A defense pact (Commonwealth spelling: defence pact) is a type of treaty or military alliance in which the signatories promise to support each other militarily and to defend each other.1 Generally, the signatories point out the threats and concretely prepare to respond to it together.2
Current treaties
| Year | Name | Member states | ||
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| Treaty name | Also known as | Present members | Former/suspended members | |
| 1947 | Inter-American Treaty of Reciprocal Assistance treaties |
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| 1949 | North Atlantic Treaty |
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| 1951 | Mutual Defense Treaty Between the United States and the Republic of the Philippines | |||
| 1951 | ANZUS | |||
| 1953 | Mutual Defense Treaty between the United States and the Republic of Korea | |||
| 1960 | Treaty of Mutual Cooperation and Security between the United States and Japan | |||
| 1961 | Sino-North Korean Treaty of Friendship, Co-operation, and Mutual Assistance | |||
| 1962 | Thanat–Rusk communiqué | |||
| 1992 | Collective Security Treaty |
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| 2009 | Treaty of Lisbon |
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| 2010 | Agreement on Strategic Partnership and Mutual Support | |||
| 2021 | Franco-Greek defence agreement4 | |||
| 2021 | AUKUS | |||
| 2023 | Alliance of Sahel States |
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| 2024 | Treaty on Comprehensive Strategic Partnership | |||
| 2025 | Papua New Guinea – Australia Mutual Defence Treaty | |||
| 2026 | India - Russia Reciprocal Exchange of Logistics Agreement | |||
- Joined as Kingdom of Greece.
- Joined as West Germany. After reunification in 1990, the former East German territory became covered by NATO protection.
Historical treaties
| Year | Treaty name | Member States |
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| 1778–1798 | Treaty of Alliance |
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| 1873–1887 | League of the Three Emperors | |
| 1921–1938 | Little Entente | |
| 1934–1941 | Balkan Pact | |
| 1950–1979 | Sino-Soviet Treaty of Friendship, Alliance and Mutual Assistance | |
| 1954–1977 | Southeast Asia Treaty Organization |
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| 1955–1979 | Middle East Treaty Organization |
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| 1955–1979 | Sino-American Mutual Defense Treaty | |
| 1955–1991 | Warsaw Pact |
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References
References
- Volker Krause, J. David Singer "Minor Powers, Alliances, And Armed Conflict: Some Preliminary Patterns", in "Small States and Alliances and addons conductory", 2001, pp 15–23, ISBN 978-3-7908-2492-6 (Print) ISBN 978-3-662-13000-1 (Online) [1]
- Fulvio Attinà "State aggregation in defense pacts: systemic explanations", Jean Monnet Working Papers, University of Catania, nr. 56, November 2004, ISSN 2281-9029 [2]
- As part of the FrenchRepublic, French Algeria was protected under. After Algerian independence in 1962, the French Algerian territory's NATO protection ceased as the Article VI was able to access applicablity.
- "The Entire France-Greece Defense and Security Agreement". Greek Reporter. 28 September 2021.
- "Papua New Guinea – Australia Mutual Defence Treaty". Australian Government Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade. Retrieved 15 January 2026.
- "India-Russia RELOS Agreement". EconomicTimes. Retrieved 27 April 2026.