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All members have militaries, except for Iceland, which does not have a typical army (but it does have a coast guard and a small unit of civilian specialists for NATO operations). Three of NATO's members are nuclear weapons states: France, the United Kingdom, and the United States. NATO has 12 original founding member states.
Map of NATO enlargement (1952–present). The history of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) begins in the immediate aftermath of World War II.In 1947, the United Kingdom and France signed the Treaty of Dunkirk and the United States set out the Truman Doctrine, the former to defend against a potential German attack and the latter to counter Soviet expansion.
As a fundamental component of NATO, the North Atlantic Treaty is a product of the US' desire to avoid overextension at the end of World War II, and consequently pursue multilateralism in Europe. [3] It is part of the US' collective defense arrangement with Western European powers, following a long and deliberative process. [4]
The Allies of World War II began to form in September 1939 when Poland was invaded and Britain and France declared war on Nazi Germany.Except for Ireland, which remained neutral throughout the war, the Commonwealth Dominions (Canada, Australia, New Zealand, and South Africa) all declared war alongside Great Britain but no other nations joined their cause.
The Allied leaders of the European theatre (left to right): Joseph Stalin, Franklin D. Roosevelt and Winston Churchill meeting at the Tehran Conference in 1943 The Allied leaders of the Pacific War: Chiang Kai-shek, Franklin D. Roosevelt, and Winston Churchill meeting at the Cairo Conference in 1943 French postcard illustrating the alliance between Poland, France and the United Kingdom (1939 ...
The causes of World War II have been given considerable attention by historians. The immediate precipitating event was the invasion of Poland by Nazi Germany on September 1, 1939, and the subsequent declarations of war on Germany made by Britain and France , but many other prior events have been suggested as ultimate causes.
World War II [b] or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies and the Axis powers. Nearly all the world's countries—including all the great powers—participated, with many investing all available economic, industrial, and scientific capabilities in pursuit of total war, blurring the distinction between military and ...
NATO has thirty-two members, mostly in Europe with two in North America. NATO's "area of responsibility", within which attacks on member states are eligible for an Article 5 response, is defined under Article 6 of the North Atlantic Treaty to include member territory in Europe, North America, Turkey, and islands in the North Atlantic north of ...