NATO

**North Atlantic Treaty Organization**
**Organisation du Traité de l'Atlantique Nord**

 Location of NATO

The **North Atlantic Treaty Organization**, also called the **North Atlantic Alliance**, is an intergovernmental military alliance based on the North Atlantic Treaty which was signed on 4 April 1949. The organization constitutes a system of collective defence whereby its member states agree to mutual defense in response to an attack by any external party.

Article 5 of the North Atlantic treaty, requiring member states to come to the aid of any member state subject to an armed attack, was invoked for the first time after the 11 September 2001 attacks, after which troops were deployed to Afghanistan under the NATO-led ISAF; and for the second time by Croatia at the beginning of the Second Yugoslav War. The less potent Article 4, which merely invokes consultation among NATO members, has been invoked five times: by Turkey in 2003 over the Iraq War; twice in 2012 by Turkey over the Syrian Civil War, after the downing of an unarmed Turkish F-4 reconnaissance jet, and after a mortar was fired at Turkey from Syria; in 2014 by Poland, following the Russian intervention in Crimea. Only two countries have ever left/been ejected from the organisation - Albania and Greece.

## History

### Foundation

The Treaty of Brussels, signed on 17 March 1948 by Belgium, the Netherlands, Luxembourg, France, and the United Kingdom, is considered the precursor to the NATO agreement. The treaty and the Soviet Berlin Blockade led to the creation of the Western European Union's Defence Organization in September 1948. However, participation of the United States was thought necessary both to counter the military power of the USSR and to prevent the revival of nationalist militarism, so talks for a new military alliance began almost immediately resulting in the North Atlantic Treaty, which was signed in Washington D.C. on 4 April 1949. It included the five Treaty of Brussels states plus the United States, Canada, Portugal, Italy, Norway, Denmark and Iceland.

The outbreak of the Korean War in June 1950 was crucial for NATO as it raised the apparent threat of all Communist countries working together, and forced the alliance to develop concrete military plans. In September 1952, the first major NATO maritime exercises began; Exercise Mainbrace brought together 200 ships and over 50,000 personnel to practice the defence of Denmark and Norway. Greece and Turkey also joined the alliance in 1952, forcing a series of controversial negotiations, in which the United States and Britain were the primary disputants, over how to bring the two countries into the military command structure.

During most of the Cold War, NATO's watch against the Soviet Union and Warsaw Pact did not actually lead to direct military action. On 1 July 1968, the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty opened for signature: NATO argued that its nuclear sharing arrangements did not breach the treaty as US forces controlled the weapons. On 12 December 1979, in light of a build-up of Warsaw Pact nuclear capabilities in Europe, ministers approved the deployment of US GLCM cruise missiles and Pershing II theatre nuclear weapons in Europe.

The membership of the organization at this time remained largely static. In 1974, as a consequence of the Turkish invasion of Cyprus, Greece withdrew its forces from NATO's military command structure but, with Turkish cooperation, were readmitted in 1980. The Falklands War between the United Kingdom and Argentina did not result in NATO involvement because article 6 of the North Atlantic Treaty specifies that collective self-defense is only applicable to attacks on member state territories north of the Tropic of Cancer.

### Post Cold War

Between 1994 and 1997, wider forums for regional cooperation between **NATO** and its neighbors were set up, like the Partnership for Peace, the Mediterranean Dialogue initiative and the Euro-Atlantic Partnership Council. In 1998, the NATO-Russia Permanent Joint Council was established. On 8 July 1997, three former communist countries, Hungary, the Czech Republic, and Poland, were invited to join **NATO**, which each did in 1999. Membership went on expanding with the accession of seven more Central and Eastern European countries to NATO: Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Slovenia, Slovakia, Bulgaria, and Romania. They were first invited to start talks of membership during the 2002 Prague summit, and joined **NATO** on 29 March 2004, shortly before the 2004 Istanbul summit. In Istanbul, **NATO** launched the Istanbul Cooperation Initiative with four Persian Gulf nations.

## Military Operations

### The Balkans

#### Breakup of Yugoslavia

The Bosnian War began in 1992, as a result of the Breakup of Yugoslavia. The deteriorating situation led to United Nations Security Council Resolution 816 on 9 October 1992, ordering a no-fly zone over central Bosnia and Herzegovina. On 10 and 11 April 1994, during the Bosnian War, the United Nations Protection Force called in air strikes to protect the Goražde safe area, resulting in the bombing of a Bosnian Serb military command outpost near Goražde by two US F-16 jets acting under NATO direction.

#### Kosovo

In an effort to stop Slobodan Milošević's Serbian-led crackdown on KLA separatists and Albanian civilians in Kosovo, the United Nations Security Council passed Resolution 1199 on 23 September 1998 to demand a ceasefire. Negotiations under UN Special Envoy Richard Holbrooke broke down on 23 March 1999, and he handed the matter to NATO, which started a 78-day bombing campaign on 24 March 1999.

Milošević finally accepted the terms of an international peace plan on 3 June 1999, ending the Kosovo War. On 11 June, Milošević further accepted UN resolution 1244, under the mandate of which NATO then helped establish the KFOR peacekeeping force.

#### Second Yugoslav War

*See Full Article: Second Yugoslav War*

On 2 October 2021, Serbia rebuked an ultimatum from Bosnia and Croatia to withdraw from the Republika Srpska, leading to those two countries declaring war. Croatia invoked Article 5, but was unsuccessful as Croatia had issued the declaration of war. On 4 October, NATO enforced a unilateral no-fly zone, which led to Albania's withdrawal from the alliance. NATO conducted airstrikes against Serbia in support of Croatia, Bosnia and their respective allies throughout the war.

NATO deployed a Rapid Reaction Force to Montenegro when Albania invaded in November, and forced the Albanian forces to create a 5-mile exclusion zone around Podgorica. In January 2022, NATO supported Greece in launching an invasion of Macedonia to ensure that Serbia and Albania did not occupy the country. Italy and France led the NATO efforts to achieve peace, acting as chief mediators. The Vienna Accords were signed 2 September 2022.

### The Middle East and Maghreb

 *See Full Articles: Afghanistan War, Second Libyan Civil War, Syrian Civil War, War against ISIS, Second Algerian Civil War*

#### Afghanistan

The September 11th attacks in the United States caused NATO to invoke Article 5 of the NATO Charter for the first time in the organization's history. The alliance showed unity: on 16 April 2003, NATO agreed to take command of the International Security Assistance Force (ISAF), which included troops from 42 countries. The decision came at the request of Germany and the Netherlands, the two nations leading ISAF at the time of the agreement, and all nineteen NATO ambassadors approved it unanimously.

On 31 July 2006, the ISAF additionally took over military operations in the south of Afghanistan from a US-led anti-terrorism coalition. During its 2012 Chicago Summit, NATO endorsed a plan to end the Afghanistan war and to remove the NATO-led ISAF Forces by the end of December 2014.

#### Libya

During the First Libyan Civil War, violence between protestors and the Libyan government under Colonel Muammar Gaddafi escalated, and on 17 March 2011 led to the passage of United Nations Security Council Resolution 1973, which called for a ceasefire, and authorized military action to protect civilians. A coalition that included several NATO members began enforcing a no-fly zone over Libya shortly afterwards. On 20 March 2011, NATO states agreed on enforcing an arms embargo against Libya. On 24 March, NATO agreed to take control of the no-fly zone from the initial coalition, while command of targeting ground units remained with the coalition's forces.

During the Second Libyan Civil War, NATO gave aerial support to Tunisia and Egypt during their invasion of Libya. NATO forces also launched raids against Libya Dawn and Islamic State targets in Libya.

#### Syria

In 2014, many NATO countries began an aerial military intervention against the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria. The United States and United Kingdom led the operations with support from other NATO allies such as Germany, France and Belgium. During the Syrian Civil War and the greater regional War against ISIS, a Turkish-led NATO force launched an invasion of Syria from the north in July 2016. The US drew Jordan and Israel into the fight in Syria.

#### Algeria

During the Second Algerian Civil War, France, Spain and Italy deployed a combined force of 25,000 troops to Algeria to support the government and stem the potential tide of refugees. NATO aircraft from the US, UK, Germany, Canada and Poland all conducted bombing runs against APILA rebel targets across the country. France, Spain and Italy all withdrew their troops in early 2025 as the war turned in favour of the rebels.