The NATO military alliance celebrated the 75th anniversary of the signing of its founding treaty in Washington in April, where its members gathered for an anniversary summit this week.
Here are some facts and figures about the organization, which was founded during the Cold War and gained new momentum through Russia’s war against Ukraine.
– 12 to 32 –
In 1949, only twelve countries were founding members of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization when the United States, Canada and much of Western Europe joined forces to counter the threat posed by their former World War II ally, the Soviet Union.
The alliance’s first Secretary General, Lord Ismay, joked that NATO’s aim was to “keep the Soviet Union out, the Americans in and the Germans down.”
In 1952, the often inconvenient neighbors Turkey and Greece joined the EU, before West Germany also became a member three years later.
After the end of the Cold War, NATO went through several waves of eastward expansion, during which its border with Russia was expanded to include Poland and the former Soviet Baltic states.
Following Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine in 2022, Nordic neighbors Sweden and Finland ended their longstanding non-alignment policy and joined NATO, bringing the alliance’s membership to 32.
In total, almost one billion people live in NATO countries and they generate about 50 percent of global GDP.
A total of 3.2 million men and women serve in their armed forces.
Iceland is the only member without its own army.
– One –
NATO has only used its Article 5 collective defence clause – which states that an attack on one member is an attack on all – once, after the attacks on the United States on September 11, 2001.
This decision was a sign of support for the Alliance’s leading military power and was very different from the threat to Europe that the founders had originally envisaged.
After September 11, 2001, NATO became involved in Afghanistan and remained there until 2021, when a devastating US-led withdrawal allowed the Taliban to regain power.
– Two percent –
In response to Russia’s 2014 annexation of Crimea by Ukraine, NATO allies agreed to spend two percent of their GDP on defense.
This target was raised to at least two percent after the start of Moscow’s full-scale invasion in 2022.
Former US President Donald Trump railed against NATO countries’ underspending and warned that it would encourage Russia to “do whatever it wants” with those who fail to meet their obligations.
By 2024, 23 NATO members are expected to reach or exceed the two percent mark; in 2014, there were only three members.
– 25 –
June 2024 will mark the 25th anniversary of NATO’s deployment of troops to Kosovo in 1999, completing the withdrawal of Serbian forces after their 77-day air campaign.
This military intervention was only the second in NATO’s history after the engagement in Bosnia in the mid-1990s.
A quarter of a century later, NATO’s Kosovo Force (KFOR) is still deployed in the Balkans, making it the Alliance’s longest-running mission.
After unrest last year left 93 NATO soldiers injured, the allies agreed to send an additional 1,000 troops to KFOR, bringing the total number of soldiers to around 4,500.
Other major NATO missions outside the Balkans include the nearly two-decade-long operation in Afghanistan and the bombing of Libya in 2011.
– 43 –
No country has ever left NATO, but France spent nearly 43 years outside the military command structure after then-President Charles de Gaulle withdrew in 1966, complaining about U.S. dominance.
The decision that led to the relocation of NATO headquarters from Paris to Brussels was only reversed in 2009 by then-President Nicolas Sarkozy.
Nevertheless, France’s sometimes tense relationship with NATO remains. In 2019, President Emmanuel Macron spoke of the alliance suffering “brain death.”
Macron later said the Russian invasion of Ukraine in 2022 had woken NATO up with the “worst electric shock”.
del-ec/rlp/mca
