NATO at 75: Is Canada losing its grip on the world’s greatest military alliance? [Video]

Inarguably bigger and more seasoned than it was when it was born from the ashes of the Second World War, the North Atlantic Treaty Organization — the West’s great military alliance — celebrated a milestone Thursday: three-quarters of a century of keeping the peace in Europe.

NATO formally came into being with the signing of the Washington Treaty in the U.S. capital 75 years ago, when 12 western democracies — including Canada — banded together against what they saw as Soviet Russia’s expansionism in Europe.

Its creation helped to inaugurate the Cold War and, six years later, brought about the creation of the rival Warsaw Pact of communist countries, led by the Soviet Union.

The contest between those two alliances brought the world to the brink of nuclear war on several occasions, notably in October 1962 and November 1983.

NATO now faces multiple external and internal challenges — ranging from a resurgent Russia to …