IRMO Brief 04/2024 - 75 Years of NATO: Strong Foundations, Future Challenges

The organization of the North Atlantic Treaty, the NATO-alliance or, in the slightly older term, the NATO-pact, was created by the conclusion of an international agreement in Washington on 4th April 1949. This came after several years of political tensions between the former allies in World War II, a little more than two years after
the start of the Cold War, and only about 5 months before the Soviet Union tested its first nuclear bomb. This also gave the new defense alliance of 12 Western countries additional meaning in the context of the confrontation, which began to be reflected not only in Europe but also globally. A total of 11 additional rounds of enlargement
brought this security organization to its present state – 32 members, of which 30 are in Europe and two on the other side of the Atlantic Ocean.

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