The North Atlantic Treaty Organization is a military alliance of 32 member countries from Europe and North America. NATO was established in 1949 with 12 founding nations, and its primary purpose is to provide a collective security framework—originally established to defend Western European nations against aggression from the Soviet Union.
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"NATO Through Time" is a podcast exploring NATO’s history and its impact on today’s world. This episode features General Jennie Carignan, Canada’s top military leader, as she shares insights from her NATO missions in Bosnia, Afghanistan, and Iraq.
The NATO constitution is intentionally vague about what exactly is required from its members. Explore the historical debates and learn more about common misconceptions about NATO’s common defense clause.
BBC explores how much each NATO member spends on defense and includes a helpful map displaying the defense spending of European countries as a percentage of GDP.
The collective defense clause of the NATO constitution has only been invoked one time: after the 9/11 terrorist attacks against the United States. This video explores the immediate actions NATO took to respond to the attacks to support the United States. These firsthand clips from 2001 give a sense of the magnitude of the moment and the difficult decisions facing NATO leaders at the time.
The "SNAFU" podcast, hosted by actor and comedian Ed Helms, explores some of the biggest blunders in history. Season one focuses on the 1983 NATO Able Archer military exercise, a war game that simulated nuclear attacks on the Soviet Union. The USSR mistook the exercise for a genuine threat and prepared its forces for war. Helms recounts this almost catastrophic event in world history with his signature humor.
The pact included Albania, Bulgaria, Czechoslovakia, East Germany, Hungary, Poland, Romania, and the USSR. The pact established collective security and a joint military command between the member countries.
NATO countries' main deterrent against aggression is their ability to respond with nuclear weapons. This video from "The Infographics Show" outlines the purpose of this nuclear arsenal, NATO’s strategy to prevent attacks, and its plans in the event of escalation toward nuclear war.
Estonia is host to one of the world’s largest annual interactive cybersecurity drills. Russia is always considered the main threat, but this year, the war in Ukraine has only added to the stakes.
The Associated Press article discusses US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth's assertion in February of 2025 that restoring Ukraine's prewar borders or NATO membership for the country are both unrealistic. This represented a large rift between the United States and its other NATO allies, prompting concern about America’s commitment to the future of the alliance.
Explore this interactive map to learn more about NATO, how the Alliance works, and how it responds to today’s security challenges
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