75th anniversary of NATO

Established in the aftermath of World War Two, NATO (North Atlantic Treaty Organisation) is the organisation that implements the North Atlantic Treaty, signed in Washington, D.C. on 4 April 1949. It is a collective security system, with its independent member states agreeing to defend each other against attacks by third parties.

Also called the North Atlantic Alliance, it is an intergovernmental military alliance, originally formed of twelve founding members, now with 32 member states — 30 European and 2 North American – most recently Sweden joined the alliance on 7 March 2024.