Military alliance

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.

Historic military alliances

*Medic Wars
**Hellenic League - Athens, Lacedemonia, Macedon, others
*Peloponnesian War
**League of Delos - Athens, Chios, Samos, Lesbos, others
**Peloponnesian League - Lacedemonia, Corinth, Elis, others
*Wars of Scottish Independence
**Auld Alliance - Scotland, Norway, France
*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
*Schmalkaldic War
**Schmalkaldic League - German Protestant States
*Anglo-Portuguese Alliance - England (succeeded by the United Kingdom) and Portugal, since 1373
* Luso-Islamic War
**Ethio-Portuguese Treaties - Portugal, Ethiopia
* Thirty Years' War
** Catholic League (German) - Bavaria, other Catholic German States
** Protestant Union - Protestant German States
*War of the Grand Alliance (Nine Years War)
**League of Augsburg - The Netherlands, Holy Roman Empire, Spain, Austria, other German states
*War of the Spanish Succession
**The Quadruple Alliance of 1718
*Napoleonic Wars
** The Quadruple Alliance of 1814/15
** First through Seventh Coalitions
*The Quadruple Alliance of 1834
*Anglo-Japanese Alliance - United Kingdom and Japan
* World War I
**the Entente and the Allies - Russian empire (to 1917), United Kingdom, France, Serbia, New Zealand, Australia, Romania (from 1916), United States (from 1917)
**the Central Powers - Germany, Austria-Hungary, Ottoman Empire, Bulgaria
* World War II
**the Axis - Germany, Japan, Italy, and many others.
**the Allies - United States, United Kingdom and the Commonwealth, Soviet Union, France, Republic of China, many others.
* Cold War
** Western European Union (WEU) - currently in process of merging into CFSP and ESDP (see below)
** North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (NATO) -- United States, Canada, most of Western Europe ("still an active alliance")
** Warsaw Pact - Soviet Union, East Germany, Bulgaria, Hungary, Poland, Czechoslovakia, Romania
** SEATO - United States, United Kingdom, France, Australia, New Zealand, Pakistan, Thailand, Philippines
** CENTO - United States, United Kingdom, Turkey, Iran, Iraq, Pakistan
** ANZUS - United States, Australia, New Zealand ("still an active alliance")
** Five Powers Pact - Australia, Malaysia, New Zealand, Singapore, United Kingdom ("still an active alliance")

Current military alliances

* North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (NATO) - United States, United Kingdom, Canada, most of Western Europe and Central Europe, parts of Eastern Europe, and Turkey.
* Major non-NATO allies of the United States - Argentina, Australia, Bahrain, Egypt, Israel, Japan, Jordan, Kuwait, Morocco, New Zealand, Pakistan, Philippines, South Korea, Thailand.
* Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO) - Russia, Belarus, Armenia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan.
* Common Foreign and Security Policy (CFSP) and European Security and Defence Policy (ESDP) of the European Union.
* Five Power Defence Arrangements (FPDA) - United Kingdom, Australia, New Zealand, Malaysia, Singapore.
* ANZUS Treaty (ANZUS) - United States, Australia, New Zealand.
* ECOMOG of Economic Community of West African States.
* Council for Peace and Security in Central Africa (COPAX) of Economic Community of Central African States.
* Inter-American Treaty of Reciprocal Assistance (Rio Pact) - Most of the countries of the Americas.
* North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD) - United States and Canada. NORAD and other defense agreements (such as the Permanent Joint Board on Defense) form the most extensive defense alliance in the world.
* Regional Security System (RSS) - several Eastern Caribbean countries.
* Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) - China, Russia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan.

See also

* Collective defense
* Collective security