List of military alliances

Europe divided by two competing military alliances during the Cold War

A military alliance is an agreement between two, or more, military factions; related to wartime planning, commitments, or contingencies; such agreements can be both defensive and offensive. Military alliances often involve non-military agreements, in addition to their primary purpose.

Historical

Confederate alliance of Greek city-states

Vedic Period

• 1700-1000 BC Ten tribes formed alliance against Tritsu in Battle of ten kings

Hellenic Period

• 502-449 BC Medic Wars
  • Hellenic League - Athens, Lacedemonia, Macedon, others

• 431-404 BC Peloponnesian War
  • League of Delos - Athens, Argos, Chios, Samos, Lesbos, others
  • Peloponnesian League - Lacedemonia, Corinth, Thebes, Syracuse, others

Middle Ages

• 634-1853 Christian-Islamic Wars
  • Crusades - France, England, Holy Roman Empire, Kingdom of Jerusalem, Republic of Venice
  • Reconquista - Portugal, Castile
  • Jihad - Fatimid Caliphate, Sultanate of Damascus
  • Ethio-Portuguese Treaties - Portugal, Ethiopia

• 1337-1453 100 Years War
  • Auld Alliance - Scotland, France, Norway
  • Treaty of Windsor - Portugal, England

Early modern period

All the participants in the Napoleonic Wars. Blue: The Coalition and their colonies and allies. Green: The First French Empire, its protectorates and colonies.

• 1494-1559 Italian Wars
  • League of Cambrai - The Papal States, France, Aragon, Holy Roman Empire
  • Catholic League (Italian) - The Papal States, Venice, England, Aragon, Holy Roman Empire

• 1546-1547 Schmalkaldic War
  • Schmalkaldic League - German Protestant States

• 1571 Christian-Islamic Wars
  • Holy League - Papal States, Spain, Republic of Venice, others

• 1618-1648 Thirty Years' War
  • Catholic League (German) - Bavaria, other Catholic German States
  • Protestant Union - Protestant German States
  • Treaty of Nonsuch - Dutch Republic, England

• 1688-1697 War of the Grand Alliance (Nine Years' War)
  • League of Augsburg - The Netherlands, Holy Roman Empire, Spain, Austria, other German states

• 1701-1714 War of the Spanish Succession
  • The Quadruple Alliance of 1718

• 1803-1815 Napoleonic Wars
  • The Quadruple Alliance of 1814/15
  • First through Seventh Coalitions

• 1717 Christian-Islamic Wars
  • Holy League - Portugal, Papal States, Republic of Venice, Malta

• 1815-1825 Absolutist-Liberal conflicts
  • Holy Alliance - Russia, Prussia, Austria
• The Quadruple Alliance of 1834

• Triple Alliance of 1865 - Brazil, Uruguay and Argentina

• 1873-1878 & 1881-1887 League of the Three Emperors - Russian Empire, Austria-Hungary and German Empire

• 1879-1918 Dual Alliance - Austria-Hungary and German Empire

• 1882-1914 Triple Alliance - German Empire, Austria–Hungary and Kingdom of Italy

• 1892-1917 Franco-Russian Alliance - French Third Republic and Russian Empire

Twentieth century

Alliances in the First World War

• World War I
  • 1902-1923 Anglo-Japanese Alliance - United Kingdom and Japan
  • 1907-1918 the Entente and the Allies - Russian empire (to 1917), United Kingdom, France, Italy, Serbia, Romania, Portugal (from 1916)
  • 1914-1918 the Central Powers - Germany, Austria-Hungary, Ottoman Empire, Bulgaria

Alliances in the Second World War

• World War II
  • 1939-1945 the Allies - United States, United Kingdom and the Commonwealth, Soviet Union, Poland, France, Republic of China, many others.
  • 1940-1945 the Axis - Germany, Japan, Italy, and many others.

Alliances during the Cold War (1980)

• Cold War
  • 1947 Inter-American Treaty of Reciprocal Assistance (Rio Pact) - Most of the countries of the Americas.
  • 1948-2011 Western European Union (WEU) - limited role. Merged with EU in 2009.
  • 1949 North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (NATO) -- United States, Canada, most of Western Europe
  • 1951 ANZUS Treaty (ANZUS) - United States, Australia, New Zealand.
  • 1954-1977 SEATO - United States, United Kingdom, France, Australia, New Zealand, Pakistan, Thailand, Philippines
  • 1955-1979 CENTO - United States, United Kingdom, Turkey, Iran, Iraq, Pakistan
  • 1955-1991 Warsaw Pact - Soviet Union, East Germany, Bulgaria, Hungary, Poland, Czechoslovakia, Romania
  • 1958 North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD) - United States and Canada.
  • 1971 Five Power Defence Arrangements (FPDA) - United Kingdom, Australia, New Zealand, Malaysia, Singapore.
  • 1981 ECOMOG of Economic Community of West African States.
  • 1982 Regional Security System (RSS) - several Eastern Caribbean countries.
  • 1989 Major non-NATO allies of the United States (MNNA) - Afghanistan, Argentina, Australia, Bahrain, Egypt, Israel, Japan, Jordan, Kuwait, Morocco, New Zealand, Pakistan, Philippines, South Korea, Thailand.

Contemporary

Europe

• NATO, Enlarged from 1999 to include eastern European states. Twenty eight countries including the United States, Canada and most of Europe including Turkey.
• European Union, created in 1992 with foreign policy and defence policy being developed over the next two decades. In 2009 common defence provisions were significantly enhanced.
• Entente Cordiale / Defence and Security Co-operation Treaty is a joint Military alliance between France and the United Kingdom.
• Franco-German Brigade is a joint French-German Brigade.
• BALTRON is a joint Estonian—Latvian—Lithuanian Naval Squadron.
• Anglo-Portuguese Alliance, originally signed in 1373, is the oldest alliance still in force in the world.

Eurasia

• Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO), formed in 1992 in after the collapse of the Soviet Union - Russia, Belarus, Armenia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan.
• Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO), formed in 1996 to counterbalance NATO expansion - China, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Russia, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, India, Pakistan, Russia and Uzbekistan.
• Organization of the Eurasian Law Enforcement Agencies with Military Status (TAKM) is an intergovernmental military co-operation organization of Turkey, Azerbaijan, Kyrgyzstan and Mongolia.

Middle East

• Arab League
• Axis of Resistance
• Cooperation Council for the Arab States of the Gulf (Peninsula Shield Force)

United States - Asia

• Japan and the United States entered into a security alliance following the allied occupation after WWII.
• South Korea and the United States entered into a military alliance following the Korean War.
• Mutual Defense Treaty (U.S.–Philippines) is a joint US-Philippine Defence Treaty.
• Israel & the United States.

Other regions

• ABCA Armies
• Council for Peace and Security in Central Africa (COPAX) of Economic Community of Central African States set up in 1994, limited scope.
• South American Defense Council (SADC) of the Union of South American Nations, developed form 2008. Full extent of provisions yet to be agreed.
• ANZUS is a joint military alliance between the United States, Australia and New Zealand.
• Five Power Defence Arrangements, signed in 1971 to prevent the Malaysian Peninsula, or Singapore from external or foreign aggression.
• Peninsula Shield Force The military force of the Persian Gulf nations of Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates, Qatar, Oman, Kuwait, and Bahrain

References

• Liska, George. Alliances and the Third World. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins Press, 1968.
• Pressman, Jeremy. Warring Friends: Alliance Restraint in International Politics. Ithaca: Cornell University Press, 2008.
• Snyder, Glenn H. Alliance Politics. Ithaca: Cornell University Press, 1997.
• Walt, Stephen. The Origins of Alliances. Ithaca: Cornell University Press, 1987.
• Weitsman, Patricia. Dangerous Alliances. Palo Alto: Stanford University Press, 2004.