NATO

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The NATO (North Atlantic Treaty Organization) is a military alliance established after World War II by ten European countries and the U.S. and Canada. The 1949 treaty established the principle that its member states agree to mutual defense in response to an attack by any external party. The headquarters of NATO are in Brussels, Belgium.

While NATO had long anticipated a Soviet attack, the actual first invocation of the common defense article was in response to the 9/11 Attack. NATO supported the immediate attack on Afghanistan, but did not endorse the Iraq War; the refusal to do so offended American neoconservatives.

In 2023, as a result of Russia's invasion of the Ukraine, Finland, which shares an 800-mile border with Russia, abandoned its longstanding policies of neutrality and joined NATO. As a result of the same war, Sweden is also seeking membership but is currently being blocked by Turkey and Hungary.

NATO Allies

NATO has 31 member countries, called NATO Allies, in 2023. Each country is a sovereign state, and through NATO, they discuss political and security issues and make collective decisions by consensus.

Click on a column header to sort the table by that item.

1ISO 3166 ALPHA-3 code

No  Name  Short1  Year  Capital 
1 Albania ALB 2009 Tirana
2 Belgium BEL 1949 Brussels
3 Bulgaria BGR 2004 Sofia
4 Canada CAN 1949 Ottowa
5 Croatia HRV 2009 Zagreb
6 Czechia CZE 1999 Prague
7 Denmark DNK 1949 Copenhagen
8 Estonia EST 2004 Tallinn
9 Finland FIN 2023 Helsinki
10 France FRA 1949 Paris, France
11 Germany DEU 1955 Berlin
12 Greece GRC 1951 Athens
13 Hungary HUN 1999 Budapest
14 Iceland ISL 1949 Reykjavik
15 Italy ITA 1949 Rome
16 Latvia LVA 2004 Riga
17 Lithuania LTU 2004 Vilnius
18 Luxembourg LUX 1949 ?
19 Montenegro MNE 2017 Podgorica
20 Netherlands NLD 1949 ?
21 North Macedonia ? 2020 Skopje
22 Norway NOR 1949 Oslo
23 Poland POL 1999 Warsaw
24 Portugal PRT 1949 Lisbon
25 Romania ROU 2004 Bucharest
26 Slovakia SVK 2004 Bratislava
27 Slovenia SVN 2004 Ljubljana
28 Spain ESP 1982 Madrid
29 Türkiye TUR 1952 Ankara
30 United Kingdom GBR 1949 London, United Kingdom
31 United States USA 1949 Washington, D.C.

NOTE: Contents of the above table is from this template.

History

After WWII, both Germanies were demilitarized. Wiederbewaffnung was the political goal of West German rearmament and integration with NATO.

Structure

At the highest level, there is a Secretary-General, Anders Fogh Rasmussen of Denmark, and four senior officers from the major military participants in the Supreme Headquarters Allied Powers Europe (SHAPE):

Military planning and interoperability

Current deployments

One of the challenges is that military decisions now need to be made by consensus of the 26 members; member militaries also may need to clear orders from the NATO tactical commander with their home government.

Afghanistan

There is a substantial military force in Afghanistan, including U.S. forces, although there are also independent U.S. forces there not under ISAF command.

Kosovo

KFOR is the peace operations force in Kosovo, under the authority of United Nations Security Council Resolution 1244.

Historic events