NATO was founded 75 years ago today. This is a map of its enlargement from 12 member states to 32 today.



https://i.redd.it/llfwbqoupfsc1.gif

by WheatBerryPie

46 comments

  2. This a list of countries that has voluntarily chosen a guarantee for not getting invaded by russia.

    A physical manifestation of how bad russia are at making friends.

  3. Created to deal with the previous big threat of Russia, who have now clearly demonstrated in Ukraine, that any one of the current NATO members could militarily rip Russia a new asshole, on their own.

    Using weapons from this millennium = cheat code. Up down forward punch. 🫸💨

  9. It is funny how a lot of people are just flipping the causality on this one.

    Russia pushes countries in NATO by threatening everybody.

  11. We were so against joining NATO we had protests saying “OTAN no. Bases fuera” – “No to NATO. Bases out”

  13. This is the only thing russia in its history did right: giving a reason to establish NATO.

  14. NATO should send a prize plaque to putin. In the end this old fart did more for NATO expansion than anyone else.

  15. Do not search up who was president of NATO’s Military Committee from 1961 to 1963 and what he did during WW2.

  18. The more countries the safer the alliance gets. Very happy to be part of the best defensive alliance.

  19. What’s up with the tiny blob south of Luxembourg?

  20. Can NATO expand to Far East Asia like Japan and S. Korea? Even though it’s “North Atlantic” Treaty Organization.

  21. If NATO is “expanding east” how come it’s latest pre-russian aggression members are all to the west of the prior ones?

  22. I find it so funny how Russia tries to stop the spread of NATO, because it “threatens” Russia. But the very same country is the reason why NATO is actually expanding, because Russia is just one big bully and the actual threat.

  24. It remains fascinating how Portugal under Salazar managed to sneak in.

  27. And all joiners after the 90s have something in common: to protect themselves from murderous dictatorships from their neighborhood.

  28. I was a fan of NATO when it was not cool yet.

    NATO is a great idea giving weak countries the opportunity to stand up against bullies.

  29. All those oppressed nations forced into HATO at gunpoint!!!11!1

    /s obviously

  30. It really bothers me how the USSR, Yugislavia and Czechoslovakia gets splits, but Germany doesn’t get reunited. It’s in order to display the different times east and west Germany joined, but still…

  34. Greatest terrorist organization and arms dealer in the world. Congratulations!

  35. Can be also called a timeline of how ruzzia progressively fucks itself over.

  36. I guess soon we will see renaming of oceans. At last there will be only atlantic ocean. All territories norther than south polar will be joined in nato. Haile New world order

  38. There is something to be said that it expanded more after the Cold War than during it.

  39. Special thanks to NATO’s best salesman Putin. None of this would have happened without you.

  40. I don’t understand the moderation policy of this group. People are being genuinely racist to each other in the comments and nobody intervenes.
    I mean, I’m here for it, but I seem to remember that “banned for racism” used to be an actual thing in the past. 

  41. Turkey joining NATO was entirely a Soviet blunder.

    Ataturk was adamant to keep Turkey out of any conflict post WW1 and made it clear to his second in command İnönü who was to lead Turkey into WW2 era, that Turkey was under no condition to join WW2. He wanted Turkey to be the Switzerland of Eurasia and its people to flourish in peace.

    There is an incredible meeting between Ataturk and Douglas MacArthur where Ataturk predicts WW2 -he didn’t live long enough to see it unfold but before his death him and his friends went through a period of “friendly pressure” from Hitler who saw them as natural ally from WW1.

    Ataturk watched in a private room with his friends a recording Hitler sent to him to show his might, Nazis marching through Nuremberg in a heavily militarized fashion.

    After film ended, his friends, politicians and generals asked him what he thought about it.

    He said, He is a very dangerous man, and world should be ready.

    His policy was to stay out of war all together, if possible but to be ready for what’s coming.

    He died on 1938, İnönü did his best to buy time to deflect any conflict from all sides, but soon after, Turkey was providing intelligence to allies, Nazis knew about it and they actually prepared a plan to invade Turkey but German generals who knew about Hitler’s obsession with Russia did not want to commit to invading Turkey, their calculations were based on the fact that Turkey was a very mountainous country with great depth and unlike the French who had no stomach for war after the butchery that was WW1, Turks would actually put up a serious fight and even if Germans win, it would cost them enough that they’d not be able to deal with Russians at full strength.

    Turkey avoided getting invaded, however after WW2, much to his close circles frustration, Stalin lost his temper and had a go at Turks for not doing enough at WW2, he threatened to take Gallipoli by force as he claimed Black Sea was Russian dominion, but Turks didn’t respond to his bluff, his henchmen strongly advised against him starting a war with Turkey post WW2, so Stalin couldn’t follow up his threats, which made him look weak. He got even angrier and increased his threats.

    Turks, who just managed brilliantly to avoid all the destruction Europe went through, were not willing to let Stalin just sit there and threaten them, so they joined NATO.

    Years later when Kruschev took power after Stalin’s death, he started a crusade to destroy Stalin’s cult, he hated him. In one of his speeches he openly criticized Stalin for creating an enemy from a friendly neighbour who was neutral and called the whole confrontation with Turkey incredibly stupid, and unnecessary act. According to Kruschev Stalin effectively brought NATO to their doorstep with all the resources available to NATO.

    Turkey joining NATO was a major geopolitical defeat for Soviets.

    And Turkish army managing to hold of numerically superior Chinese forces in Korean War, which allowed American troops and other allies to retreat to safety and avoid getting encircled, showed Soviets Turks could actually fight, which meant that loss of Turkey as neutral neighbour wasn’t only geopolitical loss but it had more profound impact on global balance with Turkish army now effectively joining ranks with NATO.

Leave a Reply