75 years of NATO

Content

1. Return to the Core Mission

2. NATO throughout History

3. Breach of international Law in 2014

4. “Zeitenwende” or the 2022 Watershed Moment of Security Policy

5. The US and the Transatlantic Defence Alliance

6. Germany's Role in NATO

7. NATO’s Current Challenges

8. Publications, events and media contributions on the topic

NATO celebrates its 75th anniversary in 2024. We are taking this as an opportunity to honour the historical role of the alliance in maintaining peace in Europe. Our activities and publications will shed light on current and future developments in the Alliance and discuss present challenges, also against the backdrop of Russia's war of aggression against Ukraine.

Adobe Stock / cineberg

In 2024, NATO will have two reasons to celebrate: in addition to the 75th anniversary of its existence, Sweden's accession to the Alliance (32nd member) will add another flag to the round of NATO allies' flags in front of its headquarters in Brussels.

Return to the Core Mission: NATO returns to Deterrence and Defence

In the 75th year of its existence, the North Atlantic Treaty Alliance has returned to its core mission: deterrence and defence of a territorial aggressor. Founded on 4 April 1949, NATO was primarily a response to the Soviet Union's expansionist ambitions and military superiority over Western Europe after the Second World War. On 9 May 1955 - ten years after the German capitulation - Chancellor Konrad Adenauer signed the Federal Republic's certificate of accession to the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation in Paris. To this day, NATO membership is an important - if not the most important - cornerstone of German security and defence policy. Remarkably, the Bundeswehr was founded on 12 November 1955, six months after Germany joined NATO!  The Bundeswehr has therefore been involved in NATO's multilateral cooperation from the very beginning.

NATO Throughout History: Searching for Meaning after the Cold War and Eastward Enlargement

Here, the history of the alliance touches on and is conditioned by current developments: After the end of the Cold War, there was a change in NATO's defence policy orientation away from deterrence and towards international crisis management in the 1990s.

Konrad-Adenauer-Stiftung e. V.

The founding members of NATO in 1949 included the USA, Canada (both not pictured), Belgium, Denmark, France, Iceland, Italy, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Norway, Portugal, and the United Kingdom. Since then, there have been ten rounds of enlargement, bringing the Alliance to 31 members by 2023. With the accession of Sweden in 2024, the Alliance is now expanding for the eleventh time in total.

After the end of the systemic rivalry with the socialist Eastern bloc and NATO's eastward expansion in 1999, the alliance entered a phase of searching for meaning. Criticism of the alliance culminated in the memorable accusation by the French president in 2019 that NATO was "brain-dead". One of the reasons for this statement was the attitude of the United States of America: no US president before Donald Trump had criticised the alliance so openly and thus damaged its reputation as much as the 45th President of the United States (2017 - 2021).

Breach of International Law in 2014: Start of the Most Comprehensive Reforms in NATO History

Russia's annexation of the Ukrainian peninsula Crimea in violation of international law in 2014 marked the beginning of the biggest adjustment process in NATO's history. The Central and Eastern European allies in particular recognised the danger posed by the Russian Federation - after the Russian attack on Georgia in 2008, some had already warned the Alliance of their neighbour's imperialist ambitions and the threat to the European defence architecture. This assessment, however, was not shared equally by all the populations of the NATO member states - but certainly by all NATO representatives at the Brussels headquarters.

“Zeitenwende” or the 2022 Watershed Moment of Security Policy: No More Questioning of the Alliance’s Relevance 

The full-scale invasion by Russia on 24 February 2022 and the ongoing war against Ukraine since then have accelerated internal reforms tremendously and made the relevance of the Alliance painfully clear even to the last - i.e. Western - allies. NATO's Strategic Concept of June 2022 recognises this new, old threat to the Alliance. NATO's defence planning will be reviewed for its resilience before the 75th NATO Summit in Washington D.C. from 9-11 July 2024. There are also a number of potentially impactful political events in 2024.

The US and the Transatlantic Defence Alliance: Europe Must Share More of the Burden

The most important of these is the US presidential election on 5 November 2024, in which a victory for the Republican Party could have a significant impact on support for Ukraine and also on NATO. The European partners, and Germany in particular, must take on more responsibility in the defence alliance.

Germany´s Role in NATO: In Great Need for Adaption and Coordination 

Germany has a central role to play, not least due to its geographical location. In an emergency, tens of thousands of troops will have to be deployed from and through Germany to the Alliance's borders in order to provide defence support in the shortest possible time. This poses demands not only on German infrastructure and administrative processes, but also on personnel, material, and finances, for which both the Bundeswehr must be upgraded, and the reservist system revitalised. Civilian emergency services such as the Federal Agency for Technical Relief (THW), police, fire brigade and rescue services must be able to work hand in hand with the Bundeswehr in such a scenario.

NATO’s Current Challenges: Space, Cyber, Climate Change – Big Tasks, Small Budget

There are also other topics on the agenda that will keep NATO busy until the Washington Summit and beyond: NATO, for example, has taken up the cause of the effects of climate change as a centrally important topic area. In addition to the traditional dimensions of land, air and sea, the dimensions of space and cyberspace have been added to NATO's classic fields of operation in recent years. In addition, Critical infrastructure must be effectively protected.

The tasks are huge, time is short, and budgets are fiercely contested - there is a lot to discuss in NATO's 75th year.

Feel free to contact us if you have any questions or suggestions on the subject of Germany's role in NATO!