Current military alliances in the world

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A military alliance is an agreement between countries with interesting national security. Nations in a military alliance consent to active participation and assistance to protect others in the alliance in the circumstance of an emergency. If a country is attacked, associates of the alliance are often obligated to come to their defense nonetheless of whether they are attacked presently.

There have been approximately 538 military alliance treaties from 1815 to 2003.

Global Conflict Alliance Map

Today the best-known alliance is NATO. NATO was founded as an anti-communist military alliance in 1949.

As a counterweight to NATO, an alliance of communist countries that signed the Warsaw Pact emerged. Warsaw Pact was a collaborative defense treaty signed in Warsaw (Poland) between the USSR and seven other socialist Central and Eastern European countries during the Cold War. A lot has changed since the collapse of the Soviet Union.

The rise and fall of communism (1917 – 2017)

After the collapse of the Eastern Bloc and the Soviet Union, the Warsaw Pact lost force and was replaced by The Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO), signed only by some countries of the former Soviet Union.

In response to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in 2022, NATO saw a surge in interest from traditionally neutral countries. Finland officially joined NATO on April 4, 2023, followed by Sweden on March 7, 2024, marking a historic shift in European security. Finland’s accession doubled NATO’s border with Russia, and Sweden’s membership further strengthened the alliance’s northern flank.

Nowadays NATO has 33 members: Belgium, Canada, Denmark, Finland, France, Iceland, Italy, Luxembourg, Netherlands, Norway, Portugal, United Kingdom, United States, Greece, Turkey, Germany, Spain, Sweden, Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland, Bulgaria, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia, Albania, Croatia, Montenegro, Finland.

The map below illustrates the current situation of military alliances in Europe.

Military alliances continue to evolve, reflecting the shifting landscape of global security. While NATO remains the dominant force, other regional alliances like the Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO) and the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) also play roles in modern defense strategies.

However, Russia’s war in Ukraine has exposed fractures within CSTO, with some member states, like Armenia, expressing dissatisfaction with the alliance’s effectiveness. Armenia has distanced itself from CSTO, questioning the bloc’s security guarantees after receiving little support during its conflict with Azerbaijan. Meanwhile, Kazakhstan has refused to support Russia’s actions in Ukraine, further weakening CSTO’s unity.

The SCO, which includes China, Russia, India, and several Central Asian nations, has remained cautious regarding the Ukraine war. While Russia seeks diplomatic backing from SCO members, China and India have maintained a neutral stance, prioritizing economic ties over direct military alignment. The war has underscored growing geopolitical divisions, making it clear that while NATO has strengthened, rival alliances face internal strains.