North Atlantic Treaty Organization (PJW)

The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) was an intergovernmental military alliance between several North American and Western European based on the North Atlantic Treaty, signed in 1949.

Ever since its formation there was tension between the United States - the nominal "leader" of the alliance - and the other states in the alliance. This tension, along with concerns about America's domestic policies and the actual likelihood of fending off an invasion by the Soviet Union, led to the alliance splintering. Several nations, such as France and Canada, even pursued their own nuclear weapons programs.

Following a coup in 1962, France would leave the alliance, marking the beginning of the end. Great Britain pursued an alliance with the Nordic Council, Canada went its own path, and West Germany saw a return to authoritarian rule. The alliance was formally disbanded until 1972, when France fully collapsed and war broke out between France and West Germany. The final nail in the coffin would be a communist coup in Belgium.