The Great CompetitionThere have been many great wars in the world with major battles such as the Civil War, World War I and World War II, but there was one that There was no battle or violence, hence its name, Cold War. The Cold War was a war that was more of a competition than a war between two groups allied against each other: NATO and the Warsaw Pact. The conflict with these two groups was that the Warsaw Pact wanted communist governments and NATO wanted democratic governments. The Cold War began the rise of NATO, the rise of the Warsaw Pact, and then ended with the fall of the Warsaw Pact. The North Atlantic Treaty Organization, or NATO, was formed in 1949 after the start of the Cold War (Cronin, np). This treaty was the first peace treaty under European power that America had ever been in (Benson, Brannen, Valentine, 1157). The treaty involved America and eleven other countries opposed to communism (Benson, Brannen, Valentine, 1157). The other countries involved were Belgium, Canada, Denmark, France, Italy, Iceland, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Norway, Portugal and the United Kingdom (Benson, Brannen, Valentine, 1157). NATO offered aid to any democratic nation that was rebuilding after the war, and that was against communism (“The Founding,” 71). NATO's purpose is to try to protect the freedom and security of its members through political and military efforts (Cronin, np). During the Cold War years other countries joined NATO, Greece and Turkey in 1952, Germany in 1955 and Spain in 1982 (Cronin, np). When the Cold War ended in 1991, many thought that NATO would disband, but they turned their attention to trying to bring peace to countries that had paper problems in the world with communism but hopefully it never comes back as bad as during the Cold War, but if it happens, hopefully it stays that way and doesn't turn into a real nuclear war. Work Cited Benson, Sonia, Daniel E. Brannen, and Rebecca Valentino. “North Atlantic Treaty”. UXL Encyclopedia of United States History. Eds. Lawrence W. Baker and Sarah Hermsen. vol. 6: NQ. Detroit: Gale Cengage, 2009. Print. 8 vols.Cronin, Bruce. “North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO).” Advanced World Book. World Book, 2014. Web. January 31, 2014. Goldman, Stuart D. “Warsaw Pact.” Advanced World Book. Book of the World, 2014. Web. January 31, 2014. Maga, Timothy. “Towards the New Frontier”. The 60s. New York: Facts On File, 2003. 15. Print. “The founding of NATO”. The American scene: events: World War II and Cold War: 1942-1958. vol. 7. Danbury, CT: Grolier, 1999. Print. 9 vols.