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Soon after the end of the Second World War, the antagonisms between the former participating powers of the anti-Hitler coalition - the USSR on the one hand and the United Kingdom, France and the USA on the other - became apparent. As early as the Brussels Pact of 17 March 1948, the Western European countries of France, the United Kingdom, the Netherlands, Belgium and Luxembourg formed an alliance for economic, social and cultural cooperation and collective self-defence. This alliance was nominally still intended as a mutual assistance pact against renewed German aggression. On June 11, 1948, the United States Senate passed the so-called Vandenberg Resolution, which stated that in exchange for the U.S. pledge to defend it, every European country must also pledge to defend the United States. In March 1947, the U.S. had assumed the British protecting power role over Greece and Turkey to counter Soviet expansion of power (Truman Doctrine). With the February 1948 upheaval in Czechoslovakia and the Berlin Blockade from June 1948 to May 1949, a possible military threat from the Soviet-led Communist Eastern Bloc came into focus in Western Europe. The Western European states now turned to the United States for military assistance against possible Soviet aggression. This led to a mutual agreement, the North Atlantic Treaty. Discussions on the treaty text and content had been going on since July 6, 1948. On 10 December 1948, negotiations on the North Atlantic Treaty began between the member states of the Brussels Pact, Canada and the United States.
Construction and expansion phase 1949 to 1955
On 4 April 1949, the North Atlantic Treaty was signed by Belgium, Canada, Denmark (with Greenland), France (with the French territories in Algeria), the United Kingdom (with Malta), Iceland, Italy, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Norway, Portugal and the United States. It entered into force on 24 August 1949. With the admission of Portugal, it was accepted that a country that had been ruled dictatorially since 1926 and only transformed into a democracy in 1974 would also be allowed to participate in the fight against the Eastern bloc.
In the first years, the Community was under the impression of the Berlin Blockade of 1948/49 and the detonation of the first Soviet atomic bomb on 29 August 1949. The first Strategic Concept for the Defence of the North Atlantic area, in the original "The Strategic Concept for the Defence of the North Atlantic area (DC 6/1)", was drawn up from 1 December 1949 and approved by the North Atlantic Council on 6 January 1950. It was based on the US strategy of containment. The basic principle during this period was to repel a Soviet attack on Alliance territory as far east as possible. On 28 March 1950, the first defence planning for NATO strategy was approved by the NATO Military Committee (Strategic Guidance for North Atlantic Regional Planning; MC 14). With the outbreak of the Korean War in June 1950, in which the People's Republic of China also intervened in November 1950, military policy in Europe also changed. The United States tripled the size of its strategic bomber force stationed in Britain beginning in August 1950. The European NATO states, fearing that the United States might lose its presence and ability to act in Europe, planned a comprehensive increase in defense spending and a massive increase in personnel in the armed forces by 1954. Thus, most recently, at the end of 1952, the final planning of Strategic Guidances MC 14/1 called for the creation of 18 armored divisions and 71 infantry divisions, and by the end of 1954, 8004 combat aircraft, 672 transport aircraft, 2382 naval and carrier aircraft, 31 aircraft carriers, 2 battleships, 29 cruisers, 920 destroyers, and 107 submarines were to be available. These were to be assigned to a NATO staff in peacetime or earmarked in the event of a crisis. For cost reasons, however, neither could be fully implemented, although extensive military aid was provided by the USA.
On 24 October 1950, the French Prime Minister René Pleven made a proposal for a European Army under the command of a European Minister of Defence, which would also include German battalions. These were to be integrated into Allied troop units under Allied command. Despite considerable disadvantages for the young Federal Republic of Germany, which was to be prevented from joining NATO by the Pleven Plan, Chancellor Konrad Adenauer agreed to it in principle. On 20 December 1950 the member states of the Brussels Pact (Western Union) decided to incorporate the former military organisation into NATO. On 7 February 1951, the US government (Truman cabinet) approved the Pleven Plan for the creation of a European army. On 2 April 1950, the Allied Command Europe became operational, and the Headquarters of the Allied Powers in Europe (SHAPE) was established in Rocquencourt in July 1951. At the Conference of Foreign Ministers of the United States, France, and Great Britain, meeting in Washington from 10 to 14 September 1951, plans were made for the establishment of West German forces to be incorporated into a European army. However, a treaty on the European Defence Community (EDC) signed on 26 May 1952 failed in the French National Assembly on 30 August 1954 by 319 votes to 264.
On 18 February 1952, Greece and Turkey were admitted to NATO and NATO's Allied Land Forces South-Eastern Europe Command (LANDSOUTHEAST) was established in Izmir. On 20 February 1952, NATO was given a permanent organization in Paris. On 12 March 1952, Lord Ismay of Britain was appointed the first Secretary General of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, and the term began on 4 April 1952. On 10 April 1952, Allied Command Atlantic (ACLANT) officially began operations in Norfolk, Virginia. It was originally called SACLANT, after the "Supreme Allied Commander Atlantic." SACLANT U.S. Admiral Lynde D. McCormick had held this position since January 30, 1952.
On 3 December 1952, the Strategic Concept for the Defense of the North Atlantic Area (MC 3/5) was modified, and the strategic guidelines, defense planning, and force objectives resulted in Strategic Directive MC 14/1, also known as Forward Strategy, on 9 December 1952.
On 21 March 1953 NATO adopted the US-developed nuclear strategy of Massive Retaliation, and this was set out in the Overall Strategic Concept for the Defense of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (MC 14/2). In March 1953, Allied Forces Mediterranean (AFMED) was established on the British island of Malta, and in August 1953, Allied Forces Central Europe Command (AFCENT) was established in Fontainebleau, France.
Development from 1955 to 1967
On 16 March 1955, US President Dwight D. Eisenhower announced the use of tactical nuclear weapons against military targets in the event of war.
The signing of the Paris Treaties on 23 October 1954 in the course of the Westward integration of the Federal Republic of Germany invited it to join, which was solemnly accomplished shortly after the treaties came into force in an accession ceremony at the Palais de Chaillot in Paris on 9 May 1955. On May 14, 1955, the WarsawPact was formed because of this NATO accession. On 15 May 1955, the Austrian State Treaty was signed in Vienna, which restored the sovereignty of the state and led to the withdrawal of the occupying forces by October 1955.
On March 13, 1957, the U.S. headquarters in the Federal Republic announced its intention to equip U.S. forces with nuclear weapons. Polish Foreign Minister Adam Rapacki submitted the Rapacki Plan to the UN General Assembly, which called for the formation of a nuclear-weapon-free zone encompassing the People's Republic of Poland, the Federal Republic of Germany, and the German Democratic Republic. This area was later expanded in the plan to include Czechoslovakia.
On 23 May 1957, the North Atlantic Council adopted the US-developed nuclear strategy of Massive Retaliation, and this was set out in the Overall Strategic Concept for the Defense of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (MC 14/2).
On 19 September 1958, the first US medium-range Thor missiles were deployed in the UK; once operational, they were under the command of the Royal Air Force (RAF). On November 10, 1958, Nikita Khrushchev announced the Berlin Ultimatum, demanding the transformation of West Berlin into a demilitarized "independent political entity."
On 11 March 1959, France withdrew its fleet from NATO subordination. On 31 October 1959, Turkey agreed to the deployment of US medium-range Jupiter missiles. A total of one U.S. squadron of 26 missiles was deployed by 1960. The US also stationed two Jupiter squadrons of 25 missiles in Italy by 1960.
On 21 April 1960, the United States offered to supply NATO member states with sea-launched Polaris Missiles (SLBMs). NATO Supreme Allied Commander General Lauris Norstad formally proposed the establishment of a multilateral nuclear force to NATO on 12 October 1960. The United States first launched a Minuteman intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) from a bunkered silo on 30 January 1961. On May 10, 1961, U.S. President John F. Kennedy stressed to the NATO Military Committee the strengthening of conventional combat power and the need to control nuclear weapons. On 20 July 1962, NATO Supreme Allied Commander General Norstad resigned over differences on future NATO strategy. He was succeeded by General Lyman L. Lemnitzer. With the deployment of Soviet medium-range R-12 (SS-4 Sandal) missiles in Cuba, the Cuban Missile Crisis broke out in October 1962. Never before had a nuclear war been so likely as at that time.
In the December 1965 elections in France, President Charles de Gaulle was confirmed in office, and he began to change his defense policy. With the first French nuclear weapon explosion on 13 February 1960 in Reggane in Algeria, the country had entered the circle of nuclear powers and built up its own nuclear force with the Force de dissuasion nucléaire française. With strengthened self-confidence, France also remembered the sometimes humiliating treatment by the Allies during the Second World War. De Gaulle rejected permanent U.S. dominance of NATO and demanded that U.S. and Canadian units stationed in France be placed under French command. After the U.S. refused to agree, on February 10, 1966, the French president called for the withdrawal of Allied troops and NATO headquarters on the grounds that "France now seeks the full exercise of its sovereignty, which is not guaranteed by the stationing of foreign forces on its soil," and at the same time declared the withdrawal of its troops from NATO military integration. On July 1, 1966, France's representatives withdrew from NATO's military bodies. 30,000 NATO troops had to leave France, the military headquarters SHAPE was moved to Mons in Belgium, EUCOM to Stuttgart and AFCENT to Brunssum in the Netherlands by 1967. On 16 October 1966, under pressure from the United States, the members of the NATO Council also unanimously approved the relocation of their supreme political body to Brussels. This had not been demanded by de Gaulle. In 1966, the formation of a Multilateral Force failed.
Until the 1960s, the Western alliance was clearly superior to its adversary in terms of nuclear warheads and means of delivery. Officially, the strategy was one of massive retaliation: in response to a conventional attack, NATO envisaged the immediate and full-scale use of nuclear weapons against the USSR and the Warsaw Pact. However, the strong expansion of Soviet nuclear strategic potential since the early 1960s changed the situation. The stalemate that gradually developed between the superpowers forced NATO to rethink its strategy. On 14 December 1966, the Nuclear Planning Group (NPG) was established for the role of nuclear weapons in the Alliance.
Development from 1967 to 1984
As a result of the Harmel Report published in the North Atlantic Council in 1967, the strategy of graduated response (Flexible Response) was confirmed and adopted for NATO at the NATO Ministerial Council meeting in Brussels on 14 December 1967. The strategy of massive retaliation was also no longer used to reduce nuclear risks. Instead, NATO's "two-pillar doctrine" placed the focus on military security through conventional forces and the newly developed tactical nuclear weapons on the one hand and the policy of détente on the other. In the years that followed, NATO built a new self-image: The triad of conventional, tactical nuclear and strategic nuclear potentials and the motto security = defence and détente led to new approaches between NATO and the Warsaw Pact.
At the NATO Council of Ministers meeting in Reykjavík, Iceland, on 24-25 June 1968, the declaration on mutual and balanced troop reductions, the so-called "Reykjavík Signal", was made. On August 21, 1968, Warsaw Pact troops invaded Czechoslovakia, ending the Prague Spring. On November 12, 1968, Soviet leader Leonid Brezhnev promulgated the Brezhnev Doctrine on the limited sovereignty of socialist states.
In 1969, on Richard Nixon's initiative, an attempt was made to build up a third, more civilian pillar of NATO. Secretary General Manlio Giovanni Brosio planned to expand NATO into a marketplace of ideas and proposals. It was to contribute to the defence against environmental threats and to the improvement of environmental conditions, from urban planning to pollution. Nixon's appointee, later UN Ambassador Daniel Patrick Moynihan, named acid rain in particular, such as the "greenhouse effect" (translation at the time of the greenhouse effect), as topics for the body. NATO was considered suitable because of its expertise in the meteorological field (there had already been initiatives on air pollution control in the organisation in the early 1960s), its experience with transnational research and its direct government access. In Germany, the proposal was initially received enthusiastically by the Kiesinger government and intensively worked on interministerially, but the results were mainly used by civil society. The German government adopted a wait-and-see attitude, partly because environmental issues were seen more as a component of (civilian) domestic policy and the initiative was seen as an attempt by the USA to re-establish its international leadership role after the lost Vietnam War. Dealing with it within a military alliance would tend to damage international civilian cooperation.
In 1970, defence spending by NATO member countries, excluding the US and Canada, amounted to $24.53 billion. On 20 March 1970, the first NATO communications satellite, NATO 1, was launched from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in the U.S. From April 1976 to November 1984, four more NATO communications satellites (NATO III A to D) were launched.
On 1 October 1970, the Euro-Group, the European group of NATO member states, met for the first time in Brussels and discussed burden-sharing for US deployments in Europe. On December 2, 1970, the Euro-Group adopted a "Defense Improvement Program" until 1975 and a cost of $420 million, with West Germany contributing about 40%.
In the summer of 1971, NATO's ground-based air defence network, NADGE (NATO Air Defence Ground Environment), was successfully tested for the first time with a radar chain some 5,000 km long from the North Cape and Iceland to Malta and eastern Turkey and around 40 radar stations.
From 14 to 28 September 1972, NATO conducted its largest manoeuvre to date in the North Atlantic with the participation of the Allied Command Europe Mobile Force. Exercise Strong Express was the Alliance's response to the Warsaw Pact ocean manoeuvres and the Shield manoeuvre in Czechoslovakia. From 22 January to 8 February 1973, the Sunny Seas 73 naval manoeuvre took place in the southeast section of the North Atlantic. On 2 May 1973, the formation of a multinational English Channel Fleet was announced.
On 23 April 1973, the US President's National Security Adviser, Henry Kissinger, announced a proposal to draw up a new Atlantic Charter that would include Japan. However, this proposal was rejected by the other NATO member states.
On 3 July 1973, the first Conference on Security and Co-operation in Europe (CSCE) was held in Helsinki.
On 14 August 1974, Greece withdrew from the military integration of NATO after Turkish troops landed on Cyprus from 20 July (Cyprus conflict).
On 1 August 1975, the CSCE Final Act was signed, representing the first real step towards partnership and peaceful co-operation in Europe. On 1 June 1976, French President Valéry Giscard d'Estaing announced France's early participation in NATO's pre-defence role in the event of defence.
In late 1976, NATO became aware of the deployment of Soviet SS-20 intermediate-range missiles west of the Ural Mountains.
In October 1977, NATO foreign ministers in Bari, Italy, agreed to form the High-Level Group (HLG), which was subordinate to the Nuclear Planning Group (NPG). It comprised representatives from twelve NATO countries. The HLG worked out the basis for the NATO dual decision.
On 4 October 1977, the CSCE Follow-up Meeting began in Belgrade, Yugoslavia. On 28 October 1977, Chancellor Helmut Schmidt gave a speech to the International Institute for Strategic Studies in London and emphasized the growing disparity in the area of medium-range missiles with simultaneous nuclear-strategic parity between the superpowers.
NATO's Nuclear Planning Group (NPG) discussed deterrence capability issues vis-à-vis Warsaw Pact nuclear forces in Europe on 18-19 October 1978 and recommended the modernisation of NATO's intermediate-range missiles.
The NATO Double Decision of 1979 is still controversial today, because the rearmament of medium-range missiles in Europe and the simultaneous offer of negotiations to the USSR did not immediately lead to the hoped-for détente. The double decision was sharply criticized by peace activists all over Europe during their Easter marches. Whether this renewed intensification of the arms race was one of the causes of the collapse of the Eastern Bloc, or whether these countries were facing economic collapse anyway, is still highly controversial today.
On 10 August 1981, the ambassadors of the NATO member states were informed in Brussels of the decision of US President Ronald Reagan that the "neutron nuclear weapon" would be built and deployed in the USA. Since 1974, about 800 neutron warheads have been manufactured in the USA and scrapped by 1992.
In May 1981, the North Atlantic Council (NAC) gave the High-Level Group (HLG) of the Nuclear Planning Group (NPG) the task of analysing the threat to NATO and preparing for the Intermediate Range Nuclear Forces negotiations in Geneva.
On November 30, 1981, the INF negotiations between the United States and the Soviet Union on intermediate-range nuclear systems began.
In 1982 Spain became the 16th member of NATO.
According to the West German Federal Ministry of Defence, in September 1983 the Soviet Union had 39 positions with 351 SS-20 missiles ready for deployment with a maximum of 1,053 nuclear warheads, of which 243 missiles were deployed in the western Soviet military districts of Belarus, Carpathians and Urals. In addition, 248 SS-4 Sandel and SS-5 Skean missiles were still deployed in 1983. Various missile defence systems on the side of the USA and the Soviet Union were not taken into account.
Beginning on November 2, 1983, NATO conducted Able Archer 83, a ten-day maneuver across Europe that simulated nuclear war.
From 14 November 1983, the deployment of US medium-range missiles in Europe began. On 8 December 1983, the Soviet Union broke off the INF negotiations in Geneva.
Development from 1985 to 1990
The change in Soviet foreign policy under CPSU General Secretary Mikhail Sergeyevich Gorbachev and the reforms introduced (glasnost and perestroika) gave rise to controversial discussions within NATO countries on how to respond to this policy.
On 1 June 1988, the INF Treaty on the destruction of all missiles with medium and shorter ranges (500 to 5500 kilometres) and their production ban between the Soviet Union and the USA came into force. This led to the dismantling of medium-range missiles in Europe by 1991.
On 2 February 1989, after almost 16 years, the MBFR negotiations were unsuccessfully broken off and replaced by the Conventional Armed Forces in Europe (CFE) Treaty negotiations, which began on 9 March 1989. In May 1989, a NATO communiqué on the modernization of short-range nuclear missiles (SRBMs) was made conditional on further developments within the Warsaw Pact.
With the fall of the Iron Curtain in 1989 and the dissolution of the Eastern Bloc in 1991, the geopolitical situation in Europe changed fundamentally. This of course had a fundamental impact on NATO and the related possibilities for preparing the enlargement of the European Union in the East. On 12 September 1990, the Two Plus Four Treaty, a state treaty relating to Germany, was signed by representatives of both German states and the four victorious powers of the Second World War. It paved the way for the reunification of Germany and the dissolution of the German Democratic Republic. The Soviet, later Russian Western Group of Troops (WGT) of 340,000 troops stationed in the former GDR was withdrawn by 1994.
Development from 1991 to 1999
In the ensuing transition period, new ideas and structures emerged. NATO was to continue to play an important role in the Euro-Atlantic security order and act as a transatlantic link. In addition, new tasks were added after the dissolution of the Warsaw Pact. Thus, NATO was to be an instrument of crisis management, continue to be an arms control verification and enforcement instrument, and remain an intact military alliance for UN peacekeeping operations as well as for the OSCE. At the NATO Summit in Rome on 8 November 1991, a new Alliance strategy was adopted. It was based on the triad of dialogue, co-operation and the preservation of defence capabilities and replaced the concept of "flexible response".
In December 1991, the NATO Cooperation Council (NACC) was constituted to maintain the stability of the Alliance.
The "new ideas" also include NATO's readiness for "out-of-area" missions, agreed in 1992. After authorization by the UN Security Council or the OSCE, missions outside NATO territory are now possible. The consequence of this decision was NATO's active warfare operations with the air strikes against Yugoslavia during the Kosovo war. This process is criticised because no NATO member state was attacked, nor was there any authorisation from the UN Security Council.
On 10 January 1994, an agreement was reached in Brussels with interested Central and Eastern European states of the NACC to cooperate on military and security policy issues, thus also opening up the prospect of accession. There were close links with the Partnership for Peace (PfP) programme. In addition to joint manoeuvres, the Peace Implementation Forces (IFOR) and the Stabilisation Force (SFOR) were the first joint military operations with former Warsaw Pact member states in Yugoslavia.
On 1 January 1995 the Bundeswehr units stationed in East Germany (at that time about 50,000 soldiers) were integrated into the NATO alliance structure.
Between 1990 and 1997, NATO reduced its land forces by 35%, its navy by 30%, and its air force by 40%. Land-based tactical nuclear weapons were withdrawn from Europe, and US forces in Europe were reduced from 300,000 troops (1989) to an initial 100,000 troops (1997).
At the end of the 1990s, NATO underwent a further transformation with the aim of achieving a rapid intervention capability in crisis areas, greater flexibility and a move away from bipolar threat thinking in conjunction with a correction in command levels and institutional set-ups.
At the NATO Council Conference in Berlin in June 1996, the Combined Joint Task Force (CJTF) concept was adopted. This provides for multinational (combined) units (task forces) of different types of weapons (joint) coordinated for joint deployment, depending on the task, and is intended to enable NATO member states in Europe, even without the USA, to use Alliance material and logistics and to conduct military operations outside NATO territory.
The former NATO Cooperation Council was also transformed into the Euro-Atlantic Partnership Council (EAPC) at the initiative of the United States at the NATO meeting in Sintra, Portugal, on 30 May 1997. The EAPC provides for annual meetings at ministerial level and regular monthly meetings at ambassadorial level with subordinate committees.
In May 1997, the Founding Act on Mutual Relations, Co-operation and Security between NATO and the Russian Federation, which was a precondition for NATO's eastward enlargement, was agreed in Paris. In it, NATO and Russia no longer referred to each other as adversaries. Internally, it was decided to transform NATO from a military to a mostly political organization. To this end, the NATO-Russia Council (NRC) was added as a coordination forum.
At the NATO summit in Madrid on 8 and 9 July 1997, Poland, Hungary and the Czech Republic were offered NATO membership and a NATO-Ukraine Charter on a "special partnership" was agreed with Ukraine.
At the end of 1997, accession protocols were signed with Poland, the Czech Republic and Hungary, three former Warsaw Pact countries. Following ratification of the instruments of accession, their accession became effective on 12 March 1999.
On 10 July 1998, the two NATO countries, the United Kingdom and Spain, agreed to include the use of Gibraltar in NATO manoeuvres. Spain had previously refused to do so. The agreement cleared the way for the establishment of a NATO command in Spain, as requested by the Spanish government, after the United Kingdom withdrew its threatened veto.
On 24 March 1999, NATO launched air strikes against Belgrade in the course of the Kosovo war. Largely led by the United States, Operation Allied Force was the first war waged by NATO both outside of an alliance case, the declaration of which had until then been considered the basis for NATO-wide action, and without an explicit UN mandate.
At the NATO Anniversary Summit in Washington on 24 April 1999, NATO adopted a new Strategic Concept (The Alliance's Strategic Concept). The result is a revision of the 1991 Strategic Concept.
Development 2000 to 2009
Terrorist attacks in the USA on 11 September 2001
Immediately after the terrorist attacks in the United States on 11 September 2001, NATO, for the first time in its history, provisionally put into force, on 1 October 2001, the alliance contingency (collective defence contingency) under Article 5 of the NATO Treaty, also known as the Washington Treaties, in full. Article 5 provides, in consultation with the governments of NATO member states, for the restoration and maintenance of the security of the North Atlantic area, and an armed attack on an Ally, in this case the United States, is seen as an attack against any of the Allies.
On 4 October 2001, NATO countries agreed on a series of measures to support the US in its fight against international terrorism. These included the exchange of intelligence information, unrestricted overflight rights and access to ports and airfields in the accession area by U.S. forces, and the deployment of a permanent NATO naval force to the eastern Mediterranean (Operation Active Endeavour). Although members still consider the attack on the World Trade Center to be an armed attack that triggered the Alliance's Article 5 status, the governments of NATO member states have in some cases had completely different views on the consequences to be drawn.
NATO has so far had little to offer in the way of a response to the increased threat posed by international terrorism since 11 September 2001. Traditionally, the organization sees itself as an alliance of states against attacks from other states. This makes it difficult to classify this terrorist attack - that of a few extremist individuals acting without an official declaration of war by an attacking country.
ISAF mission in Afghanistan
→ Main article: International Security Assistance Force
The International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) has been a security and reconstruction mission in Afghanistan since 2001, initially supported and led by a group of countries including Germany, the United Kingdom, Canada, Turkey and others. Since 2003, ISAF has been under NATO leadership. It was established at the request of the new Afghan government to the international community and with the approval of the United Nations Security Council (Resolution 1386 of 20 December 2001). The mission is not a blue-helmet mission, but a so-called peace enforcement mission under the responsibility of the participating states. ISAF is operationally led by NATO through Commander Allied Joint Force Command Brunssum (JFC Brunssum) in the Netherlands. The mission ended on 31 December 2014.
NATO-Russia Council
→ Main article: NATO-Russia Council
The NATO-Russia Council (NRC) was founded in Rome on 28 May 2002 and serves to improve cooperation between the NATO countries and Russia in matters of defence and security policy. Russia's integration into NATO initially brought about intensive cooperation at many levels. Russia had already participated in the NATO-led SFOR in Bosnia-Herzegovina and in KFOR in Kosovo with up to 1500 soldiers.
NATO Rapid Reaction Force
At the NATO summit meeting in Prague on 22 November 2002, a reaction force, the so-called NATO Response Force (NRF), was created with land, air and naval forces for rapid deployment and declared fully operational in November 2006 with a target strength of 25,000 soldiers.
Iraq Crisis
→ Main article: Iraq crisis 2003
The USA accused Iraq of serious violations of UN requirements. In February 2003, US Secretary of State Colin Powell attempted to prove to the UN Security Council that Iraq had resumed prohibited weapons programs by presenting satellite photographs, tape recordings and other documents. Powell's explanations, however, were not enough to convince the Security Council of the necessity of going to war.
The USA and the United Kingdom now tried to ask the United Nations for authorisation to attack Iraq. This was rejected by Germany, a NATO member represented on the UN Security Council, Russia and France. Thereupon a coalition of the willing was forged in order to nevertheless be able to present broad-based support as a legitimisation of war.
As part of the preparations for the US plans to invade Iraq, a serious crisis arose within NATO: France and Belgium vetoed the question of whether Turkey should be provided with preventive defence systems (German Patriot air defence missiles) so that it could defend itself against possible counterattacks in the event of an attack on Iraq. Germany later joined in the veto (but only after the deadline had expired; from a purely formal point of view, the German veto is therefore invalid, but politically it was no less explosive for that). This led to an intensification of the pre-existing transatlantic antagonisms between these countries and Russia on the one hand, and the US and the UK on the other. It is unclear whether this rift through the alliance will still have an impact on its long-term prospects after 2008 (i.e. after the end of George W. Bush's second term) as a relevant military alliance from the US perspective.
Eastward enlargement of NATO 2004
→ Main article: NATO enlargement to the east
At the NATO Summit in Prague on 21-22 November 2002, NATO invited Bulgaria, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia, Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania to accession talks. On 29 March 2004, these seven countries became NATO members.
Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania became NATO members for the first time in former Soviet territory, and Slovenia was the first former constituent republic of Yugoslavia to become a member.
NATO missile defence programme
→ Main article: Active Layered Theatre Ballistic Missile Defence
The missile defence programme, designated Active Layered Theatre Ballistic Missile Defence (ALTBMD) by the North Atlantic Council since September 2005, provides for the detection and engagement of enemy short- and medium-range missiles up to a range of 3,000 km. In July 2006, NATO Secretary General Jaap de Hoop Scheffer announced plans for a pan-European missile defense program. In particular, the United Kingdom, Poland and the Czech Republic are already actively cooperating with the United States in this area.
Combating piracy in the Gulf of Aden
→ Main article: Piracy off the coast of Somalia
Starting in 2008, NATO helped protect maritime traffic in the Gulf of Aden and the Indian Ocean from Somali pirates and strengthen the navies and coast guards of regional states. The operation was authorized by the North Atlantic Council and involved warships that came mainly from the United States. Operation Ocean Shield focuses on protecting Operation Allied Provider ships that distribute aid in Somalia as part of the United Nations World Food Program. Russia, China and South Korea have sent warships to participate in the activities as well. The operation aims to prevent pirate attacks, protect ships and increase the overall level of security in the region.
Development from 2010 to 2014
Russia's break with the West
The US government under George W. Bush (early 2001 to early 2009) pushed the National Missile Defense system for a time after the terrorist attacks on September 11, 2001, and as part of it also an interceptor missile station in Poland and a radar station in the Czech Republic. This was criticized by the Russian government. Barack Obama announced in September 2009 that he would not build a radar station in the Czech Republic and would station the interceptor missiles at sea.
As early as 2007, at the Munich Security Conference, Russia's President Putin described NATO's expansion plans as a threat to the Russian security situation and a "serious provocation".
On February 5, 2010, then-President of Russia Dmitry Medvedev approved a new version of Russia's military doctrine. It states that NATO remains a military threat to Russia.
Deployment of mobile and modular missile defence systems
→ Main article: Active Layered Theatre Ballistic Missile Defence
On 20 November 2010, the representatives of the NATO member states decided at their summit in Lisbon to extend the planned missile shield to the territories and populations of Europe. Since 2009, the planning process has been abandoning the stationing of fixed elements in both the Czech Republic and Poland and favouring the deployment of mobile and modular defence systems. The Active Layered Theater Ballistic Missile Defense Programme Office, based in Brussels and The Hague, is responsible for coordinating the defense program.
At the Lisbon summit, President Medvedev agreed for the first time on Russia's participation in the development of the missile defence system.
The missile defence system in Poland and the Czech Republic should cost around 1.6 billion US dollars by 2012 and, according to US information, protect against possible missile attacks by states such as Iran and North Korea. Russian President Dmitry Medvedev interpreted the plans to build the US missile defence systems as an arms build-up against Russia and planned to station missiles in Kaliningrad in return.
Libya
→ Main article: International military operation in Libya 2011
During the uprising in Libya against the dictator Muammar al-Gaddafi, the situation escalated into a civil war. NATO then launched an international military operation in Libya. With the help of Qatar, Jordan, the United Arab Emirates and Sweden, the rebels finally succeeded in toppling the Gaddafi regime. The mission lasted from March 19 to October 31, 2011.
Turkey
During the Syrian civil war, there were sporadic missile strikes from Syria on Turkish territory, whereupon Turkey called upon the Alliance in accordance with Article 4 of the NATO Treaty. As a result, the NATO Council decided on 4 December 2012 to deploy Patriot missiles near the Turkish-Syrian border to protect Turkey. By January 30, 2013, all missiles were operational as part of Operation Active Fence. However, their range is significantly shorter than the distance of their deployment sites to the Turkish-Syrian border. Furthermore, deployment and operational readiness took several weeks. The range-to-station ratio and the long duration of deployment suggest a political character of the operation rather than a purely military one. It is therefore argued that the deployment serves to demonstrate alliance solidarity with Turkey, to provide reassurance for the country and to further Turkey's strategic ties with the West. In contrast, critics of the deployment, such as Jan van Aken, see the deployment of the missiles as a further step towards a military escalation of the conflict.
Development since 2014
War in Ukraine
→ Main article: War in Ukraine since 2014
The 2014 NATO summit in Newport, Wales, was dominated by the war in Ukraine and agreed on a 'NATO Readiness Action Plan'. NATO suspended military cooperation with Russia in early April 2014, but initially maintained political channels in the NATO-Russia Council. From the conflict in Ukraine, NATO concluded that it needs to supplement the NATO Response Force with a response force known as the Very High Readiness Joint Task Force (Spearhead), which should be able to deploy by air within two to five days with 3000 to 5000 troops. In addition, the Alliance's presence in the Central and Eastern European member states will be expanded. Rotating units are to be deployed for this purpose. In addition, NATO's permanent maritime task forces are to be strengthened.
Framework Nations Concept
→ Main article: Framework nations concept
On Germany's initiative, the Framework Nations Concept (FNC) was adopted at the NATO Summit in Wales in 2014. The aim of this concept is for a large "lean-to" power to provide a framework for cooperation with smaller European armed forces in which military resources are pooled, jointly planned and procured. In addition, the partners should be able to integrate units of their armed forces into the Bundeswehr in order to form joint large units. In the long term, this is intended to create a powerful alliance of European armies. While ten countries were involved in the German FNC group at the beginning, there are now 21 - including EU countries that are not members of NATO. In addition to Germany, Great Britain and Italy are also pursuing their own framework nation concepts. However, their objectives and measures differ significantly from those of the German initiative. The Framework Nations Concept is based on "coalitions of the willing" that agree to achieve NATO planning goals through joint armament projects. In this way, capability gaps are to be gradually closed. There are now 24 such FNC clusters.
NATO Enhanced Forward Presence
→ Main article: NATO Enhanced Forward Presence
The NATO Enhanced Forward Presence (eFP) is an armament initiative to secure the Alliance's eastern flank and was decided on 8 and 9 July 2016 at the NATO Summit in Warsaw, Poland. It is designed to deter Russia and is based on the deployment of multinational combat forces (NATO Battlegroups) of around 1,000 troops each on a rotating basis to the Baltic states of Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania as well as Poland for training and exercise purposes. Since 2016, several NATO Force Integration Units have also been established in Central and Eastern Europe to provide command and control. They are manned on a rotational basis.
Turkey
In 2016, the Scientific Services of the German Bundestag certified that "[e]very Turkish military operation in Syria [...] - like the military operations of France, Germany, the United Kingdom, the United States and other members of the so-called 'anti-IS coalition' - could invoke the right of self-defence under international law in the form of the right to emergency assistance under Article 51 of the UN Charter (in favour of France or Iraq)". Since the fighting took place on Syrian territory, no obligation to render assistance under Article 5 of the NATO Treaty could be derived from it. The services stressed that they did not have to assess "[a]ll military action by Turkey against the Assad regime itself or against the Syrian Kurds in Northern Syria (YPG)", as such action was not under discussion.
In the fall of 2019, however, fears were raised that after the invasion of Turkish troops in northern Syria, clashes between the Turkish and Syrian militaries could lead to a declaration of the NATO alliance case. At a press conference, Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu had demanded a "clear and unequivocal" declaration of solidarity from NATO in the presence of NATO Secretary General Stoltenberg. In fact, Turkey's offensive was condemned by the other NATO member states. The European countries represented on the UN Security Council (United Kingdom, France, Belgium, Germany and Poland) requested a special meeting to discuss the course of action regarding the offensive.
Role of the USA during Trump's term in office
During the 2016 presidential campaign, Donald Trump rated NATO "obsolete" several times. Shortly before taking office, he justified this judgment: NATO was designed a long time ago, and far too few member countries pay what they should. "We should be protecting these countries, but many of these countries are not paying what they should be paying".
Shortly after his election, then-German Defence Minister Ursula von der Leyen appealed to Trump, as president-elect of the United States, to remain loyal to the alliance. The task of NATO and its member states, she said, was to defend "common values" and not to "make a good deal" in monetary terms. Richard Herzinger in June 2017 criticized what he saw as Trump's lingering view that "U.S. military power is something like a private security service" that "other countries could hire, but which stops providing its service if the customer defaults on payment."
In April 2017, Trump had called NATO a "bulwark of international peace and security" during a meeting with Jens Stoltenberg. Stoltenberg had then praised the US administration's "very strong commitment" to Europe's security.
In July 2018, German Chancellor Angela Merkel questioned whether the United States was still a reliable partner. "What we have considered quite natural for many decades, namely that the United States of America sees itself as a power of order for the whole world, for better or for worse, that is no longer so assured for the future," the chancellor said at her summer press conference in Berlin. The week before, during his trip to Europe, US President Donald Trump had again called NATO into question and described the European Union as an adversary.
In January 2019, the US House of Representatives passed a NATO Support Act by a vote of 357 to 22. This cut off all financial resources to the president for a possible US withdrawal from NATO.
NATO 2030 Process
In December 2019, NATO Heads of State and Government tasked Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg with leading a forward-looking reflection process to strengthen NATO. In June 2020, the Secretary General set out his priorities for NATO 2030: ensuring that NATO remains strong militarily, becomes even stronger politically, and takes a more global approach.
To support the Secretary General's work, NATO 2030 brings together Allied parliamentarians, in particular the members of the NATO Parliamentary Assembly, civil society, experts from the public and private sectors, and young people, to think afresh about how NATO can become an even stronger Alliance. The Secretary General will present his proposals to NATO Heads of State and Government at their meeting in Brussels in 2021.
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