FORGED in the ashes of World War Two, NATO was for decades the West’s last defence against the threat of nuclear annihilation from the Soviet Union.
In the latest episode of Battle Plans Exposed , former defence intelligence expert Philip Ingram looks at how the alliance has been restored to its original might to meet Putin’s challenge.
Philip Ingram takes a look inside Nato for the latest episode of Battle Plans Exposed
The Nato alliance unifies Western nations against the threat of Russia
Vladimir Putin has brought Nato back against its original foe
The North Atlantic Treaty Organization is the most powerful and enduring military alliance in history.
Ingram says: “It has expanded, adapted, and fought new wars in new places.
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“And today, with war once again raging on its doorstep in , Nato is back to its original mission: confronting a hostile and aggressive Russia.”
It was born from a pact between 12 nations in 1949 – as it became clear was prepared to use force to achieve his ambitions for the USSR.
A binding promise
“The core of this promise,” Ingram explains, “the sacred text of the Alliance, is Article 5”.
This crucial clause states that an attack on one member shall be an attack on them all – meaning all Nato nations would mobilise to defend any other which comes under fire.
The combined might of all the Alliance – which includes the world’s biggest defence budget in the – is a stiff deterrent for would-be invaders, and an alluring safety net for vulnerable nations.
Article 5 has been triggered just once in the Alliance’s history, but another, Article 4, is rolled out more often.
Both Poland and Estonia have recently called on it after dangerous escalations by Russia.
Explaining the difference between the clauses, Ingram says: “Think of Article 4 as an emergency alarm bell.
“It allows any member state to call an urgent meeting of the entire Alliance when they feel their security or independence is being threatened.
“It’s a consultation. It’s a crisis meeting.”
Article 5 is not the alarm bell. This is the warhammer.”
United in opposition
Nato’s major adversary was always the Soviet Union.
Ingram says: “For the next 40 years, Nato was locked in a tense standoff with the Soviet Union and its own rival alliance – the Warsaw Pact.
“This was the Cold War – a global struggle fought through a ferocious technology race.”
US naval ships in a Nato exercise
The world was taken to the brink of nuclear war by several flashpoints between Nato and the USSR
Several flashpoints over the years brought Nato, and the world, to the brink of nuclear war.
There was the famous Cuban Missile Crisis in 1962 – a confrontation between the US and USSR governments often touted as the closest we came to mutually-assured destruction.
Ingram reminds us of another: Exercise Lionheart in the early 1980s.
He says: “Tensions were at an all-time high. The US President, Ronald Reagan, had labelled the USSR an evil empire.
“The Soviets had shot down a civilian airliner, flight Kal 007, in a climate of paranoia.”
Then, Nato launched Exercise Able Archer 83 – a highly-realistic simulation testing the Alliance’s nuclear deployment processes.
Ingram says: “The problem was the Soviets didn’t know it was a drill. The paranoid and aging leadership in the feared a surprise decapitation strike.
Russian aggression against Ukraine has focused the minds of Nato members
Countries in the alliance know they can rely on one another for defence in the event of an attack
“Soviet nuclear bombers were loaded with live warheads and placed on high alert.
“For several terrifying days, the world stood on the brink of a nuclear holocaust triggered by a wargame.”
A new era
When the USSR came crumbling down in 1991, Nato lost its raison d’être and faced an “identity crisis”, according to Ingram.
But it soon became clear that Eastern European nations still relied on the Alliance to guarantee their safety from future Russian aggression.
Rather than shrink away – over the coming years Nato would expand massively.
New countries applied to become members – with the Czech Republic, and Poland joining in 1999, followed by the Baltic States in 2004.
Article 5 of the treaty binds every member state to respond to an attack against any other
Putin miscalculated when he launched his assault on Ukrainian sovereignty
Ingram says: “The criteria are really quite strict. A nation must be a stable democracy with a market economy and a commitment to the rule of law.
“Its military must be under firm civilian control and be able to operate seamlessly with other NATO forces.
“And, crucially, it must be committed to spending at least two per cent of its GDP on defence.”
In the midst of this expansion came an event which shook the world: the 9/11 terror attacks.
This was the first and only time in Nato’s history that Article 5 has been triggered, and was invoked against Al Qaeda in Afghanistan.
Ingram says: “This led to a two decade long Nato mission in Afghanistan – a grueling fight far from the fields of Europe.”
For a period, threats to the nations of Nato seemed to have died off.
Until, that was, Vladimir Putin buried his talons in Europe.
Ingram says: “Russia‘s illegal annexation of Crimea in 2014, and its brutal, full scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022 was a violent wake up call.
“Nato was suddenly back to its original core mission the defence of Europe, against an aggressive Russia.”
Digging deep
Putin’s warmongering has proved a unifying rally call, and the members of the Alliance are answering it.
Defence spending is soaring across the board, and forward “trip wire” battlegroups have been stationed in the Baltics and Poland.
At the start of his second term this year, Trump demanded that Nato members stump up more cash, and claimed the US had for too long carried the burden of Europe’s defence.
RAF Typhoon jets armed with air-to-air missiles taking part in a recent eight-hour mission on Nato’s borders
Russia is in ‘Phase Zero’ of a shadow war with the West, experts have said
Facing the disastrous prospect of the US pulling back from the Alliance’s commitments, member states stepped up to the plate and pledged bold spending hikes.
Putin had hoped to stifle Nato expansion, but instead has been greeted by Finland and Sweden – once proudly neutral – also rushing to join up.
Ingram says: “Nato’s support for Ukraine has been monumental.
“Billions in advanced weaponry, training for tens of thousands of troops, and critical intelligence.”
But it’s important to remember one crucial fact: Ukraine is not a member, and Article 5 does not apply.
Nato forces have not been engaged in direct fighting against Russia – although its fighter jets were forced to down Russian drones flying over Poland last month.
