Krishna Kumar Saha & Harun Ar Rashid Mamun
In April 1949, NATO – which stands for the North Atlantic Treaty Organization was formed by several western powers. It would be a collective military alliance that would stop Soviet aggression and prevents a repeat of nationalist militarism in Europe. By joining together, if one nation was attacked the others would defend militarily under one command. Lord Hastings Lionel Ismay, NATO’s first Secretary-General said NATO was created to ‘keep the Soviet Union out, the American in, and the Germans down.’ NATO was formed for several reasons. So far, the United States had initiated the Marshal Plan which would help fund the rebuilding of Western Europe and encourage greater cooperation between Europe and the United States. The Soviet Union had expanded its influence across Eastern Europe installing communist governments in their countries forming Eastern Block. Therefore, NATO’s objective in this regard was to protect the democracies of Europe and the United States from the spread of aggressive communism. Initially, a total of 12 countries, including Luxembourg, the United States, the United Kingdom, Norway, Portugal, Italy, the Netherlands, Belgium, Canada, Denmark, and France, signed the NATO Agreement. Read More
