what countries are part of nato?
Netherlands Poland United States of America United Kingdom Germany Bulgaria
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 NATO was little more than a political association until the Korean War galvanized the organization 's member states , and an integrated military structure was built up under the direction of two US supreme commanders . The course of the Cold War led to a rivalry with nations of the Warsaw Pact , which formed in 1955 . Doubts over the strength of the relationship between the European states and the United States ebbed and flowed , along with doubts over the credibility of the NATO defence against a prospective Soviet invasion — doubts that led to the development of the independent French nuclear deterrent and the withdrawal of France from NATO 's military structure in 1966 for 30 years . After the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989 , the organization was drawn into the breakup of Yugoslavia , and conducted its first military interventions in Bosnia from 1992 to 1995 and later Yugoslavia in 1999 . Politically , the organization sought better relations with former Warsaw Pact countries , several of which joined the alliance in 1999 and 2004 . 

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 Almost forgotten in coverage of the summit was that six new members from the former Warsaw Pact – Lithuania , Latvia , Estonia , Slovakia , Bulgaria and Romania – joined NATO in March 2004 and were formally welcomed into the Alliance . 

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 NATO has twenty @-@ eight members , mainly in Europe and North America . Some of these countries also have territory on multiple continents , which can be covered only as far south as the Tropic of Cancer in the Atlantic Ocean , which defines NATO 's " area of responsibility " under Article 6 of the North Atlantic Treaty . During the original treaty negotiations , the United States insisted that colonies like the Belgian Congo be excluded from the treaty . French Algeria was however covered until their independence on 3 July 1962 . Twelve of these twenty @-@ eight are original members who joined in 1949 , while the other sixteen joined in one of seven enlargement rounds . Few members spend more than two percent of their gross domestic product on defence , with the United States accounting for three quarters of NATO defense spending . 

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 After its formation in 1949 with twelve founding members , NATO grew by including Greece and Turkey in 1952 and West Germany in 1955 , and then later Spain in 1982 . After the Cold War ended , and Germany reunited in 1990 , there was a debate in NATO about continued expansion eastward . In 1999 , Poland , Hungary , and the Czech Republic joined the organization , amid much debate within the organization and Russian opposition . Another expansion came with the accession of seven Central and Eastern European countries : Bulgaria , Estonia , Latvia , Lithuania , Romania , Slovakia and Slovenia . These nations were first invited to start talks of membership during the 2002 Prague summit , and joined NATO shortly before the 2004 Istanbul summit . The most recent new members , Albania and Croatia , joined on 1 April 2009 , prior to the 2009 Strasbourg – Kehl summit . 

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 NATO has added new members six times since its founding in 1949 to include twenty @-@ eight members . Twelve countries were part of the founding of NATO : Belgium , Canada , Denmark , France , Iceland , Italy , Luxembourg , the Netherlands , Norway , Portugal , the United Kingdom , and the United States . The early years of the Cold War saw a stark divide between Capitalist ideologies , backed by NATO , and Communist satellite states of the Soviet Union . This divide encouraged the anti @-@ Communist governments of Greece and Turkey to join NATO in 1952 . Greece would suspend its membership in 1974 , over the Turkish invasion of Cyprus , but rejoined in 1980 with Turkey 's cooperation . 
