Seven Eastern European nations joined NATO in 2004 to reshape continental security
Seven Eastern European nations officially joined NATO in 2004, marking the largest single expansion in the alliance's history and permanently shifting the geopolitical landscape of the post-Cold War era.
On March 29, 2004, a historic ceremony in Washington, D.C., welcomed Bulgaria, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Romania, Slovakia, and Slovenia into NATO. This 'Big Bang' expansion brought several former Soviet republics and Warsaw Pact members into the Western military alliance. It signaled a definitive end to the divisions of the Iron Curtain.
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