NATO and The Warsaw Pact

In April 4, 1949, ten western European nations joined with the United Sates and Canada to form a defensive military alliance. It was called the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO). The major reason for the formation of NATO was that the countries involved wanted a mutual defense alliance so that if one of them were attacked all of the other countries in NATO would come to their aide.

The Soviet Union saw the NATO as a threat and formed it's own alliance in 1955. It was called the Warsaw Pact, and included the Soviet Union, East Germany, Czechoslovakia, Poland, Hungary, Romania, Bulgaria, and Albany. The Soviet Union dominated the alliance. In 1961, the East Germans built a wall to separate East and West Berlin. Members of the Warsaw Pact pledged to defend each other if one or more of the members were attacked.