Recently, due to the aggravation of the political situation in the world, the abbreviation NATO practically does not leave newspaper pages and TV screens. However, often using this term, people do not fully understand what it is about, what kind of education it is and what its goals are.
Instructions
Step 1
The abbreviation NATO, or more correctly NATO, comes from the English phrase North Atlantic Treaty Organization - the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (North Atlantic Alliance). At its core, this organization is a military-political alliance, currently uniting 26 countries.
Step 2
The military-political bloc NATO was created in April 1949 to confront the Soviet Union and the countries of the socialist camp. The Union Treaty uniting 10 countries of the European continent and two American ones into a single alliance was signed in Washington on April 4, 1949. The main declared task of the new union was to ensure collective security and hold consultations on vital issues. Initially, NATO included 12 developed countries: the United States, Great Britain, France, Denmark, Norway, Iceland, Canada, Belgium, the Netherlands, Portugal, Italy and Luxembourg.
Step 3
Since its inception, NATO has tirelessly pursued a policy of enlargement, admitting more and more member states. The first expansion took place in 1952, when Turkey and Greece joined the alliance. In May 1955. it was joined by West Germany, and almost thirty years later, in 1982 - by Spain.
Step 4
After the collapse of the Soviet Union and the collapse of the Warsaw Pact, several former socialist countries of Eastern Europe joined the North Atlantic Alliance: Hungary, the Czech Republic and Poland. This event took place in 1999. The last, fifth NATO expansion to the east took place in 2004. and became the most global in the entire period of the existence of this organization - seven countries of the former socialist camp became members of the alliance at once: Bulgaria, Lithuania, Latvia, Slovakia, Slovenia, Romania and Estonia.
Step 5
The supreme military body of NATO is the Defense Planning Committee, which considers all issues affecting the leading military bodies, the problems of building and using joint forces. In addition, the Committee approves the strategic concepts of the alliance and determines the share of military participation of each of the countries.
Step 6
The Military Committee is considered the highest executive body. He is in charge of developing the bloc's military strategy and NATO strategic plans. The NATO Military Committee is not a permanent structure and in the intervals between its meetings, the Permanent Military Committee, which unites representatives of the general staffs of the participating countries, monitors the implementation of its decisions.
Step 7
Issues related to nuclear weapons are considered within NATO by the Nuclear Defense Committee. It is exclusively an advisory body, therefore the Nuclear Planning Group is directly involved in the development of the use of nuclear weapons.
