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A military alliance formed in 1949 by 12 countries with the aim of countering the expansion of the Soviet Union in Europe and the world following World War II. The NATO headquarters is located in Brussels, and after its expansion, it now includes 32 countries, and Sweden was the last country to join it on March 7, 2024.

Establishment

After World War II ended with the surrender of German forces to the Allies in May 1945, expansionist threats to the Soviet Union emerged, prompting Western European countries to think about a way to "deter the communist threat" and contain it in Europe and North America.

On April 4, 1949, the foreign ministers of 12 countries signed the North Atlantic Treaty in Washington, DC, to create a military alliance called the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO).

The founding countries of the alliance are: the United States of America, the United Kingdom, Canada, Belgium, France, Denmark, Iceland, Italy, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Norway, and Portugal.

5 months after signing the treaty, it was ratified by the parliaments of all founding countries.

NATO forces head to Poland to participate in alliance maneuvers (Getty Images)

Stages of alliance expansion

Three years after the founding of the alliance, fears of Soviet expansion across Europe and the world increased, especially after Soviet support for North Korea in its war with South Korea in 1950, so work began to expand the scope of the alliance’s influence to include the countries of southeastern Europe, and Greece, which had left, joined. Fresh from the civil war with Turkey on February 18, 1952.

On May 6, 1955, Germany became a member of NATO, after years of deliberations among the leaders of the alliance countries to find ways to integrate the Federal Republic of Germany into the defense structures of Western Europe. With the reunification of Germany on October 3, 1990, the states of the Republic of Germany joined. Former democracy to the Federal Republic of Germany in its membership in NATO.

Spain joined the coalition on May 30, 1982, after the end of Francisco Franco's regime in 1975 and the failed military coup in 1981, and participated fully in the political structures of the organization, but refrained from participating in the structure.

Madrid's reservations gradually diminished, as the Spanish Parliament ratified the country's participation in the integrated military command structure in 1996, a decision that coincided with the appointment of Javier Solana to NATO in the period between 1995-1999, the first Spanish Secretary-General of NATO.

After the end of the Cold War, the fall of the Berlin Wall, and the disintegration of the Warsaw Pact, the opportunity became available to expand the alliance and include new members from Central and Eastern Europe. In 1997, talks began in Madrid with the Czech countries, Hungary, and Poland to join the alliance, and on March 12, 1999, these three countries became the first Former Warsaw Pact members join NATO.

On March 29, 2004, the countries of Bulgaria, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Romania, Slovakia, and Slovenia officially became members of the alliance, and this was the largest wave of expansion in NATO's history.

On April 1, 2009, Albania and Croatia signed protocols for joining the alliance, then the Republic of Montenegro joined it in 2017, the Republic of North Macedonia in 2020, then Finland in 2023, and on March 7, 2024, Sweden deposited its instrument of accession to the alliance to become a member state. No. 32.

In addition to the member states, the Alliance has entered into partnerships with many countries outside Europe, and over the past decades it has signed partnership agreements with about 40 countries around the world, and they fall within 4 main agreements: peace partner countries, Mediterranean dialogue countries, Istanbul Cooperation Initiative countries, and finally the agreement. International partners. These partners contribute to NATO-led operations and missions in their regions.

Means of work

According to NATO's website, the aim of its establishment is to ensure the freedom and security of its members through political and military means.

At the political level, the Alliance declares that it is working to “promote democratic values” and enable its members to consult and cooperate on issues related to defense and security to solve problems, build confidence, and prevent conflicts in the long term.

At the military level, the organization is committed to the peaceful resolution of conflicts, and if diplomatic efforts fail, it resorts to the necessary military force to carry out crisis management operations, which are implemented under the collective defense clause in the founding treaty of NATO or under a mandate from the United Nations, alone or In cooperation with other countries and international organizations.

Membership conditions

Membership is open to any European country in a position to advance the principles of the Alliance's founding Treaty and contribute to the security of the North Atlantic region.

To join the alliance, the candidate country must send a letter of intent, and after its approval, technical talks are held within the specialized committees. These talks focus on political, defense and military issues, in addition to discussing resources and the joint budget.

Membership is required for the candidate country to have a unified democratic system, an open market economy, and the ability to contribute to the alliance’s military operations. Membership is not officially accepted except after the approval of all parliaments of member states.

Collective defense mechanism

The main goal of the North Atlantic Treaty was to create a charter for mutual cooperation between member states to confront the Soviet Union’s efforts to extend its control over Eastern Europe and the rest of the continent and the world. This form of solidarity is the heart of the treaty, which is translated into Article 5 of it related to collective defense.

This article stipulates that “if a member of the Alliance is subjected to an armed attack, this action will be considered an attack against all members and they must take such measures as they deem necessary to assist the Ally who has been attacked.”

This assistance is not necessarily military, but rather its assessment is up to each country to determine how it contributes based on its capabilities and material resources.

Article 5 of the treaty was used only once in response to the attacks on the United States of America on September 11, 2011, when it submitted a request to NATO, which subsequently launched the alliance’s first “counter-terrorism” operation in the period from mid-October 2001 to mid-October 2001. May 2002, dubbed “Eagle Aid,” seven NATO AWACS radar planes patrolled the skies over the United States.

On October 26, 2001, the coalition launched its second counter-terrorism operation, Operation Active Endeavor; Elements of NATO's permanent naval forces were sent to patrol the eastern Mediterranean and monitor shipping to detect and deter terrorist activities, and in March 2004 the operation was expanded to include the entire Mediterranean region.

NATO took collective defensive measures on 3 occasions, as it deployed Patriot missiles during the Gulf War in 1991, and in 2003 a package of defensive measures was agreed upon during the crisis in Iraq, and in 2012 it deployed Patriot missiles in response to developments in Syria.

Defense spending

NATO requires member states to spend at least 2% of their gross domestic product to finance the organization, in addition to indirect contributions borne by individual members, which represent the largest component of the Alliance’s funding, and include the forces each country deploys and provides to the organization for the purposes of deterrence and military operations. .

The organization's annual report for 2023 highlighted that European allies and Canada increased defense spending for the ninth year in a row, rising by 11% in real terms compared to 2022, and 11 allies met the guideline of spending 2% of their gross domestic product on defense, and in early 2024 This number rose to 18 allies.

The United States of America contributes 67% of joint military spending, and total spending in 2023 is estimated at approximately $1.1 trillion.

Military deployment

The total number of soldiers in all NATO countries is 3.5 million, 1.2 million of whom are from the United States.

7,000 NATO soldiers are distributed in Estonia (800 soldiers), Latvia (1,200 soldiers), Lithuania (1,200 soldiers), and Poland (4,000 soldiers), where there are American military bases, and a US Navy team of 300 soldiers is deployed in Norway to monitor the Arctic Circle. North, which shares borders with Russia.

In 2023, the alliance announced an increase in the number of its forces on alert in Europe from 40,000 to more than 300,000. It also strengthened its defense forces in the eastern region of Europe bordering Russia with eight multinational combat groups.

Strategic thought

Since its founding, NATO's strategic thinking has evolved during two distinct historical periods: the Cold War period and the post-Cold War period. The strategic concept document, which the Alliance produces every decade, includes its strategic objectives that are developed based on a collective assessment of security threats and concerns.

The alliance's strategy from 1949 to 1991 - characterized by a bipolar confrontation between East and West - was based primarily on defence, deterrence and confrontation rather than on dialogue and cooperation, which led to a dangerous and often costly arms race.

Since 1991, the Alliance has adopted a broader approach, as the concepts of cooperation and security were complementary to the basic concepts of deterrence and defense. After the attacks that occurred on September 11, 2001 on the United States of America, NATO intensified its interest in combating terrorism, the spread of weapons of mass destruction, and hybrid warfare. Emerging and disruptive technologies.

With Russia's attack on Ukraine in 2014 and its annexation of the Crimean Peninsula, fears of the Russian threat and the rise of China prompted the emergence of a new geostrategic landscape. NATO began redeploying its forces on its eastern and southeastern flanks in 2017, and with the outbreak of the Russian-Ukrainian war in February 2022. The alliance moved towards significantly strengthening its deterrence and defense power.

In June 2022, NATO Heads of State and Government approved a new strategic concept document, which defines the Alliance’s priorities and basic tasks for the next decade. It also presents the Alliance’s primary goal, vision, and principles, in addition to assessing the strategic environment and defining NATO’s basic tasks, which are: deterrence, defense, and crisis prevention. Management and cooperative security.

The document considered Russia “the largest and most important direct threat to the security of the allies and the stability of the Euro-Atlantic region,” while it saw “China’s ambitions, its declared policies, and its quest to control the main technological and industrial sectors, supply chains, and strategic materials as a challenge to the interests, security, and values ​​of the alliance countries,” and established what is called “terrorism.” In all its forms, there are direct threats to this coalition and the citizens of its countries.

Source: Al Jazeera