How has the role of the world's largest military alliance changed?

NATO was conceived after World War 2 when12 countries banded together to protect themselves from the Soviet Union.

But, more than 60 years on what is the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation? And how does it keep us safe?

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Nato, or the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation is an intergovernmental military alliance established in 1949.

It was formed with the signing of the North Atlantic Treaty in 1949 by 12 member states Belgium, Canada, Denmark, France, Iceland, Italy, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Norway, Portugal, the UK and the US.

Since then it has expanded to 28 member states, with countries including Germany, Spain, Greece and Turkey joining, andrepresents a population of more than 900 million people.

The organisation isconsidered to be the largest and most powerful military alliance in history.

It iscommitted to individual liberty, democracy, human rights and the rule of law with all decisions taken by consensus.

Thepermanent headquarters of Nato is in Brussels where the Secretary General chairs senior decision making bodies.

The current Secretary General is former Prime Minister of Norway Jens Stoltenberg.

Heads of government and state have met at 26 Nato summits since 1949 the latest in Poland in July 2016.

Nato aims tosafeguard the freedom and security of its members through political and military means.

It was established primarily tokeep Europe safe by deterring any attack.

In 1949 this involved stopping Soviet expansion, preventing a revival of nationalistic militarism in Europe and encouraging European political integration.

But, over time the organisationhas changed and in recent years it has become increasingly focused on peacekeeping.

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Nato is best known for Article 5 of the North Atlantic Treaty in which members pledge to come to the aid of any member state under attack.

Article 5 has only been invoked once, following the September 11 attacks in America.

During his election campaign, Donald Trump raised doubts over his belief in the common defence principle because he viewed that some Nato members were not paying their way.

A revealed in The Sun, Ex-Nato second in command General Sir Alexander Richard Shirreff warned Trumps comments undermined the alliance and may even prompt Russia to invade European nations.

But inhis speech in Poland on July 7 President Donald Trump committed the United States to the article five principle of common defence.

So it stands that if a member state is attacked the attacker must go to war with all members, including the US.

The organisation, which is credited with the escalation of theCold War, carries out its own military missions using the troops of member states.

In 1995 ithelped to end the war in Bosnia-Herzegovina and in 1999 worked to stop mass killings in Kosovo.

Nato has been in Afghanistan on counter-terrorism missions since 2003 and in 2011 moved to protect the people of Libya.

It has been providing support as Europe copes with the refugee and migrant crisis.

Defence spending was revealed to have dropped below the Governments two per cent target last year,respected think tank the International Institute for Strategic Studies said.

But Defence Secretary Sir Michael Fallon insisted 2.1 per cent had been spent, with the new report blaming the shortfall on not keeping up with the growing economy.

The embarrassing dip comes after it was revealed just two countries in Nato met the defence benchmark Estonia and debt-riddled Greece.

A report released by Nato using figures from each member states Ministry of Defence shows the payments by a national governmentfor its armed forces.

The data has been completed for the fiscal year 2015/2016 andIceland hasnt been included as it has no armed forces.

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What is Nato, what is defence spending by country, what is Article 5 and how does it keep Europe safe? - The Sun