North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO)

Origin and History. On 4 April 1949 the foreign ministers of Belgium, Canada, Denmark, France, Iceland, Italy, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Norway, Portugal, the UK and the USA signed the North Atlantic Treaty, establishing the North Atlantic Alliance. In 1952 Greece and Turkey acceded to the Treaty; in 1955 came the Federal Republic of Germany; in 1982 Spain; in 1999 the Czech Republic, Hungary and Poland, bringing the total to 19 member nations.