In 1949, the prospect of further Communist expansion prompted the United States and 11 other Western nations to form the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO). The Soviet Union and its affiliated Communist nations in Eastern Europe founded a rival alliance, the Warsaw Pact, in 1955. The alignment of nearly every European nation into one of the two opposing camps formalized the political division of the European continent that had taken place since World War II. This alignment provided the framework for the military standoff that continued throughout the Cold War.
NATO represented the American or Western side of the war, NATO was an alliance that supported the Western and capitalist beliefs. The Warsaw Pact represented the Soviet side of the Cold War, or the Eastern European side. The Warsaw Pact was an alliance that supported the Soviet and Communist ideals and beliefs.
