North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) is a military alliance formed in 1949 by 12 countries, including the US, Canada, the UK, and France.

Members agree to come to one another’s aid in the event of an armed attack against any one member state. Its point was initially to counter the danger of post-war Russian extension in Europe.

In 1955 Soviet Russia answered to Nato by making its own tactical union of eastern European socialist nations, called the Warsaw Pact.

Following the breakdown of the Soviet Union in 1991, various previous Warsaw Pact nations exchanged sides and became Nato individuals. The union currently has 30 members.

An expanding bloc of NATO allies has taken on a broad range of missions since the close of the Cold War, many well beyond the Euro-Atlantic region.

President Joe Biden has sought to recommit the United States to NATO and mend transatlantic ties that became strained under the Donald Trump administration.

NATO Members: Which Countries form NATO?

Albania, Belgium, Bulgaria, Canada, Croatia, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Iceland, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Montenegro, Netherlands, North Macedonia, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Turkey, United Kingdom, and United States form NATO.

NATO Partner Countries

Armenia, Austria, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Finland, Georgia, Ireland, Kazakhstan, Kyrghyz Republic, Malta, The Republic of Moldova, Russia, Serbia, Sweden, Switzerland, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Ukraine, Uzbekistan.