NATO this year marks its 75th anniversary, and discussions around its purpose, achievements, faults and usefulness have never been louder. Journalist Peter Apps takes a look at the history of NATO, from the Korean War to the pandemic, the Berlin and Cuba crises, and the chaotic evacuation from Kabul.

Peter Apps is global defence correspondent for Reuters news agency and is currently on sabbatical as executive director of the Project for Study of the 21st Century (PS21). Apps reported from Sri Lanka during the civil war between the government and Tamil Tiger rebels. In September 2006, he broke his neck in a minibus crash while covering the conflict, leaving him largely paralysed from the shoulders down. He returned to work in a wheelchair nine months later, using voice recognition software to resume his writing career. Of the 20 or so countries he has reported from, more than half have been since the injury.