NATO and The Warsaw Pact

NATO is the North Atlantice Treaty Organization which included countries in Europe and North America. It was formed because the countries wanted a defense alliance so if one was under attack the other countris were there to help. Also many European countries need economic help after WWII, so the countries in NATO agreed to help rebuild it. When the Korean war began the organization expanded and a military command system was formed. In 1979, NATO began a new program that would help build up defense and new efforts to stop the Soviet Union from developing nuclear weapons.

The Warsaw Pact was mainly made up from the Soviet Union and its satelitte countries. This too is a defense alliance, but a response to NATO. The Soviet Union was the head of the Warsaw Pact. It kept socialist governments in the countries that were involved. This was an attempt to strengthen the Soviet Union. In 1985, the Warsaw Pact was renewed for another 20 years, but grew weak. All the countris soon removed themselves from the Warsaw Pact.