NATO archives: first ten years now online

  • 28 Oct. 2013 -
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  • Last updated: 07 Nov. 2013 18:13

Today the NATO Archives, official home to some of the most important historical documents related to the security of Europe and North America, opens its e-vaults to the general public with the launch of NATO Archives Online (archives.nato.int), a new research tool that offers declassified and publicly disclosed NATO documents.

Interested in finding out more about the Soviet Union's request to join NATO in 1954 (C-R(54)14)? Or the NATO report about the rise of China as an important international power in the Cold War (AC/34-D/12), an early discussion about the political and strategic importance of Afghanistan (AC/119-WP(59)91) and NATO's analysis of the economic impact of the Suez Canal Crisis on NATO countries (RDC(56)524)?

NATO Archives Online gives access to these and other key documents that provide valuable insight into the Alliance's activities, concerns and discussions at the beginning of the Cold War. The documents are offered in the two NATO official languages (English and French) and have been scanned and digitised into PDF/A format to enable full-text searches.

Currently, over 19,000 documents from NATO's first ten years (1949 to 1959) are available and can be downloaded free of charge. The collection will continuously evolve, with more content to be added over the coming months. Future updates will include additional declassified and publicly disclosed documents from NATO's military structure, as well as a complete digitised collection of NATO publications and posters. In order to continually refine and improve the research experience, any feedback, comments and suggestions can be sent to nato.archives@hq.nato.int