How was NATO created?

 
The North Atlantic Pact was established on April 4, 1949 in Washington, D.C.. Due to the tensions between the victorious powers, the world was split into two blocs. At the time the western states saw the Soviet Union (USSR) as a military threat.
 
Ten western European states – the UK, France, the Netherlands, Belgium, Italy, Denmark, Luxembourg, Norway, Iceland and Portugal – as well as the USA and Canada, joined forces to form a defensive alliance. Greece and Turkey joined NATO as early as 1952, and Spain followed in 1982.
 
In 1955 the Paris Treaties paved the way for the Federal Republic of Germany to join the alliance. Accession guaranteed Germany's external security. Concerned that it might lose its military independence, France decided to withdraw from NATO's military structure in 1966. At the political level, though, it remained a full member state.