- Alternative meaning: National Association of Theatre Owners
The flag of
NATO
The North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (NATO), sometimes called North Atlantic
Alliance or Atlantic Alliance, is an international organisation for defence collaboration established in 1949, in support of the North Atlantic Treaty
signed in Washington, D.C. on April 4, 1949. Its other official name is the French language equivalent, l'Organisation du Traité de l'Atlantique Nord
(OTAN).
NATO 2002 Summit
The core provision of the treaty is Article V, which states:
- The Parties agree that an armed attack against one or more of them in Europe or North America shall be considered an attack
against them all and consequently they agree that, if such an armed attack occurs, each of them, in exercise of the right of
individual or collective self-defence recognised by Article 51 of the Charter of the United Nations, will assist the Party or Parties so attacked by taking
forthwith, individually and in concert with the other Parties, such action as it deems necessary, including the use of armed
force, to restore and maintain the security of the North Atlantic area.
This provision was intended so that if the Soviet Union launched an
attack against the European allies of the United States, it would be
treated as if it was an attack on the United States itself, which had the biggest military and could thus provide the most
significant retaliation. However the feared Soviet invasion of Europe never came. Instead, the provision was used for the first
time in the treaty's history on September 12, 2001 in response to the September 11
attacks on the United States.
Member states
From the foundation in 1949 or with the year of accession.
Greece and Turkey joined the organisation in February 1952. Germany joined as West Germany in 1955 and German unification
in 1990 extended the membership to the areas of former East Germany. Spain was admitted on
May 30, 1982 and the former Warsaw Pact Countries of Poland, Hungary and the Czech Republic made history by
becoming members on March 12, 1999.
France is still a member of NATO but retired from the military command in 1966. Iceland,
the sole member of NATO which does not have its own military force, joined on the condition that they would not be expected to
establish one.
Slovenia and the former Warsaw Pact countries of Bulgaria, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Romania and Slovakia officially acceded
to NATO on 29 March 2004. They attended their
first NATO meeting in April 2004.
History
The U.S. President, NATO Secretary General, and the Prime Ministers of Slovenia, Lithuania, Slovakia, Romania, Bulgaria and
Estonia after a South Lawn ceremony welcoming them into NATO on March 29, 2004.
March 17, 1948: Benelux, France, and the United Kingdom signed the Treaty of Brussels which is a precursor to the NATO Agreement.
April 4, 1949: North Atlantic Treaty signed
in Washington, DC.
May 14, 1955: Warsaw Pact treaty signed in Warsaw by the
Soviet Union and its satellite states in order to counterbalance NATO. Both organisations were opposing sides in the Cold War. After the fall of the Iron
Curtain in 1989, the Warsaw Pact disintegrated.
1966: Charles de Gaulle
decides to remove France from NATO's military command to pursue its own nuclear defence program. This precipitates the relocation
of the NATO Headquarters from Paris, France to Brussels, Belgium by October 16, 1967. While the political headquarters are located in Brussels the military headquarters, the Supreme Headquarters Allied
Powers Europe (SHAPE), are located just south of Brussels, in the town of Mons.
March 31, 1991: The Warsaw Pact comes to
an end. It is officially dissolved on July 1.
July 8, 1997: Three former communist
countries, Hungary, the Czech Republic and Poland are invited to joined NATO. They join in 1999.
March 24, 1999: NATO saw its first
military engagement in the Kosovo War, where it waged an 11-week bombing
campaign against Serbia and Montenegro ending on June 11, 1999.
September 12, 2001: NATO invoked,
for the first time in its history, the collective security clause of its charter. Article 5 states that any attack on a member
state is considered an attack against the entire alliance. This came in response to the September 11, 2001 Terrorist
Attack.
November 21, 2002: During the
Prague (Czech Republic) summit seven countries are invited to start talks in order to
join the Alliance: Estonia, Latvia,
Lithuania, Slovenia, Slovakia, Bulgaria and Romania. The invited countries join NATO on March
29, 2004. Albania and the Former Yugoslav Republic of
Macedonia will probably be told they have not met the economic, political and military reform criteria and will have to wait.
Croatia applied only in 2002 and has just started the process.
February 10, 2003: NATO faced a
crisis when France and Belgium vetoed the
procedure of silent approval concerning the timing of protective measures for Turkey in
case of a possible war with Iraq. Germany did
not use its right to break the procedure but said it supported the veto.
April 16, 2003: NATO agreed to take
command in August of the International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) in Afghanistan. The decision came at the request of Germany and
the Netherlands, the two nations leading ISAF at the time of the agreement.
It was approved unanimously by all 19 NATO ambassadors. The handover of control to NATO took place on August 11, and marked the first time in NATO's history that it took charge of a mission outside the north
Atlantic area. Canada had originally been slated to take over ISAF by itself on that
date.
June 19, 2003: A major restructuring of the
NATO military commands began as the Headquarters of the Supreme Allied Commander, Atlantic was abolished and a new command,
Allied Command Transformation was established in Norfolk, Virginia, US.
March 29, 2004: Bulgaria, Estonia, Latvia,
Lithuania, Romania, Slovakia and Slovenia join NATO.
Secretaries General of NATO
- Hastings Lionel
Ismay, 1st Baron Ismay (United Kingdom): 4 April 1952 - 16 May
1957
- Paul-Henri Spaak (Belgium): 16 May 1957 - 21 April 1961
- Dirk Stikker (Netherlands): 21 April 1961
- 1 August 1964
- Manlio Brosio (Italy): 1 August 1964 - 1 October 1971
- Joseph Luns (Netherlands): 1 October 1971 - 25 June 1984
- Peter Carington, 6th
Baron Carrington (United Kingdom): 25 June 1984 - 1 July 1988
- Manfred Wörner
(Germany): 1 July 1988- 13 August 1994
- Sergio Balanzino
(Italy, acting): 13 August - 17 October 1994
- Willy Claes (Belgium):
17 October 1994 - 20 October 1995
- Sergio Balanzino
(Italy, acting): 20 October - 5 December 1995
- Javier Solana (Spain):
5 December 1995 - 6 October 1999
- George Robertson (United Kingdom): 14 October 1999 - 1 January 2004
- Jaap de Hoop Scheffer (Netherlands): 1 January 2004 - present.
- Dwight D. Eisenhower: 2 April 1951 - 30 May 1952
- Matthew Ridgway: 30 May
1952 - 11 July 1953
- Alfred Gruenther:
1 July 1953 - 20 November 1956
- Lauris Norstad: 20 November 1956 - 1 January 1963
- Lyman Lemnitzer: 1
January 1963 - 1 July 1969
- Andrew Goodpaster:
1 July 1969 - 15 December 1974
- Alexander Haig: 15
December 1974 - 1 July 1979
- Bernard Rogers: 1 July 1979 - 26
June 1987
- John Galvin: 26 June 1987 - 23 June 1992
- John
Shalikashvili: 23 June 1992 - 22 October 1993
- George Joulwan: 22 October 1993 - 11 July 1997
- Wesley Clark: 11 July
1997 - 3 May 2000
- Joseph Ralston: 3 May
2000 - 17 January 2003
- James L. Jones: 17
January 2003 - present
Note: starting with Ridgway all SACEUR have been simultaneously Commander in Chief, US European Command (CINCEUR)
See also
External links
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