Members of the NATO:
North Atlantic Treaty Organization

The North Atlantic Treaty Organization is primarily a military alliance between the current 31 countries. Its purpose is to preserve democratic values and to provide mutual support in defense and security matters. In the context of crisis management, a so-called mutual assistance clause (Article 5 of the Washington Treaty) applies. If a member state is attacked, all other NATO countries are obliged to help the affected state. NATO itself refers to this as collective self-defense - including the use of armed forces.

► Interactive map

Originally, NATO was founded by France, the United Kingdom, the Netherlands, Belgium and Luxembourg to coordinate the European economy, culture and self-defence after the Second World War and to prevent a resurgence of Germany. In the immediate post-war years, Russia developed into a new military power, which is why the then NATO countries turned to the USA for military protection.

In 1949, the North Atlantic Treaty was signed, under which all member states assured each other of mutual protection. In the years that followed, other European countries and Canada joined the Alliance to protect themselves from the communist Eastern Bloc. Turkey joined in 1952.

Germany's accession to NATO in 1955 played an important role in several respects. It included a country against which the original version of NATO still wanted to defend itself against. With the Paris Treaties, West Germany was once again recognized as a sovereign state and integrated into the Western defence strategy. As a counter-reaction, the countries of the Eastern bloc joined forces in the same year to form the Warsaw Pact. It is worth mentioning that some of the member countries of the Warsaw Pact, which was dissolved in 1991, subsequently allied themselves with the West and thus positioned themselves against the Soviet Union. These were (in chronological order) Poland, Czechoslovakia, Hungary, Romania, Bulgaria and Albania.

Former member countries

Dependent territories

Some of the above-mentioned member states have other external territories dependent on them. These are not independent states, but they do have some economic and political autonomy. The NATO treaties apply to them at least in part. These countries are not listed as official member states.