Answer:
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. Joining the USSR in the alliance were Albania, Bulgaria, Czechoslovakia, the German Democratic Republic (East Germany), Hungary, Poland, and Romania. This lineup remained constant until the Cold War ended with the dismantling of all the Communist governments in Eastern Europe in 1989 and 1990. Initial member-states of the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (NATO) included the United States and all five Brussels treaty nations, Canada, Denmark, Iceland, Italy, Norway, and Portugal. Several countries were invited to join NATO but refused, including Finland, Ireland, Sweden, and the ever-neutral Switzerland.
NATO favored capitalism and the USSR favored communism. These alliances rivaled each other and fought for dominance. NATO ended up coming on the top to save capitalism.
