This sort of stretches from 1949 to 1994 (if I must) but I don't know how to be more specific in my timescale. How would a minor nation like Albania, Greece, Slovakia, Iceland, Romania ect. really help? Do they do anything other than provide bases for more militarily advanced members and deny influence to the Warsaw Pact? Did more advanced nations provide them with enough technological support to make their armies useful?
Thanks.
I can't answer, but Albania, Slovakia (as part of Czechoslovakia) and Romania were all members of the Warsaw Pact during the Cold War.
Smaller members often bring specialised expertise. A form of economies of scale, except for defence. Current examples include the Czech Republic for chemical warfare cleanup, Poland for signals battalions and training facilities, and some of the smaller Baltic nations for field hospitals and other niche capabilities.
Even the larger NATO members have forms of specialisation. As an example, the RN transformed itself from primarily a force-projection power to a specialised anti-submarine force to patrol the GIUK gap. Despite the collapse of the Cold War, the RN is still mostly an anti-submarine force, although it is transitioning slowly back to its force projection roots with the launch of the new QE-Class carriers.
Specialisation is also a current tenet running through NATO strategic policy – ‘Smart Defence’, which rests on the dual pillars of specialisation and co-operation. This has its origins in the 2010 Lisbon summit if you want to do some reading about developments.