Erik Simonsen\/ Photographer's Choice\/ Getty Images <\/p>\n
By Matt Rosenberg <\/p>\n
Updated December 16, 2014. <\/p>\n
On April 1, 2009, two countries were newly admitted into the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO). Thus, there are now 28 member states. The U.S.-led military alliance was created in 1949 as a result of the Soviet blockade of Berlin. <\/p>\n
The original twelve members of NATO in 1949 were the United States, the United Kingdom, Canada, France, Denmark, Iceland, Italy, Norway, Portugal, Belgium, Netherlands, and Luxembourg. <\/p>\n
In 1952, Greece and Turkey joined. West Germany was admitted in 1955 and in 1982 Spain became the sixteenth member. <\/p>\n
On March 12, 1999, three new countries - the Czech Republic, Hungary, and Poland - brought the total number of NATO members to 19. <\/p>\n
On April 2, 2004, seven new countries joined the alliance. These countries are Bulgaria, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Romania, Slovakia, and Slovenia. <\/p>\n
The two newest countries that joined as NATO members on April 1, 2009 are Albania and Croatia. <\/p>\n
To retaliate against the formation of NATO, in 1955 the Communist countries banded together to form the now-defunct Warsaw Pact, which originally consisted of the Soviet Union, Albania, Bulgaria, Czechoslovakia, Hungary, East Germany, Poland, and Romania. <\/p>\n
The Warsaw Pact ended in 1991, with the fall of Communism and the dissolution of the Soviet Union. <\/p>\n
Most notably, Russia remains a non-member of NATO. Interestingly enough, in the military structure of NATO, a U.S. military officer is always commander-in-chief of NATO forces so that U.S. troops never come under control of a foreign power. <\/p>\n
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\nNATO - Member Countries and Overview<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"