The North Atlantic Treaty Organisation

What were the original aims of the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (NATO)?

• To keep peace and freedom
• To prevent war
• To protect western Europe from the Soviet Union and its allies

How does Nato aim to keep the peace and prevent war?

• NATO beleives there is strength in numbers - it is a strong military alliance which puts off a country attacking one of their members
• NATO has a huge amount of conventional and nuclear weapons
• The military forces in the NATO countries are well trained and resourced

Who are the members of NATO?

• In 2001 NATO was made of USA, Canada, UK, France, Belgium, Netherlands, Luxembourg, Spain, Italy, Germany, Denmark, Iceland, Norway, Portugal, Greece, Turkey, Czech Republic, Hungary and Poland. In 2004 Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Bulgaria, Romania, Slovakia and Slovenia joined.

Why did some eastern European countries want to join NATO?

• They belong to a powerful club that should make them less likely to be attacked
• They save on defence costs
• The Warsaw Pack no longer exists which provided the military alliance protection for these countries in the past

How has the role of NATO changed?

• The end of the Cold War (Distrust between the USA and the former Soviet Union) has meant there is less chance of nuclear war between the superpowers
• As the Soviet Union and Warsaw Pact countries (The Soviet Union's military Alliance with other Eastern European Countries) are no longer a threat, NATO is now involved in other conflicts e.g. Afganistan.
• NATO now cooperates more with the UN, for example NATO troups have been involved in the conflict in the former Yugoslavia
• NATO is forging links with eastern European countries that used to be members of the Warsaw Pact

What will NATO's role be in the future?

• NATO's forces will more often be used in a peacekeeping role. This is sometimes called the "World's Policeman"
• NATO continues to work with Russia, to try to make sure the cold war does not start up again
• NATO may be mor involved in the fight against international terrorism, and against the "weapons of mass destruction" of the so-called rouge states, e.g. North Korea and Iran.