This is the list of military alliances. A military alliance is a formal agreement between two or more parties concerning national security in which the contracting parties agree to mutually protect and support one another militarily in case of a crisis that has not been identified in advance. Military alliances differ from coalitions, which are formed for a crisis that already exists. Numerous forms of military and defensive alliances have existed between states since early human history. This is a comprehensive list of the most important alliances.
Legend | |
---|---|
Active military alliances |
Years | Name | Members |
---|---|---|
c. 7th century–338 BC | Latin League | About 30 villages and tribes in the region of Latium |
c. 6th century–338 BC | Peloponnesian League | Various city-states in the Peloponnese, dominated by Sparta |
493 BC | Foedus Cassianum | Roman Republic Latin League |
478–404 BC | Delian League | See Members of the Delian League |
215 BC | Macedonian–Carthaginian Treaty | Macedonia Carthage |
433–554 | Silla-Baekje Alliance | Silla Baekje |
1123 | Pactum Warmundi | Kingdom of Jerusalem Republic of Venice |
1167–1250 | Lombard League | Numerous cities in medieval Lombardy, modern Northern Italy |
Name and description | Countries |
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CANZUK is a proposed alliance between four Commonwealth realms. | Australia Canada New Zealand United Kingdom |
Arab–Israeli alliance refers to an unofficial security coalition comprising Israel and various Arab countries. Proposals have been made to make the military partnership official. | Bahrain Egypt Israel Jordan Morocco Saudi Arabia United Arab Emirates |
Japan–Philippines–United States trilateral alliance is currently being negotiated in response to increased military build-up by China. [226] | Japan Philippines United States |
France–Japan Reciprocal Access Agreement is currently being negotiated to finalize a formal alliance between Japan and France. [227] | France Japan |
EU-UK Security and Defense Partnership is a proposal, most notably from the Labour Party, to sign a formal alliance between the EU and the UK. [228] | European Union United Kingdom |
The Saudi-US Security Pact is a long proposed official deal to deepen security relations, gaining momentum under the Biden administration. [229] | Saudi Arabia United States |
Germany–Philippines Defense Cooperation Agreement is currently being negotiated to increase military training and weapons procurement, slated to be signed and finalized this year. [230] [231] | Germany Philippines |
After achieving independence from the Soviet Union, the Republic of Moldova established relations with other European countries. A course for European Union integration and neutrality define the country's foreign policy guidelines.
The North Atlantic Treaty Organization, also called the North Atlantic Alliance, is an intergovernmental transnational military alliance of 32 member states—30 European and 2 North American. Established in the aftermath of World War II, the organization implements the North Atlantic Treaty, signed in Washington, D.C., on 4 April 1949. NATO is a collective security system: its independent member states agree to defend each other against attacks by third parties. During the Cold War, NATO operated as a check on the threat posed by the Soviet Union. The alliance remained in place after the dissolution of the Soviet Union and the Warsaw Pact, and has been involved in military operations in the Balkans, the Middle East, South Asia, and Africa. The organization's motto is animus in consulendo liber. The organization's strategic concepts include deterrence.
The North Atlantic Treaty, also known as the Washington Treaty, forms the legal basis of, and is implemented by, the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO). The treaty was signed in Washington, D.C., on 4 April 1949.
The diplomatic foreign relations of the United Kingdom are conducted by the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office, headed by the foreign secretary. The prime minister and numerous other agencies play a role in setting policy, and many institutions and businesses have a voice and a role.
Ukraine has formal relations with many nations and in recent decades has been establishing diplomatic relations with an expanding circle of nations. The foreign relations of Ukraine are guided by a number of key priorities outlined in the foreign policy of Ukraine.
The Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) is a regional intergovernmental organization in Eurasia. It was formed following the dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991. It covers an area of 20,368,759 km2 (7,864,422 sq mi) and has an estimated population of 246,200,194. The CIS encourages cooperation in economic, political, and military affairs and has certain powers relating to the coordination of trade, finance, lawmaking, and security, including cross-border crime prevention.
The European Defence Agency (EDA) is an agency of the European Union (EU) that promotes and facilitates integration between member states within the EU's Common Security and Defence Policy (CSDP). The EDA is headed by the EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, European Commission’s Vice President (HR/VP), and reports to the Council. The EDA was established on 12 July 2004 and is based in Brussels, Belgium, along with a number of other CSDP bodies.
Relations between the European Union (EU) and Moldova are currently shaped via the European Neighbourhood Policy (ENP), an EU foreign policy instrument dealing with countries bordering its member states.
A major non-NATO ally (MNNA) is a designation given by the United States government to countries that have strategic working relationships with the United States Armed Forces while not being members of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO). While the status does not automatically constitute a mutual defense pact with the United States, it does confer a variety of military and financial advantages that are otherwise unobtainable by non-NATO countries. There are currently 20 major non-NATO allies across four continents: 11 in Asia, 4 in Africa, 3 in South America, and 2 in Oceania.
Relations between Ukraine and the United Kingdom have existed since Ukrainian independence from the Soviet Union in 1991. The two countries enjoy close political, military, social and economic co-operation. The UK has the sixth largest Ukrainian migrant population in Europe, with approximately 200,000 Ukrainian refugees. Since the start of the Russo-Ukrainian War, and especially following the Russian invasion of Ukraine, relations have been extremely strong as the UK has provided large amounts of military, humanitarian, financial and intelligence aid to Ukraine. Ukraine and the UK, along with Poland, agreed to form a trilateral security pact in early 2022.
NATO is a military alliance of thirty-two European and North American countries that constitutes a system of collective defense. The process of joining the alliance is governed by Article 10 of the North Atlantic Treaty, which allows for the invitation of "other European States" only and by subsequent agreements. Countries wishing to join must meet certain requirements and complete a multi-step process involving political dialogue and military integration. The accession process is overseen by the North Atlantic Council, NATO's governing body. NATO was formed in 1949 with twelve founding members and has added new members ten times. The first additions were Greece and Turkey in 1952. In May 1955, West Germany joined NATO, which was one of the conditions agreed to as part of the end of the country's occupation by France, the United Kingdom, and the United States, prompting the Soviet Union to form its own collective security alliance later that month. Following the end of the Franco regime, newly democratic Spain chose to join NATO in 1982.
The Lancaster House Treaties of 2010 are two treaties between the United Kingdom and France for defence and security cooperation. They were signed at 10 Downing Street on 2 November 2010 by British prime minister David Cameron and French President Nicolas Sarkozy. The two treaties collectively are sometimes referred to as the Lancaster House Agreement.
The Permanent Structured Cooperation (PESCO) is the part of the European Union's (EU) security and defence policy (CSDP) in which 26 of the 27 national armed forces pursue structural integration. Based on Article 42(6) and Protocol 10 of the Treaty on European Union, introduced by the Treaty of Lisbon in 2009, PESCO was initiated in 2017. The integration into PESCO is through projects which launched in 2018.
NATO maintains foreign relations with many non-member countries across the globe. NATO runs a number of programs which provide a framework for the partnerships between itself and these non-member nations, typically based on that country's location. These include the Euro-Atlantic Partnership Council and the Partnership for Peace.
The accession of Moldova to the European Union (EU) is on the current agenda for future enlargement of the EU.
A reciprocal access agreement (RAA) (Japanese: 部隊間協力円滑化協定, lit. 'force-to-force cooperation facilitation agreement') refers to a bilateral defense and security pacts between governments that provides shared military training and military operations. It is an agreement built to create a framework for the two cooperating countries to move their military force whenever required, and also provides a pathway for goods to be imported and exported from one country to the other through following the movement of visiting military forces.
U-24 is an intergovernmental peacekeeping organization proposed by President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyy aimed at quickly ending armed conflicts between countries. It was first voiced by President Volodymyr Zelenskyy during his speech to the U.S. Congress on 16 March 2022.
The Fourth European Political Community Summit was a meeting of the European Political Community held on 18 July 2024 at Blenheim Palace in Woodstock, United Kingdom.
The 2024 Washington summit was the 33rd summit of the heads of state and government of the thirty-two members of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), their partner countries and the European Union (EU), which took place in Washington, D.C., United States, on 9–11 July 2024. The summit commemorates the landmark 75th anniversary of NATO, which was founded on 4 April 1949 with the signing of the North Atlantic Treaty in Washington, DC. The summit was also the fourth NATO summit to be held in the United States following the 1978 Washington summit, 1999 Washington summit and 2012 Chicago summit. It also marks the first summit since Sweden acceded to NATO and the last for Jens Stoltenberg as Secretary General.
As of November 2024, the European Union has signed security and defence pacts with six countries: Albania, Japan, Moldova, North Macedonia, Norway, and South Korea.