In 1949, on this day, April 4, 12 countries, namely Belgium, the U.K., Denmark, Iceland, Italy, Canada, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Norway, Portugal, the U.S., and France, formed the North Atlantic Alliance. A new military-political alliance called NATO was created. It is a collective security system, with its member states being obliged to protect each member state in case it is attacked. From the very moment of its creation, the organization positioned itself as a counterweight to both the USSR and the member states of the Warsaw Pact, signed in 1955.
