(traffic whooshing) (bird twittering) <v ->Hello.

</v> My name is Ms. Ikomi, and I'm a teacher from London.

I'm gonna be taking you through today's lesson, so let's get started.

Today's lesson is called what is the UK's role in NATO? It is part of the wider unit.

How does the UK play a role in the international community? By the end of today's lesson, you will be able to explain the role of NATO and how the UK plays a part in this international organisation.

The key words we'll hear in today's lesson are alliance.

This is an agreement or partnership between different countries.

It usually involves the idea of mutual defence.

NATO, this is an international military defence organisation comprising of different countries who work together to try and settle disputes amongst nations.

Collective defence.

This is the idea that countries agree to defend each other if any one of them is attacked.

This is a key principle of NATO.

We're going to begin by thinking about what is NATO.

During the Second World War, the USA, the UK and the Soviet Union, USSR, formed a military alliance to defeat Nazi Germany.

However, by the end of the war, this alliance began to break down.

By 1949, countries in the west, such as the UK and the United States of America, were increasingly wary of the USSR's influence in the East.

This would become the Cold War, a period of political tension between the capitalist Western nations and communist nations in the east.

In 1949, ten European countries and two North American countries signed an intergovernmental transnational military alliance.

This would officially be called the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation.

Intergovernmental means between different governments and transnational means it span over different nations.

The founding members of NATO were Belgium, Canada, Denmark, France, Iceland, Italy, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Norway, Portugal, the United Kingdom and the United States.

You can see a picture on the slide here of the NATO flag.

Let's do a check for what we've learned so far.

Which of the following is not a founding member of NATO? Is it A, the UK, B, the USA, or C, Ukraine? Pause your video and choose your answer.

The correct answer is C.

Ukraine is not a founding member of NATO.

NATO is not just a group of countries that work together.

It's more than that.

It's a military alliance.

And one of the really important principles which we can remember from our definition is the principle of collective defence.

This is the idea that if one member is attacked, the others will come to its aid.

Collective defence is enshrined in Article 5 of the NATO treaty.

This says that an attack on one NATO country is an attack on all NATO countries.

Therefore, all NATO countries are obliged to help.

This is one of the most important principles that helps NATO be successful in its role.

Sofia says, "Military alliances are not new, so what makes NATO so special?" This is a really good point from Sofia.

Military alliances have existed for centuries.

However, NATO is different because of the commitment to this idea of collective defence.

If one country is attacked, all NATO members agree to respond together.

The promise that has come as a result of this has made countries less likely to attack NATO members because they know that this means that they would face many countries, not just that one country.

Lots of people believe that this has helped to prevent large-scale war in Europe since 1949 as countries don't want to come against the full force of NATO.

Sofia has got a little bit confused about what the principle of collective defence means.

Let's read her statement and then I would like you to correct her.

Sofia says, "Collective defence means that if one NATO country attacks a country outside of NATO, all the other countries will join in to help them." Pause your video and correct Sofia's answer.

You might have said, "Collective defence doesn't mean that if a NATO country attacks someone else, it means that if a NATO country is attacked by an outside country, the rest of the members will help defend them," so that's a really important distinction.

As of 2025, NATO has expanded beyond its original 12 members and now includes 32 countries.

It's still focused on this idea of collective defence, however, NATO also addresses a wide range of other global security threats.

The 32 NATO members include 30 European nations and two from North America.

NATO relies on military forces provided by the Member States and they are responsible for carrying out operations and missions.

This system supports NATO's principle of collective defence where countries work together to protect one another by each providing military forces.

As of 2023, NATO has over 3 million military personnel available across the Member States, they're ready to deploy if needed.

To be deployed is where they are sent to somewhere where they're needed.

In 2025, the annual budget was around 4.

6 billion euros.

As an alliance of democratic countries, NATO has helped to strengthen cooperation between its members.

For example, countries like Finland, Sweden, and Norway have agreed that working together through NATO makes them safer, especially after Russia's invasion of Ukraine in 2022 and thinking geographically about where these countries are located.

NATO also supports international humanitarian law.

One example is its efforts to disrupt human trafficking networks, showing that NATO's work goes beyond just defending members.

It's moved into lots of other areas too.

Let's do another check.

How many nations are currently members of NATO? Is it A, 22, B, 32, or C, 42? Pause your video and choose your answer.

The correct answer is B, 32.

Let's put into practise what we've learned so far about what NATO is.

I would like you to summarise NATO's history and functions, you might want to consider World War Two and the aftermath, and also what is NATO's role? Pause your video and have a go at this now.

I asked you to summarise NATO's history and functions.

You might have included some of the following: after the Second World War, countries like the UK and USA formed a military alliance called NATO in 1949, along with other European and North American nations.

NATO started with 12 countries and today has 32.

It's based on the idea of collective defence.

If one member is attacked, the others will help defend them.

This helps to stop attacks from happening.

NATO relies on its members to provide troops when needed.

Together they have over 3 million military personnel.

Today, NATO also supports international humanitarian law and encourages cooperation between democratic countries.

Next, we're going to think about how is NATO organised.

To function effectively as an alliance, NATO is organised into two main branches and these branches work closely together.

The first is the civilian branch.

This is made up of representatives from each Member State.

They make the political decisions and set the overall direction of NATO.

The second branch is the military branch.

This advises the civilian branch and carries out NATO's military missions.

They coordinate troops and resources from those Member States and put it into action.

Lucas is telling us, NATO is led by the North Atlantic Council.

The North Atlantic Council is NATO's main decision-making body.

Lots of international organisations will have a decision-making body.

This council includes one representative from each Member State, often an ambassador or a senior official.

These representatives meet discuss key political and operational issues.

It can be difficult to get all these people to agree.

They may have different priorities or different concerns.

The North Atlantic Council gives members a space to discuss and resolve these disagreements, for example, things that they may differ on such as budgets, operations or setting out shared priorities.

The North Atlantic Council is chaired by the Secretary-General of NATO.

The Secretary-General of NATO plays a really key diplomatic role.

They lead the North Atlantic Council and help to maintain strong relationships between those NATO members.

For example, in 2025, the president of the United States, Donald Trump, expressed his concerns about the financial contributions of other NATO countries.

In response, the Secretary-General met with the president to discuss these issues, reassure him and seek his support for NATO.

Let's do another check.

Which of these is not a role of the Secretary-General of NATO? Is it A, to chair the North Atlantic Council, B, to be a soldier and lead troops to war, or C, act as a diplomat to Member States? Pause your video and choose your answer.

The correct answer is B.

The North Atlantic Council is part of the NATO civilian branch and has overall decision-making powers, it's supported in its work by the military branch and also lots of other committees.

The Military Committee, for example, provides military strategy and policy, links the NAC and the political decision-making body to the supreme commanders of the NATO armed forces.

When a crisis occurs, the NAC may agree to deploy troops based on advice from military and civilian committees.

For example, after Russia invaded Ukraine in 2022, NATO raised its alert level and deployed troops in Member States like Poland in order to strengthen defence.

The NACS decisions are passed to the Military Committee, which then works with NATO's strategic commanders to plan and carry out troop movements.

Let's do another check, which organisation acts as the link between the civilian decision-makers and the military commanders? Is it A, the Security Council, B, the North Atlantic Council, or C, the Military Committee? Pause your video and choose your answer now.

The correct answer is C, the Military Committee.

Three NATO members have nuclear weapons.

These three members are the United States of America, the United Kingdom, and France.

As part of NATO's collective defence strategy, the USA stationed some of its nuclear weapons in other NATO countries.

This is to help protect the alliance and spread out some of that weaponry.

The Nuclear Planning Group is made up of all members of NATO except France, who did not wish to participate.

The body makes policy decisions on various issues to do with nuclear weapons, including proliferation, which is the spread of nuclear weapons.

The NPG does not make any decisions on whether to use nuclear weapons or not.

This is an operational decision that will be made by Member States, the NAC and the MC would work with Member States to coordinate a response in a serious crisis.

The NPG plays an important role in setting NATO's approach to nuclear issues.

Some members like Finland are strongly opposed to nuclear weapons, but all members have a voice in shaping that policy.

True or false? The Nuclear Planning Group, the NPG, decides when a NATO Member State can fire a nuclear weapon.

Is this true or false? Pause your video.

Can you also have a think about why you chose your answer? The correct answer is false.

This is because the Nuclear Planning Group brings together members of NATO to agree policy on how NATO should handle nuclear issues.

They are a policy and advisory committee, not a decision-making power.

Let's do another check.

I'd like you to complete the table below and summarise the organisation of NATO.

For each of the bodies, I'd like you to state its function.

Pause your video and have a go at this now.

Let's check our answers.

I asked you to complete the table, summarising the organisation and function of NATO, the North Atlantic Council, you might have said, The NAC is the overall decision-making body for NATO.

They bring together representatives of Member States to agree policy and direction for NATO.

The NAC is part of the civilian branch of NATO, and the most senior authority is led by the Secretary General who is a diplomat.

The Military Committee is the one that makes decisions from the North Atlantic Committee and translates them to military personnel.

It provides advice to the NAC on military issues.

This helps the NAC to carry out its functions.

The Military Committee works directly with the Supreme Commanders of NATO forces.

The Nuclear Planning Group.

The NPG helps to set direction policy on nuclear weapons and nuclear issues.

They don't decide fire weapons, but they do advise on nuclear issues that helps the North Atlantic Council make decisions.

All members of NATO apart from France are in the Nuclear Planning Group, despite only three members actually having nuclear weapons.

Last, we're going to think about what part does the UK play in NATO.

The UK is a founding member of NATO.

The first NATO headquarters was actually based in London before moving to Paris and France and then to Brussels in Belgium where it stands today.

Jacob's telling us, "As a founding member, the UK had lots of influence in the early days of NATO.

Not only did the UK hold the whole headquarters, its generals were influential in leading NATO's early military." The UK contributes military forces to NATO, including soldiers, air force and navy units and cybersecurity personnel.

The UK leads a NATO battlegroup in Estonia as part of protecting Europe's Eastern flank.

This is part of NATO's collective defence mission following the invasion of Ukraine and shows the UK's strong commitment to the alliance.

Jacob is saying, "The UK control NATO's battlegroup in Estonia and is responsible for all decisions related to the defence of the country." Is Jacob correct? Pause your video and have a think about this now.

Let's think about whether Jacob is correct.

Jacob actually is not correct in this case.

The UK leads NATO's battlegroup in Estonia, but decisions about defence are made collectively by all NATO Member States through the North Atlantic Council.

The UK's role is to contribute to NATO's collective defence, not to control the defence of Estonia independently.

The UK maintains a continuous-at-sea nuclear deterrent.

This means nuclear weapons are always deployed on submarines that are constantly at sea.

This system is important because it deters other countries from launching nuclear attacks.

This is because the location of the UK's nuclear weapons is unpredictable, so countries are less likely to set off their weapons if it might cause a retaliation.

The purpose of this system is to preserve peace, prevent coercion, and deter aggression.

The name of the continuous-at-sea deterrent is Triden.

These are the nuclear submarines that are armed with nuclear warheads.

The UK constantly has one at sea, so we are able to launch strikes if required.

However, it's important to remember that these are considered to be a last resort.

While the USA and France also contribute nuclear weapons to NATO, the UK is the only NATO member to maintain its continuous-at-sea deterrent, making it a significant strategic partner in NATO's deterrent strategy.

True false? The UK is the only country to offer a nuclear deterrent to NATO.

Pause your video and choose your answer now.

The correct answer is false.

The UK is the only country to offer a continuous-at-sea nuclear deterrent.

However, it is one of three nations that contribute nuclear weapons to NATO and all of them to together bolster that deterrent power.

NATO funding has been a topic of discussion with some countries raising concerns about the levels of financial contribution from different members.

US President Donald Trump has highlighted on more than one occasion that some nations are too reliant on the US for funding NATO operations.

NATO sets a minimum contribution target of 2% of GDP for each member while smaller countries pay a smaller share in terms of total money.

This target helps to ensure that all nations contribute a fair share towards that alliance's funding because it is a percentage of their GDP.

In 2023 19 NATO members didn't meet the 2% GDP contribution target, including France and Germany.

The UK contributed 2.

3% of its GDP and in response to Russia's invasion of Ukraine, the UK has committed to increasing that contribution to 2.

5% by 2027.

What is the minimum financial contribution to NATO? Is it 2%, 5%, or 20% of GDP? Pause your video and choose your answer now.

The correct answer is A, 2%.

Let's do a final task to think about what we've learned in today's lesson.

I'd like you to examine Aisha's statement and create a counter argument.

Aisha says, "The UK is no longer a powerful military nation.

It should leave NATO." I'd like you to discuss this thinking about the UK's current role within NATO, considering its military contributions, strategic importance, and commitment to collective defence.

Pause your video and have a go at this now.

I asked you to think about Aisha's statement and giving a counter-argument to her point.

You might have said the UK is still a powerful and influential military nation and its role in NATO strengthens that position.

NATO is based on the principle collective defence, meaning that an attack on one country is treated as an attack on all, this helps deter threats and keep the UK safe.

Moreover, the UK contributes military forces and equipment to NATO and leads the alliance's Eastern flank in Estonia, a key strategic position.

Finally, it also contributes more than the required 2% of GDP showing its strong commitment.

Today we have been learning what is the UK's role in NATO.

We have learned that NATO is a military alliance formed in 1949 to protect its members through collective defence.

It now includes 32 countries and plays a global role in security and international cooperation.

NATO is organised into civilian and military branches.

Decisions are made by all members working together through key bodies like the North Atlantic Council and the Military Committee.

The UK is a founding member of NATO and continues to play a leading role.

It contributes military forces, funds, and leadership to support NATO's collective defence mission.

That's the end of today's lesson.

Thank you for joining me.