a 28-country military and political alliance. To protect the freedom and security of the member nations, the organization was formed. The headquarter of the organization is located in Brussels, Belgium. NATO was created for collective defence on 4 April 1949, meaning that an offensive on any of its member nations would be viewed as an attack on all its allies.

Objectives of NATO

• NATO’s primary objective is to protect and safeguard the independence of its member nations.
• But it has had to extend its objective in recent years, with the increasing context of violence, and it has agreed that it will also safeguard and defend member nations from cyber-attacks, terrorism and weapons of mass destruction.

History of NATO in Brief

• When the United States and many European nations joined the North Atlantic Treaty to cooperate against attackers, NATO was created in 1949, after the 2nd World War.
• It began with just 12 member nations in 1949: Belgium, Denmark, Canada, France, Italy, Iceland, the Netherlands, Luxembourg, Norway, Portugal, the UK (United Kingdom) and the US (United States).
• Greece & Turkey entered the association in 1952.
• It was entered by West Germany in 1955.
• Spain entered the association in 1982.
• In 1997, they welcomed Hungary, the Czech Republic as well as Poland to participate in the organization. Seven nations entered in 2004, one year after NATO took charge of the United Nations Mandated ISAF (International Security Assistance Force), Estonia, Bulgaria, Lithuania, Latvia, Romania, Slovenia and Slovakia.
• Albania & Croatia were members in 2009.