Ministry of Defence
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65 years of NATO
Secretary of State Philip Hammond talks about the important role the UK has played at the heart of NATO.
This year we mark a number of significant military anniversaries: 100 years since the outbreak of the First World War, 70 years since the D-Day landings, 700 years since the Battle of Bannockburn, and 65 years since the founding of NATO.
Ever since its foundation in 1949, the United Kingdom has played a leading role at the heart of this transatlantic alliance and this year we will host its latest summit in Wales.
It is perhaps a little known fact that it was the British Foreign Secretary, Ernest Bevin, who was instrumental in setting up NATO; he came up with the idea of a western alliance and then set about negotiating with countries across the globe. And Britain hosted the first meeting of NATO deputies in 1950.
