4 - Ejército de tierra

More english
ORIGINS OF NATO
In 1949, twelve countries from the two sides of the Atlantic
formed the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (NATO) to counter
the risk that the Soviet Union would seek to extend its control of
Eastern Europe to other parts of the continent.
The founding members of NATO committed themselves to come to
each other’s defence in the event of a military aggression against
any one of them. NATO was born as a collective defence organisation.
Since thee the demise of the Soviet Union and the end of the Cold War,
the Alliance has assumed new roles and formed new partnerships
designed to extend security and stability to the Euro-Atlantic area
as a whole. It occupies a central position in Euro-Atlantic security
structures.
The The Alliance has since grown to 28 member countries. NATO leaders
stated that the door would remain open for additional new members
in the future.
WHY NATO? NATO?
NATO’s essential purpose is to ensure the freedom and security
of its members by political and military means, in accordance
with the principles of the United Nations Charter . It is dedicated
to to protecting democracy, individual liberty and the rule of law. The
best means of safeguarding these shared values is to bring about a
just and lasting peaceful order in Europe as a whole. NATO has worked
since its inception to achieve this goal. This central objective
remains unchanged. Since 1989, at the end of the artifi cial division
of Europe which prevailed during the Cold War, enormous progress
has has been made, but the task is not over.
World War II left many European cities in rubble.
THE TRANSATLANTIC LINK
NATO is the only defence organisation linking the United States
and Canada to Europe . After World War II, while the European
Allies were rebuilding their shattered economies, restoring their
industries and developing their defence capabilities, their security
was mainly provided by the guarantee written into the North Atlantic
Treaty Treaty that the North American Allies would treat a threat to any
member country of the Alliance as a threat to themselves.
At the same time a high degree of political solidarity amongst
all the member countries was achieved by their willingness to apply
36