What Is NATO? Here's Why It's Important To Know About The US-Europe Military Alliance

What does NATO stand for?

The North Atlantic Trade Organization.

What exactly is NATO?

It’s a political and military alliance among 28 countries in Europe and North America. If an outside country attacks one of the NATO nations, the other 27 are expected to come to its aid.

When and why was NATO formed?

The original 12 countries signed a pact in 1949, not long after the end of World War II, at the beginning of the Cold War. These nations were all in North America and Western Europe, and concerned about the power and increasing influence of the Soviet Union.

What countries belong to NATO?

When the alliance was first formed, the original members were Belgium, Canada, Denmark, France, Iceland, Italy, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Norway, Portugal, the United Kingdom and the United States. Subsequently the alliance was joined by Greece and Turkey (1952), Germany (1955) and Spain (1982). The Czech Republic, Hungary and Poland joined in 1999. Bulgaria, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Romania, Slovakia and Slovenia joined in 2004. Albania and Croatia joined in 2009.

Why has NATO been in the news?

Russia and U.S. President Donald Trump, more or less.

Tensions between Russia and NATO countries began to boil in 2014 when Russia annexed Crimea from Ukraine. Ever since hostility between Russia and NATO countries has intensified — especially in the past few months. In December, U.S. intelligence agencies concluded Russia interfered with the U.S. presidential election by hacking into the Democratic National Committee’s email server. A couple of months later, French intelligence authorities said they were worried Russia would do the same in France's upcoming presidential elections.

That’s one aspect of the tension: Russia meddling in other countries' business.

Another is the military buildup of both NATO countries and Russia. In January, NATO bolstered its defense systems in northeastern Europe near Russia. And NATO announced Thursday it would purchase more planes and submarines. It also decided to build up military defenses in the Black Sea, which is in the southeastern part of Europe.

Unsurprisingly, Russia was not happy with the news. Alexander Grushko, Russia’s envoy to NATO, said Moscow would take measures to protest NATO's moves.

And then there’s the issue of Trump’s relationship with Russia and NATO. In January, Trump said NATO was obsolete and reiterated he wanted to take steps to make a deal with Russia — a seeming reversal of U.S. loyalties. But members of Trump’s administration have tempered those sentiments, with Defense Secretary James Mattis saying in Brussels this week the U.S. was still committed to NATO.

However, Mattis warned other NATO members that if they did not dedicate 2 percent of their gross domestic product to defense, the U.S. might reconsider this commitment. All NATO members pledged to reach that 2 percent goal, but only five NATO members currently do so.