( in full the North Atlantic Treaty Organization )
an organization originally formed by 12 countries in 1949 to defend Europe and North America against what was seen as the threat of Soviet attack after World War II . They agreed that an armed attack against one or more of them should be considered an attack against them all, and set up military bases all over Europe to protect themselves against the Communists. Since the end of the Cold War in the late 1980s, and the joining of East and West Germany in 1990, it has been suggested that NATO should become a political organization rather than a military one. In 1995 NATO started a major new approach called Partnership for Peace, to make political and military links stronger between NATO and the central and eastern European countries. Its members now include Belgium, Britain, Bulgaria, Canada, the Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Iceland, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Turkey and the US. Nato’s main offices are in Brussels.