Military alliance

A military alliance (formerly Mutual Assistance Pact ) is a between different States closed alliance with the purpose of the military to cooperate . If it includes an intervention in favor of the partner attacked by another state, but does not become an obligation in offensive acts of war, it is also called a defense alliance, colloquially and for propaganda purposes also a brotherhood in arms (also outdated protection and defensive alliance ).

The largest military alliance on earth is NATO ( North Atlantic Treaty Organization - Organization of the North Atlantic Treaty). Its headquarters are in Brussels , the military headquarters are SHAPE (Supreme Headquarters Allied Powers in Europe) in Belgium and ACT (Allied Command Transformation) in Norfolk , Virginia, USA.

Existing military alliances

• NATO in North America and Europe (since 1949)
• European Union (standby clause in the common security and defense policy since the Treaty of Lisbon 2009)
• CSTO in Europe and Asia (since 2002), security partnership of the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS), see also: Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO)
• GUAM alliance between Georgia, Ukraine, Azerbaijan and Moldova
• ANZUS pact between Australia, New Zealand and the USA (suspended since 1951, New Zealand since 1986)
• Sino-North Korean Mutual Aid and Cooperation Friendship Treaty between China and the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (since 1961)
• ANZUK Pact between Australia, New Zealand, Great Britain, Malaysia and Singapore (since 1971)
• Inter-American Defense Pact (Rio Pact) (since 1947)
• Arab League (since 1945), a collective defense pact was concluded in an additional agreement in 1950, but has no effect to this day
• Gulf Cooperation Council with Kuwait, Bahrain, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, United Arab Emirates and Oman
• Treaty of Aachen , supplement to the Élysée Treaty (Article 4)

Earlier military alliances after World War II

• Warsaw Pact between the Soviet Union and the states of Eastern Europe (1955–1991)
• VKS, Treaty on Collective Security in Europe and Asia of the Commonwealth of Independent States (1992–2002)
• Brussels Pact (1948–1954)
• Western European Union (1954-2010)
• SEATO in Southeast Asia (1954–1977)
• CENTO in the Middle East (1955–1979)
• Balkan Pact (1954–1974)
• Central American Defense Council (CONDECA), Central American Defense Council

Historical military alliances

• Anti-Hitler coalition
• Peloponnesian League
• Attic League
• Auld Alliance
• Holy League (1495, 1511, 1538, 1571, 1576, 1684)
• Catholic League (1538, 1576, 1584, 1609)
• Protestant Union
• Schmalkaldic League
• Holy alliance
• Rhine Confederation
• Three Emperor's Agreement
• Dual / Triple Alliance
• Dual association
• Entente cordiale / Triple Entente
• Central Powers
• various quadruple alliances
• Balkan ducks
• Balkan Federation
• North German Confederation (from July 1, 1867: federal state)
• Protection and defiance alliance 1854
• Protective and defensive alliances 1866

See also

• List of states without military
• Permanent neutrality (neutral states)

literature

• Friedrich Ruge : Alliances Past and Present. With special consideration of the UN, NATO, EEC and Warsaw Pact . Bernard & Graefe, Frankfurt am Main 1971, ISBN 3-7637-5105-X .
• Katja Frehland-Wildeboer: Loyal friends? The Alliance in Europe, 1714-1914 (= Studies on International History , Volume 25). Oldenbourg, Munich 2010, ISBN 978-3-486-59652-6 , p. 30f. (Revised dissertation University of Heidelberg 2007, 478 pages).