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{{Short description|Eastern European military alliance (1955–1991)}}
{{distinguish|Warsaw Convention|Treaty of Warsaw (disambiguation){{!}}Treaty of Warsaw}}
{{Other uses|Treaty of friendship}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=March 2022}}
{{Use Oxford spelling|date=May 2020}}
{{Infobox Geopolitical organization
| conventional_long_name = Warsaw Pact Organisation<br/>{{small|Warsaw Treaty Organisation}}{{efn|name=transl}}
| common_name            = Warsaw Pact
| native_name            = <!-- See in footnote -->
| name                   = {{small|Treaty of Friendship, Cooperation and Mutual Assistance}}
| anthem                 = <br />{{lang|ru|Песня Oбъединённых Aрмий}}<br />"[[Song of the United Armies]]"
| image_symbol           = Warsaw_Pact_Logo.svg
| symbol_type            = Emblem
| image_map              = Warsaw Pact in 1990 (orthographic projection).svg
| map_caption            = {{legend|darkgreen|Warsaw Pact member states in 1989 }}
{{legend|limegreen| Albania withdrew in 1968 }}
| capital                = [[Moscow]], [[Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic|Russian SFSR]], [[Soviet Union]]
| capital_type           = Headquarters
| capital2               = 
| capital_type2          = 
| official_languages     = 
| national_languages     = [[Russian language|Russian]], [[German language|German]], [[Hungarian language|Hungarian]], [[Czech language|Czech]], [[Slovak language|Slovak]], [[Romanian language|Romanian]], [[Albanian language|Albanian]], [[Bulgarian language|Bulgarian]], [[Polish language|Polish]]
| org_type               = [[Collective security]] [[military alliance]]
| membership             = {{plainlist|
* {{flagcountry|size=22px|People's Socialist Republic of Albania}}{{efn|De facto expelled in 1961 because of the [[Albanian–Soviet split]], formally withdrew in 1968.}}
* {{flagcountry|size=22px|People's Republic of Bulgaria}}
* {{flagcountry|size=22px|Czechoslovak Socialist Republic}}
* {{flagcountry|size=22px|East Germany}}{{efn|Formally withdrew in September 1990.}}
* {{flagcountry|size=22px|Hungarian People's Republic}}
* {{flagcountry|size=22px|Polish People's Republic|1980}}
* {{flagcountry|size=22px|Socialist Republic of Romania}}{{efn|Independent permanent non-Soviet member of the Warsaw Pact, having [[De-satellization of the Socialist Republic of Romania|freed itself from its Soviet satellite status]] by the early 1960s.<ref name=":0" /><ref name=":1" />}}
* {{flagcountry|size=22px|Soviet Union}}}}
| leader_title1          = [[Supreme Commander of the Unified Armed Forces of the Warsaw Treaty Organization|Supreme commander]]
| leader_name1           = {{ubl|[[Ivan Konev]] (first)|[[Pyotr Lushev]] (last)}}
| leader_title2          = [[Chief of Combined Staff of the Unified Armed Forces of the Warsaw Treaty Organization|Chief of combined&nbsp;staff]]
| leader_name2           = {{ubl|class=nowrap|[[Aleksei Antonov]] (first)|[[Vladimir Lobov]] (last)}}
| established_event1     = Treaty signed
| established_date1      = {{start date|1955|05|14|df=y}}
| established_event2     = Pact disbanded
| established_date2      = {{end date|1991|02|25|df=y}}
| established_event3     = Treaty disestablished
| established_date3      = {{end date|1991|07|01|df=y}}
| year_start             = 
| today                  = [[Collective Security Treaty Organization]], [[NATO]]
}}

The '''Warsaw Pact''' ('''WP'''),{{efn|
* {{langx|ru|Варшавский пакт|Varshavsky pakt}},<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.alexanderyakovlev.org/almanah/inside/almanah-doc/95 | title=Протокольная запись заседания Президиума ЦК КПCC (к пункту I протокола № 49)}}</ref> 
* {{langx|sq|Pakti i Varshavës}}, 
* {{langx|hy|Վարշավայի պայմանագրի կազմակերպություն|Varšavayi pazmanagri kazmakerpowt'yown}},
* {{langx|be|Варшаўскі дагавор|Varshawski dahavor}}, 
* {{langx|bg|Варшавският договор|Varshavskiyat dogovor}},
* {{langx|cs|Varšavská Smlouva}}, 
* {{langx|ka|ვარშავის პაქტი|Varshavis p'akt'i}}, 
* {{langx|de|Warschauer Pakt}}, 
* {{langx|et|Varssavi Pakt}}, 
* {{langx|hu|Varsói Szerződés}}, 
* {{langx|ky|Варшавa келишими|Varshava kelishimi}},
* {{langx|lt|Varšuvos paktas}}, 
* {{langx|lv|Varšavas Pakts}}, 
* {{langx|pl|Układ Warszawski}}, 
* {{langx|ro|Pactul de la Varșovia}}, 
* {{langx|sk|Varšavská zmluva}},<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ZVdQAQAAIAAJ&q=%22Var%C5%A1avsk%C3%BD+pakt%22|title=Slovenské pohl'ady|date= 1997|publisher=Matica slovenská|via=Google Books}}</ref> 
* {{langx|uk|Варшавський договір|Varshavskyi dohovir}}}} formally the '''Treaty of Friendship, Cooperation and Mutual Assistance''' ('''TFCMA'''),{{efn|
* {{langx|ru|Договор о дружбе, сотрудничестве и взаимной помощи|Dogovor o druzhbe, sotrudnichestve i vzaimnoy pomoshchi}}, 
* {{langx|hy|Վարշավայի պայմանագրի կազմակերպություն, Բարեկամության, համագործակցության և փոխադարձ օգնության պայմանագիր|Varšavayi paymanagri kazmakerpowt'yown, barekamowt'yan, hamagorcakc'owt'yan ew p'oxadarj ògnowt'yan paymanagir}}, 
* {{langx|be|Дагавор аб дружбе, супрацоўніцтве і ўзаемнай дапамозе|Dahavor ab druzhbye, supratsownitstvye i wzayemnay dapamozye}}, 
* {{langx|bg|Договор за приятелство, съдействие и взаимопомощ|Dogovor za priyatelstvo, sadeystvie i vzaimopomosht}}, 
* {{langx|cs|Smlouva o Přátelství, Spolupráci a Vzájemné Pomoci}}, 
* {{langx|de|Vertrag über Freundschaft, Zusammenarbeit und gegenseitige Unterstützung}}, 
* {{langx|ka|მეგობრობის, თანამშრომლობისა და ურთიერთდახმარების ხელშეკრულება|megobrobis, tanamshromlobisa da urtiertdakhmarebis khelshek'ruleba}},
* {{langx|lv|Līguma par Draudzību, Sadarbību un Savstarpējo Palīdzību}}, 
* {{langx|pl|Układ o Przyjaźni, Współpracy i Pomocy Wzajemnej}}, 
* {{langx|ro|Tratatul de Prietenie, Cooperare și Asistență Mutuală}}, 
* {{langx|sk|Zmluva o Priateľstve, Spolupráci a Vzájomnej Pomoci}}, 
* {{langx|uk|Договір про дружбу, співробітництво і взаємну допомогу|Dohovir pro druzhbu. spitrobititnitstvo i vzaiemnu}},
* {{langx|uz|До'стлик, ҳамкорлик ва о'заро ёрдам шартномаси|Do'stlik, hamkorlik va o'zaro yordam shartnomasi}}}} was a [[Collective security#Collective defense|collective defense]] treaty signed in [[Warsaw]], [[Polish People's Republic|Poland]], between the [[Soviet Union]] and seven other [[Eastern Bloc]] [[List of non-communist socialist states|socialist republics]] in [[Central and Eastern Europe]] in May 1955, during the [[Cold War]]. The term "Warsaw Pact" commonly refers to both the treaty itself and its resultant [[military alliance]], the '''Warsaw Pact Organisation'''<ref>'[https://hansard.parliament.uk/commons/1988-03-04/debates/2bf5f73e-c3e9-499e-9bd7-7e82ea3cd153/NatoSummit(Brussels)#1289 NATO Summit (Brussels)]', column 1,289, volume 128, series 6, ''Hansard''</ref><ref name="Killham_article">Page 22, '[https://www.nato.int/acad/fellow/95-97/killham.pdf NATO and OSCE, Partners or Rivals?]', Edward Killham</ref> ('''WPO''';<ref name="Killham_article"/><ref>'[https://fam.state.gov/FAM/05FAH03/05FAH030310.html Organization Acronyms]' (sub‑chapter H‑312), ''TAGS/Terms Handbook'' (State Department, Government of the United States of America)</ref> also known as the '''Warsaw Treaty Organization''',<ref>{{Cite web |title=Milestones: 1953–1960 – Office of the Historian |url=https://history.state.gov/milestones/1953-1960/warsaw-treaty |website=history.state.gov}}</ref> '''WTO''').{{efn|name=transl|
* {{langx|ru|Организация Варшавского договора|Organizatsiya Varshavskogo dogovora}} ('''ОВД'''),
* {{langx|az|Varşava Müqaviləsi Təşkilatı}} ('''VMT'''), 
* {{langx|be|Арганізацыя Варшаўскага Дагавора|Arhanizacyja Varšaŭskaha Dahavora}} ('''АВД'''),
* {{langx|bg|Организация на Варшавския договор}} ('''ОВД'''),
* {{langx|cs|Organizace Varšavské Smlouvy}} ('''OVS'''),
* {{langx|de|Organisation des Warschauer Vertrags}} ('''OWV'''),
* {{langx|et|Varssavi Lepingu Organisatsioon}} ('''VLO'''),
* {{langx|kk|Варшава келісімі ұйымы|Varşava kelısımı ūiymy}} ('''ВКҰ''', '''VKU'''), 
* {{langx|lv|Varšavas Līguma Organizācija}} ('''VLO'''),
* {{langx|lt|Varšuvos Sutarties Organizacija}} ('''VSO'''),
* {{langx|ky|Варшавa келишими уюму}} ('''ВКУ'''),
* {{langx|pl|Organizacja Układu Warszawskiego}} ('''OUW'''),
* {{langx|sk|Organizácia Varšavskej Zmluvy}} ('''OVZ'''),
* {{langx|uk|Організації варшавського договору|Orhanizatsiyi varshavskoho dohovoru}} ('''ОВД'''),
* {{langx|uz|Варшава шартномаси ташкилоти|Varshava shartnomasi tashkiloti}} ('''ВШТ''', '''VShT''')}} The Warsaw Pact was the military complement to the [[Comecon|Council for Mutual Economic Assistance]] (Comecon), the economic organization for the Eastern Bloc states.<ref name="History Channel 1" /><ref>{{cite book |author-first=Debra J. |author-last=Allen |date=2003|title=The Oder-Neisse Line: The United States, Poland, and Germany in the Cold War |page=158 |quote=Treaties approving Bonn's participation in NATO were ratified in May 1955...shortly thereafter Soviet Union...created the Warsaw Pact to counter the perceived threat of NATO |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=PFDeEAAAQBAJ&q=%22treaties%20approving%20bonn's%20participation%22|isbn=9780313052446 |publisher=[[ABC-Clio]]}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |title=Text of Warsaw Pact |url=http://treaties.un.org/doc/Publication/UNTS/Volume%20219/volume-219-I-2962-Other.pdf |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131002102140/http://treaties.un.org/doc/Publication/UNTS/Volume%20219/volume-219-I-2962-Other.pdf |archive-date=2 October 2013 |access-date=22 August 2013 |publisher=United Nations Treaty Collection}}</ref>

Dominated by the Soviet Union, the Warsaw Pact was established as a balance of power or counterweight to the [[NATO|North Atlantic Treaty Organization]] (NATO) and the [[Western Bloc]].<ref name="Yoder1993" /><ref name="Reinalda2009" /> There was no direct military confrontation between the two organizations; instead, the conflict was fought on an ideological basis and through [[proxy war]]s. Both NATO and the Warsaw Pact led to the expansion of military forces and their integration into the respective blocs.<ref name="Reinalda2009" /> The Warsaw Pact's largest military engagement was the [[Warsaw Pact invasion of Czechoslovakia]], one of its own member states, in August 1968. All member states participated except for [[People's Socialist Republic of Albania|Albania]] and [[Socialist Republic of Romania|Romania]],<ref name="Yoder1993" /> resulting in Albania's withdrawal from the pact less than one month later. The pact began to unravel with the spread of the [[Revolutions of 1989]] through the Eastern Bloc, beginning with the [[Solidarity (Polish trade union)|Solidarity movement]] in Poland,<ref>{{cite magazine |url=http://content.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,159069,00.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151223090949/http://content.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,159069,00.html|archive-date=23 December 2015 |title=Cover Story: The Holy Alliance |author-first=Carl |author-last=Bernstein |author-link=Carl Bernstein |magazine=[[Time (magazine)|TIME]] |issn=0040-781X|date=24 June 2001}}</ref> its [[1989 Polish legislative election|electoral success]] in June 1989 and the [[Pan-European Picnic]] in August 1989.<ref>{{cite news |author-first=Thomas |author-last=Roser |title=DDR-Massenflucht: Ein Picknick hebt die Welt aus den Angeln |language=de |trans-title=Mass Exodus of the GDR: A Picnic Clears the World |newspaper=[[Die Presse]] |date=16 August 2018}}</ref>

East Germany withdrew from the pact following [[German reunification]] in 1990. On 25 February 1991, at a meeting in Hungary, the pact ceased to exist via joint declaration by the defense and foreign ministers of the six remaining member states. The USSR itself was [[Dissolution of the Soviet Union|dissolved in December 1991]], although most of the former Soviet republics formed the [[Collective Security Treaty Organization]] shortly thereafter. In the following 20 years, the Warsaw Pact countries outside the USSR each joined NATO (East Germany through its reunification with West Germany; and the [[Czech Republic]] and Slovakia as separate countries), as did the [[Baltic states]].

==History==
===Beginnings===
[[File:Pałac Prezydencki w Warszawie korpus główny 2019.jpg|thumb|right|<!-- DO NOT ADD A DIFFERENT PHOTO. The horse monument was put on the square only in 1960s -->The [[Presidential Palace, Warsaw|Presidential Palace]] in [[Warsaw]], Poland, where the Warsaw Pact was established and signed on 14 May 1955.]]
[[File:Warsaw Pact 1955.jpg|thumb|right|Conference during which the Pact was established and signed.]]
Before the creation of the Warsaw Pact, the Czechoslovak leadership, fearful of a re-militarized West Germany, sought to create a security pact with East Germany and Poland.<ref name="Laurien Crump Routledge page 21-22" /> These states protested strongly against the re-militarization of [[West Germany]].<ref>{{cite book |title=Europa dwudziestego wieku: zarys historii politycznej |language=pl |trans-title=Outline of the Political History of Twentieth-Century Europe |author-first=Antoni |author-last=Czubiński |author-link=Antoni Czubiński |publisher=Wydawnictwo Poznańskie |date=1998 |page=298 |isbn=9788386138708}}</ref> The Warsaw Pact was put in place as a consequence of the [[West German rearmament|rearming of West Germany]] inside [[NATO]]. Soviet leaders, like many European leaders on both sides of the [[Iron Curtain]], feared Germany being once again a military power and a direct threat. The consequences of [[German militarism]] remained a fresh memory among the Soviets and Eastern Europeans.<ref name="History Channel 1" /><ref name="History Channel 2" /><ref>{{cite book |title=World Politics: The Menu for Choice |page=87 |author1-first=Bruce |author1-last=Russett |author1-link=Bruce Russett|author2-first=Harvey |author2-last=Starr |author3-first=David |author3-last=Kinsella |date=2009 |isbn=9780495410683 |publisher=[[Cengage Learning]]|quote=The Warsaw Pact was established in 1955 as a response to West Germany's entry into NATO; German militarism was still a recent memory among the Soviets and East Europeans.}}</ref><ref>"When the Federal Republic of Germany entered NATO in early May 1955, the Soviets feared the consequences of a strengthened NATO and a rearmed West Germany". Citation from:{{cite web|last1=United States Department of State|first1=Office of the Historian|title=The Warsaw Treaty Organization, 1955|url=https://history.state.gov/milestones/1953-1960/warsaw-treaty|website=Office of the Historian|publisher=history.state.gov|access-date=24 December 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151128050302/http://history.state.gov/milestones/1953-1960/warsaw-treaty|archive-date=28 November 2015|url-status=live|author1-link=United States Department of State}}</ref><ref>"1955: After objecting to Germany's admission into [[NATO]], the [[Soviet Union]] joins [[Albania]], [[Bulgaria]], [[Czechoslovakia]], East Germany, Hungary, Poland and Romania in forming the Warsaw Pact.". See chronology in:{{cite news|url=https://www.cbc.ca/news/world/fast-facts-about-nato-1.778864|date=6 April 2009|title=Fast facts about NATO|publisher=[[CBC News]]|access-date=16 July 2011|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120504110549/http://www.cbc.ca/news/world/story/2009/04/03/f-nato-fast-facts.html|archive-date=4 May 2012|url-status=live}}</ref> As the Soviet Union already had an [[Soviet Empire|armed presence and political domination]] all over its eastern [[satellite state]]s by 1955, the pact has been long considered "superfluous",<ref>Laurien Crump (2015). ''The Warsaw Pact Reconsidered: International Relations in Eastern Europe, 1955–1969''. Routledge. p. 17</ref> and because of the rushed way in which it was conceived, NATO officials labeled it a "cardboard castle".<ref>Laurien Crump (2015). ''The Warsaw Pact Reconsidered: International Relations in Eastern Europe, 1955–1969''. Routledge. p. 1.</ref>

[[File:Iron Curtain map.svg|thumb|left|The Iron Curtain (black line)
{{legend|#FF8282|Warsaw Pact countries}}
{{legend|#004990|[[NATO]] countries (May 1982 to October 1990)}}
{{legend|#C0C0C0|Militarily [[neutral countries]]}}
{{legend|#57D557|[[Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia|Yugoslavia]], member of the [[Non-Aligned Movement]]<hr />}}
The black dot represents [[West Berlin]], an [[enclave]] aligned with [[West Germany]]. [[People's Socialist Republic of Albania|Albania]] withheld its support to the Warsaw Pact in 1961 due to the [[Soviet–Albanian split]] and formally withdrew in 1968.]]

The USSR, fearing the restoration of German militarism in West Germany, had suggested in 1954 that it join NATO, but this was rejected by the US.<ref name="soviet request nato" /><ref>"1954: Soviet Union suggests it should join NATO to preserve peace in Europe. [[United States|U.S.]] and [[United Kingdom|U.K.]] reject this". See chronology in:{{cite news|url=https://www.cbc.ca/news/world/fast-facts-about-nato-1.778864|date=6 April 2009|title=Fast facts about NATO|publisher=[[CBC News]]|access-date=16 July 2011|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120504110549/http://www.cbc.ca/news/world/story/2009/04/03/f-nato-fast-facts.html|archive-date=4 May 2012|url-status=live}}</ref><ref name="soviet request nato frus" />

The Soviet request to join NATO arose in the aftermath of the [[Berlin Conference (1954)|Berlin Conference]] of January–February 1954. Soviet foreign minister [[Vyacheslav Molotov|Molotov]] made proposals to have [[German reunification|Germany reunified]]{{sfn|Molotov|1954a|pp=197, 201}} and elections for a pan-German government,{{sfn|Molotov|1954a|p=202}} under conditions of withdrawal of the [[Allied Control Council|four powers]]' armies and German neutrality,{{sfn|Molotov|1954a|pp=197–198, 203, 212}} but all were refused by the other foreign ministers, [[John Foster Dulles|Dulles]] (US), [[Anthony Eden|Eden]] (UK), and [[Georges Bidault|Bidault]] (France).{{sfn|Molotov|1954a|pp=211–212, 216}} Proposals for the reunification of Germany were nothing new: earlier on 20 March 1952, talks about a German reunification, initiated by the so-called '[[Stalin Note]]', ended after the [[United Kingdom]], [[France]], and the United States insisted that a unified Germany should not be neutral and should be free to join the [[European Defence Community]] (EDC) and rearm. [[James Clement Dunn|James Dunn]] (US), who met in [[Paris]] with Eden, [[Konrad Adenauer]] (West Germany), and [[Robert Schuman]] (France), affirmed that "the object should be to avoid discussion with the Russians and to press on the European Defense Community".<ref>{{cite book |last=Steininger |first=Rolf |author-link=Rolf Steininger |date=1991 |title=The German Question: The Stalin Note of 1952 and the Problem of Reunification |publisher=[[Columbia University Press]] |page=56}}</ref> According to [[John Lewis Gaddis|John Gaddis]], "there was little inclination in Western capitals to explore this offer" from the USSR,<ref>{{cite book |last=Gaddis |first=John |author-link=John Lewis Gaddis|date=1997 |title=We Now Know: Rethinking Cold War History |publisher=[[Clarendon Press]] |page=126 |isbn=9780198780700 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=rZLtAAAAMAAJ&q=little%20inclination}}</ref> while historian [[Rolf Steininger]] asserts that Adenauer's conviction that "neutralization means [[sovietization]]", referring to the Soviet Union's policies towards [[Finland]] known as [[finlandization]], was the main factor in the rejection of the Soviet proposals.<ref>{{cite book |last=Steininger |first=Rolf |date=1991 |title=The German Question: The Stalin Note of 1952 and the Problem of Reunification |publisher=Columbia University Press |page=80}}</ref> Adenauer also feared that German unification might have resulted in the end of the CDU's leading political role in the West German [[Bundestag]].<ref>{{cite book |last=Steininger |first=Rolf |date=1991 |title=The German Question: The Stalin Note of 1952 and the Problem of Reunification |publisher=Columbia University Press |page=103}}</ref>

Consequently, Molotov, fearing that the EDC would be directed in the future against the USSR and "seeking to prevent the formation of groups of European States directed against the other European States",<ref name="molotov proposal europe" /> made a proposal for a General European Treaty on Collective Security in Europe "open to all European States without regard to their social systems",<ref name="molotov proposal europe" /> which would have included the unified Germany (thus rendering the EDC obsolete). But Eden, Dulles, and Bidault opposed the proposal.{{sfn|Molotov|1954a|p=214}}

One month later, the proposed European Treaty was rejected not only by supporters of the EDC, but also by Western opponents of the [[Treaty establishing the European Defence Community|European Defence Community]] (like French [[Gaullist]] leader [[Gaston Palewski]]) who perceived it as "unacceptable in its present form because it excludes the USA from participation in the collective security system in Europe".<ref name="molotov proposal nato" /> The Soviets then decided to make a new proposal to the governments of the US, UK, and France to accept the participation of the US in the proposed General European Agreement.<ref name="molotov proposal nato" /> As another argument deployed against the Soviet proposal was that it was perceived by Western powers as "directed against the North Atlantic Pact and its liquidation",<ref name="molotov proposal nato" />{{sfn|Molotov|1954a|p=216}} the Soviets decided to declare their "readiness to examine jointly with other interested parties the question of the participation of the USSR in the North Atlantic bloc", specifying that "the admittance of the USA into the General European Agreement should not be conditional on the three Western powers agreeing to the USSR joining the North Atlantic Pact".<ref name="molotov proposal nato" />
Again, all Soviet proposals, including the request to join NATO, were rejected by the UK, US, and French governments shortly after.<ref name="soviet request nato frus" /><ref name="soviet request nato reply" /> Emblematic was the position of British General [[Hastings Ismay, 1st Baron Ismay|Hastings Ismay]], a fierce supporter of [[Enlargement of NATO|NATO expansion]]. He opposed the request to join NATO made by the USSR in 1954<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.theguardian.com/world/2001/jun/17/russia.iantraynor|title=Soviets tried to join Nato in 1954|author-first=Ian |author-last=Traynor|work=[[The Guardian]]|date=17 June 2001|access-date=18 December 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170216223602/https://www.theguardian.com/world/2001/jun/17/russia.iantraynor|archive-date=16 February 2017|url-status=live}}</ref> saying that "the Soviet request to join NATO is like an unrepentant burglar requesting to join the police force"<!-- punctuation in original -->.<ref name="soviet request nato note" />

In April 1954, Adenauer made his first visit to the United States, meeting [[Richard Nixon|Nixon]], [[Dwight D. Eisenhower|Eisenhower]], and [[John Foster Dulles|Dulles]]. Ratification of the EDC was delayed but the US representatives made it clear to Adenauer that the EDC would have to become a part of NATO.{{sfn|Adenauer|1966a|p=662}}

Memories of the Nazi occupation were still strong, and the rearmament of Germany was feared by France too.<ref name="History Channel 2" /><ref name="EDC refusal" /> On 30 August 1954, the French Parliament rejected the EDC, thus ensuring its failure<ref name="EDC failure" /> and blocking a major objective of US policy towards Europe: to associate West Germany militarily with the West.<ref name="Alternatives to EDC" /> The US Department of State started to elaborate alternatives: West Germany would be invited to join NATO or, in the case of French obstructionism, strategies to circumvent a French veto would be implemented in order to obtain German rearmament outside NATO.<ref name="german rearmament" />

[[File:ParkPatriot2015part4-12.jpg|thumb|A typical Soviet military vehicle [[UAZ-469]], used by most countries of the Warsaw Pact]]

On [[London and Paris Conferences|23 October 1954]], the admission of the Federal Republic of Germany to the North Atlantic Pact was finally decided. The incorporation of West Germany into the organization on 9 May 1955 was described as "a decisive turning point in the history of our continent" by [[Halvard Lange]], [[Minister of Foreign Affairs (Norway)|Foreign Affairs Minister of Norway]] at the time.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/may/9/newsid_2519000/2519979.stm|title=West Germany accepted into Nato|work=BBC News|date=9 May 1955|access-date=17 January 2012|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120106185539/http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/may/9/newsid_2519000/2519979.stm|archive-date=6 January 2012|url-status=live}}</ref> In November 1954, the USSR requested a new European Security Treaty,<ref>{{cite book |title=Indivisible Germany: Illusion or Reality? |author-first=James H. |author-last=Wolfe |publisher=[[Springer Science & Business Media]] |year=2012 |page=73}}</ref> in order to make a final attempt to not have a remilitarized West Germany potentially opposed to the Soviet Union, with no success.

On 14 May 1955, the USSR and seven other Eastern European countries "reaffirming their desire for the establishment of a system of European collective security based on the participation of all European states irrespective of their social and political systems"<ref name="warsaw treaty text" /> established the Warsaw Pact in response to the integration of the Federal Republic of Germany into NATO,<ref name="History Channel 1" /><ref name="NATO short history" /> declaring that: "a remilitarized Western Germany and the integration of the latter in the North-Atlantic bloc [...] increase the danger of another war and constitutes a threat to the national security of the peaceable states; [...] in these circumstances the peaceable European states must take the necessary measures to safeguard their security".<ref name="warsaw treaty text" />

One of the pact's founding members, [[East Germany]], was allowed to re-arm by the Soviet Union and the [[National People's Army]] was established as the armed forces of the country to counter the rearmament of West Germany.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.economist.com/europe/2012/10/13/no-shooting-please-were-german|title=No shooting please, we're German|newspaper=[[The Economist]]|date=13 October 2012|access-date=23 August 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180823210307/https://www.economist.com/europe/2012/10/13/no-shooting-please-were-german|archive-date=23 August 2018|url-status=live}}</ref>

The USSR concentrated on its own recovery, seizing and transferring most of Germany's industrial plants, and it exacted [[World War II reparations|war reparations]] from East Germany, [[People's Republic of Hungary|Hungary]], [[People's Republic of Romania|Romania]], and [[People's Republic of Bulgaria|Bulgaria]] using Soviet-dominated joint enterprises. It also instituted trading arrangements deliberately designed to favour the country. Moscow controlled the Communist parties that ruled the satellite states, and they followed orders from the Kremlin. Historian Mark Kramer concludes: "The net outflow of resources from eastern Europe to the Soviet Union was approximately $15 billion to $20 billion in the first decade after World War II, an amount roughly equal to the total aid provided by the United States to western Europe under the [[Marshall Plan]]."<ref>{{cite book |author-first=Mark |author-last=Kramer |author-link=Mark Kramer (journalist)|contribution=The Soviet Bloc and the Cold War in Europe |editor-first=Klaus | editor-last=Larres |editor-link=Klaus Larres |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=EyNcCwAAQBAJ&pg=PT174 |title=A Companion to Europe Since 1945 |publisher=[[Wiley (publisher)|Wiley]] |year=2014 |isbn=978-1-118-89024-0 |page=79}}</ref>

In November 1956, [[Soviet Armed Forces|Soviet forces]] invaded [[Hungarian People's Republic|Hungary]], a Warsaw Pact member state, and violently [[Hungarian Revolution of 1956#Soviet invasion|put down the Hungarian Revolution]]. After that, the USSR made bilateral 20-year-treaties with [[Peoples Republic of Poland|Poland]] (17 December 1956),<ref>spiegel.de: [https://www.spiegel.de/politik/warum-steht-in-polen-eine-sowjet-garnison-a-4a249a97-0002-0001-0000-000014018986 ''Warum steht in Polen eine Sowjet-Garnison?''] ([[Der Spiegel]] 20/1983)</ref> the [[East Germany|GDR]] (12 March 1957),<ref>see also [[Group of Soviet Forces in Germany]]</ref> [[Socialist Republic of Romania|Romania]] (15 April 1957; Soviet forces were later removed as part of [[De-satellization of the Socialist Republic of Romania|Romania's de-satellization]]),<ref>see also [[History of Romania#Communist period (1947–1989)]]</ref> and [[Hungarian People's Republic|Hungary]] (27 May 1957),<ref>{{cite journal | url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/2195705 | jstor=2195705 | doi=10.2307/2195705 | issue=1 | date=1958 | journal=[[The American Journal of International Law]] | title=Union of Soviet Socialist Republics--Hungarian People's Republic: Agreement on the Legal Status of the Soviet Forces Temporarily Present on the Territory of the Hungarian People's Republic | volume=52 | pages=215–221 | s2cid=246005881| url-access=subscription }}</ref> ensuring that Soviet troops were deployed in these countries.

===Members===
[[File:Bundesarchiv Bild 183-1987-0529-029, Berlin, Tagung Warschauer Pakt, Gruppenfoto.jpg|thumb|right|Meeting of the seven representatives of the Warsaw Pact countries in [[East Berlin]] in May 1987. From left to right: [[Gustáv Husák]] (Czechoslovakia), [[Todor Zhivkov]] (Bulgaria), [[Erich Honecker]] (East Germany), [[Mikhail Gorbachev]] (Soviet Union), [[Nicolae Ceaușescu]] (Romania), [[Wojciech Jaruzelski]] (Poland), and [[János Kádár]] (Hungary)]]

The founding signatories of the Pact consisted of the following communist governments:
* {{flagicon|Albania|1946}} [[People's Socialist Republic of Albania|People's Republic of Albania]] (withheld support in 1961 because of the [[Albanian–Soviet split]], but formally withdrew on 13 September 1968)<ref name="withdrawal">{{cite news |date=14 May 1955 |title=1955: Communist states sign Warsaw Pact |url=https://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/may/14/newsid_3771000/3771065.stm |access-date=27 May 2010 |work=BBC News}}</ref>
* {{flagicon|People's Republic of Bulgaria}} [[People's Republic of Bulgaria]]<ref name="history.com" />
* {{flagicon|Czechoslovakia}} [[Czechoslovak Socialist Republic|Czechoslovak Republic]]<ref name="history.com" />
* {{flag|East Germany|name=German Democratic Republic}} (officially withdrew on 24 September 1990 in preparation for [[German reunification]], with Soviet consent and a "remarkable yet hardly noticed" ceremony, ceasing to exist altogether at midnight on 3 October)<ref>{{cite book| url = https://books.google.com/books?id=LoqwCAAAQBAJ&pg=PA59| publisher=[[Routledge]]|title=Longman Companion to Germany Since 1945|page= 59| isbn = 978-1317884248| last1 = Webb| first1 = Adrian |author1-link=Adrian Webb |date = 2014}}</ref><ref>{{cite book| url = https://books.google.com/books?id=JKrpCAAAQBAJ&pg=PA297|publisher=[[Berghahn Books]]|title=Mitterrand, the End of the Cold War, and German Unification|page=297| isbn = 978-1845457877| last1 = Bozo| first1 = Édéric| year = 2009}}</ref><ref>{{cite book| url = https://books.google.com/books?id=gXflC2Ipo_QC&pg=PA537| publisher=[[Oxford University Press]]|title=Germany: 1933–1990 |page=537| isbn = 978-0-19-926598-5| last1 = Winkler |first1 = Heinrich August |author1-link=Heinrich August Winkler |year = 2006}}</ref><ref>{{cite book| url = https://books.google.com/books?id=IGjfBQAAQBAJ&pg=PA261|publisher=[[Routledge]]| title=Germany in the Twentieth Century|page= 261| isbn = 978-1317542285| last1 = Childs| first1 = David |author1-link=David Childs (academic) |date = 2014}}</ref>
* {{flagicon|HPR}} [[Hungarian People's Republic]] (temporarily withdrew from 1–4 November 1956 during the [[Hungarian Revolution of 1956|Hungarian Revolution]])<ref name="history.com" />
* {{flagicon|PPR|variant=1980}} [[Polish People's Republic]]<ref name="history.com" />
* {{flagicon|RSR}} [[Socialist Republic of Romania|Romanian People's Republic]] (the only independent permanent non-Soviet member of the Warsaw Pact, having [[De-satellization of Communist Romania|freed itself from its Soviet satellite status]] by the early 1960s)<ref name=":0" /><ref name=":1" />
* {{flag|Soviet Union}}<ref name="history.com" />

=== Observers ===
{{flagcountry|MPR}}: In July 1963, the [[Mongolian People's Republic]] asked to join the Warsaw Pact under Article 9 of the treaty.<ref name="auto" /> Due to the emerging [[Sino-Soviet split]], Mongolia remained in an observer status.<ref name="auto" /> In what was the first instance of a Soviet initiative being blocked by a non-Soviet member of the Warsaw Pact, Romania blocked Mongolia's accession to the Warsaw Pact.<ref>{{cite book |first=Laurien |last=Crump |year=2015 |title=The Warsaw Pact Reconsidered: International Relations in Eastern Europe, 1955–1969 |publisher=Routledge | url = https://books.google.com/books?id=mLSgBgAAQBAJ&pg=PA77 |page=77| isbn = 978-1317555308}}</ref><ref>{{cite book| url = https://books.google.com/books?id=_lfPDwAAQBAJ&pg=PA398|publisher=Cambridge University Press|title=Cold Wars: Asia, the Middle East, Europe|page= 398| isbn = 978-1108418331| last1 = Lüthi| first1 = Lorenz M.| date = 19 March 2020}}</ref> The Soviet government agreed to station troops in Mongolia in 1966.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1990-03-03-mn-1543-story.html|title=Soviet Troops to Leave Mongolia in 2 Years|agency=Reuters|date=3 March 1990|access-date=23 August 2018|via=LA Times|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181010153559/http://articles.latimes.com/1990-03-03/news/mn-1543_1_soviet-union|archive-date=10 October 2018|url-status=live}}</ref>

At first, [[China]], [[North Korea]], and [[Democratic Republic of Vietnam|North Vietnam]] had observer status,<ref>{{cite web|url=http://freecontent.abc-clio.com/ContentPages/contentpage.aspx?entryid=2012183&currentSection=2012178&productid=2012177|title=Warsaw Treaty Organization|last=ABC-CLIO|date=3 March 1990|access-date=29 August 2020|archive-date=16 August 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210816182114/http://freecontent.abc-clio.com/ContentPages/contentpage.aspx?entryid=2012183&currentSection=2012178&productid=2012177|url-status=dead}}</ref> but China terminated its observer status in 1961 as a consequence of the [[Albanian-Soviet split]], in which China backed Albania against the USSR as part of the larger [[Sino-Soviet split]] of the early 1960s.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Lüthi |first1=Lorenz M. |date=8 October 2007 |title=The People's Republic of China and the Warsaw Pact Organization, 1955–63 |url=https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/14682740701621762 |journal=[[Cold War History (journal)|Cold War History]] |volume=7 |issue=4 |pages=479–494 |doi=10.1080/14682740701621762 |s2cid=153463433 |access-date=17 February 2023|url-access=subscription }}</ref>

===During the Cold War===
{{Main|Cold War}}

[[File:Praga 11.jpg|thumb|left|Soviet tanks, marked with white crosses to distinguish them from Czechoslovak tanks,<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.austria1989.org/1968|title=1968 – The Prague Spring|website=Austria 1989 – Year of Miracles|language=en-US|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190708140736/https://www.austria1989.org/1968|archive-date=8 July 2019|url-status=live|access-date=8 July 2019|quote=In the morning hours of August 21, 1968, Soviet and Warsaw Pact tanks roll in the streets of Prague; to distinguish them from Czechoslovak tanks, they are marked with white crosses.}}</ref> on the streets of [[Prague]] during the [[Warsaw Pact invasion of Czechoslovakia]], 1968]]

For 36 years, [[NATO]] and the Warsaw Pact never directly waged war against each other in Europe; the United States and the Soviet Union and their respective allies implemented strategic policies aimed at the containment of each other in Europe, while working and fighting for influence within the wider [[Cold War]] on the international stage. These included the [[Korean War]], [[Vietnam War]], [[Bay of Pigs Invasion|Bay of Pigs invasion]], [[Dirty War]], [[Cambodian–Vietnamese War]], and others.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://militaryhistorynow.com/2013/10/02/the-international-vietnam-war-the-other-world-powers-that-fought-in-south-east-asia/|title=America Wasn't the Only Foreign Power in the Vietnam War|date=2 October 2013|access-date=23 August 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180612165646/https://militaryhistorynow.com/2013/10/02/the-international-vietnam-war-the-other-world-powers-that-fought-in-south-east-asia/|archive-date=12 June 2018|url-status=live}}</ref>

The [[Soviet Ground Forces]] created and directed the Eastern European armies in its image during the Cold War, shaping them for a potential confrontation with NATO. After 1956, [[Nikita Khrushchev]], [[General Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union|General Secretary of the Communist Party]], reduced the Ground Forces to build up the [[Strategic Rocket Forces]], emphasizing the armed forces' [[nuclear weapon|nuclear]] capabilities. He removed Marshal [[Georgy Zhukov]] from the [[Politburo]] in 1957 for opposing these reductions in the Ground Forces.<ref>{{cite book|first=Viktor|last=Suvorov|author-link=Viktor Suvorov|title=[[Inside the Soviet Army]]|publisher=[[Macmillan Publishers|MacMillan]] |date=1982 |page=36}}</ref> Soviet and WarPac forces repeatedly rehearsed the large-scale use of nuclear weapons in invasion exercises, such as 1964 Czech planning, which would have seen [[Lyon]] seized by the ninth day of the advance, and the Polish [[Seven Days to the River Rhine]] (1979).<ref>{{cite web|author=[[Vojtech Mastny (historian)]], Petr Luňák, Anna Locher, and Christian Nuenlist |title=Taking Lyon on the Ninth Day? : The 1964 Warsaw Pact Plan for Nuclear War in Europe and Related Documents |url=https://phpisn.ethz.ch/lory1.ethz.ch/collections/colltopic0852.html?lng=en&id=15365 |publisher=ETH Zurich |place=Zurich, Switzerland |date=May 2000}}</ref> Nonetheless, Soviet forces possessed too few theater-level nuclear weapons to fulfill war-plan requirements until the mid-1980s.{{sfn|Odom|1998|p=69}} The [[General Staff of the Armed Forces of the Soviet Union|General Staff]] maintained plans to invade Western Europe whose massive scale was only made publicly available after researchers gained access to Eastern Bloc files following the dissolution of the Soviet Union.{{sfn|Odom|1998|p=72–80}}<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Robinson |first=Dr. Colin |title=The Bulgarian Land Forces in the Cold War |journal=Bulletin of "Carol I" National Defence University |url=https://revista.unap.ro/index.php/bulletin/article/view/1763 |language=en |volume=12 |issue=3 |pages=73–94 |date=2023-10-06|doi=10.53477/2284-9378-23-33 |s2cid=263840467 |issn=2284-9378|doi-access=free }}</ref><ref>[https://phpisn.ethz.ch/lory1.ethz.ch/index.html Parallel History Project]; [[Beatrice Heuser|Heuser, Beatrice]], "Warsaw Pact Military Doctrines in the 1970s and 1980s: Findings in the East German Archives", ''Comparative Strategy'', October–December 1993, pp. 437–457; [https://warplans.org/books_en1.html Nuclear War in Southern Europe. Review of NATO and Warsaw Pact Operational Strategic Planning. Part I. Balkans and Black Sea Straits. Kiev, 2021.]</ref>
[[File:Overzicht op Museumplein met spandoek The Dutch disease is better for peace o, Bestanddeelnr 253-8627.jpg|thumb|Protest in Amsterdam against the [[nuclear arms race]] between NATO and the Warsaw Pact, 1981]]

In 1956, following the declaration of the [[Imre Nagy]] government of the withdrawal of Hungary from the Warsaw Pact, [[Hungarian Revolution of 1956|Soviet troops entered the country and removed the government]].<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.historylearningsite.co.uk/modern-world-history-1918-to-1980/the-cold-war/the-hungarian-uprising-of-1956/|title=The Hungarian Uprising of 1956 |publisher= History Learning Site|access-date=23 August 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180823174101/https://www.historylearningsite.co.uk/modern-world-history-1918-to-1980/the-cold-war/the-hungarian-uprising-of-1956/|archive-date=23 August 2018|url-status=live}}</ref> Soviet forces crushed the nationwide revolt, leading to the death of an estimated 2,500 Hungarian citizens.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://edition.cnn.com/2016/10/23/europe/hungarian-revolution-escape/index.html|title=Recalling the Hungarian revolution, 60 years on|first=Matthew |last=Percival|date=23 October 2016 |publisher=CNN|access-date=23 August 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180823181544/https://edition.cnn.com/2016/10/23/europe/hungarian-revolution-escape/index.html|archive-date=23 August 2018|url-status=live}}</ref>

The multi-national Communist armed forces' sole joint action was the [[Warsaw Pact invasion of Czechoslovakia]], a Warsaw Pact member state, in August 1968.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/soviets-invade-czechoslovakia|title=Soviets Invade Czechoslovakia – Aug 20, 1968 |website= History.com|date=9 February 2010 |access-date=23 August 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180823174329/https://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/soviets-invade-czechoslovakia|archive-date=23 August 2018|url-status=live}}</ref> All member countries, with the exception of the [[Socialist Republic of Romania]] and the [[People's Republic of Albania]], participated in the invasion.<ref name="auto1" /> The [[German Democratic Republic]] provided only minimal support.<ref name="auto1" /> Albania withdrew from the pact one month after the intervention.

In April 1985, the leaders of Warsaw Pact members met in Warsaw where they renewed the alliance for thirty years, which would have retained the treaty behind it until May 2015.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Kramer |first=Mark |date=2025 |title=The Fate of the Soviet Bloc's Military Alliance: Reform, Adaptation, and Collapse of the Warsaw Pact, 1985–1991 |url=https://www.cambridge.org/core/elements/abs/fate-of-the-soviet-blocs-military-alliance/D0F4A423FA82139E6A366F84CEEE8140 |journal=Cambridge University Press |language=en |doi=10.1017/9781009557160|isbn=978-1-009-55716-0 |url-access=subscription }}</ref>

===End of the Cold War===
[[File:00 Páneurópai Piknik emlékhely.jpg|thumb|150px|The [[Pan-European Picnic]] took place on the Hungarian-Austrian border in 1989.]]
In 1989, popular civil and political public discontent [[Revolutions of 1989|toppled the Communist governments]] of the Warsaw Treaty countries. The beginning of the end of the Warsaw Pact, regardless of military power, was the [[Pan-European Picnic]] in August 1989. The event, which goes back to an idea by [[Otto von Habsburg]], caused the mass exodus of GDR citizens and the media-informed population of Eastern Europe felt the loss of power of their rulers and the [[Iron Curtain]] broke down completely. Though Poland's new Solidarity government under [[Lech Wałęsa]] initially assured the Soviets that it would remain in the Pact,<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1989/08/22/world/polish-army-enigma-in-the-soviet-alliance.html|title=Polish Army: Enigma in the Soviet Alliance|newspaper=The New York Times|date=22 August 1989|access-date=29 May 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171220112328/http://www.nytimes.com/1989/08/22/world/polish-army-enigma-in-the-soviet-alliance.html|archive-date=20 December 2017|url-status=live|last1=Trainor|first1=Bernard E. |author1-link=Bernard E. Trainor}}</ref> this broke the brackets of Eastern Europe, which could no longer be held together militarily by the Warsaw Pact.<ref>Miklós Németh in Interview with Peter Bognar, Grenzöffnung 1989: „Es gab keinen Protest aus Moskau" (German – Border opening in 1989: There was no protest from Moscow), in: Die Presse 18 August 2014.</ref><ref>„Der 19. August 1989 war ein Test für Gorbatschows" (German – 19 August 1989 was a test for Gorbachev), in: FAZ 19 August 2009.</ref><ref>Michael Frank: Paneuropäisches Picknick – Mit dem Picknickkorb in die Freiheit (German: Pan-European picnic – With the picnic basket to freedom), in: Süddeutsche Zeitung 17 May 2010.</ref> Independent [[nationalism|national]] politics made feasible with the ''[[perestroika]]'' and liberal ''[[glasnost]]'' policies revealed shortcomings and failures (i.e. of the [[soviet-type economic planning]] model) and induced institutional collapse of the Communist government in the USSR in 1991.<ref name="dictionary" />{{Better source needed|reason=The current source is insufficiently reliable ([[WP:NOTRS]]).|date=May 2022}} From 1989 to 1991, Communist governments were overthrown in [[Fall of communism in Poland|Poland]], [[Fall of communism in Hungary|Hungary]], [[Velvet Revolution|Czechoslovakia]], [[Peaceful Revolution|East Germany]], [[Romanian Revolution|Romania]], [[Fall of communism in Bulgaria|Bulgaria]], and the [[Dissolution of the Soviet Union#1989|Soviet Union]].

As the last acts of the Cold War were playing out, several Warsaw Pact states (Poland, Czechoslovakia, and Hungary) participated in the US-led coalition effort to liberate [[Kuwait]] in the [[Gulf War]].

{{Anchor|Disbanding}}On 25 February 1991, the Warsaw Pact was declared disbanded at a meeting of defence and foreign ministers from remaining Pact countries meeting in Hungary.<ref name="csmonitor" /> On 1 July 1991, in [[Prague]], the Czechoslovak President [[Václav Havel]]<ref name="auto2" /> formally ended the 1955 Warsaw Treaty Organization of Friendship, Cooperation and Mutual Assistance and so disestablished the Warsaw Treaty after 36 years of military alliance with the USSR.<ref name="auto2" /><ref name="Havel" /> The USSR [[Dissolution of the Soviet Union|disestablished itself]] in December 1991.

==Structure==
The Warsaw Treaty's organization was two-fold: the Political Consultative Committee handled political matters, and the Combined Command of Pact Armed Forces controlled the assigned multi-national forces, with headquarters in Warsaw, Poland.

{{multiple image
| total_width       = 320
| image1            = Ivan Stepanovich Konev.jpg
| image2            = Aleksei Antonov 3.jpg
| footer            = [[Marshal of the Soviet Union]] [[Ivan Konev]] (left) served as the first Supreme Commander of the Pact (1955–1960) while [[Army General (Soviet rank)|Army General]] [[Aleksei Antonov]] served as the first Chief of Combined Staff of the Pact (1955–1962).
}}

Although an apparently similar [[collective security]] alliance, the Warsaw Pact differed substantially from NATO. [[De jure]], the eight-member countries of the Warsaw Pact pledged the mutual defence of any member who would be attacked; relations among the treaty signatories were based upon mutual [[non-interventionism|non-intervention]] in the internal affairs of the member countries, respect for [[national sovereignty]], and political independence.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.thoughtco.com/the-warsaw-pact-3878466|title=How the Russians Used the Warsaw Pact|access-date=23 August 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180823174542/https://www.thoughtco.com/the-warsaw-pact-3878466|archive-date=23 August 2018|url-status=live}}</ref>

However, [[de facto]], the Pact was a direct reflection of the USSR's authoritarianism and undisputed domination over the [[Eastern Bloc]], in the context of the so-called [[Soviet Empire]], which was not comparable to that of the United States over the [[Western Bloc]].<ref name="NATO1" /> All Warsaw Pact commanders had to be, and have been, senior officers of the [[Soviet Union]] at the same time and appointed for an unspecified term length: the [[Supreme Commander of the Unified Armed Forces of the Warsaw Treaty Organization]], which commanded and controlled all the military forces of the member countries, was also a First Deputy [[Minister of Defence (Soviet Union)|Minister of Defence of the USSR]], and the [[Chief of Combined Staff of the Unified Armed Forces of the Warsaw Treaty Organization]] was also a First Deputy [[Chief of the General Staff (Russia)#Chiefs of the General Staff of the Soviet Armed Forces (1946–1991)|Chief of the General Staff]] of the [[Soviet Armed Forces]].<ref name="The Soviet Army in the Cold War Years (1945–1991)" /> On the contrary, the [[Secretary General of NATO]] and [[Chair of the NATO Military Committee]] are positions with fixed [[term of office]] held on a random rotating basis by officials from all member countries through consensus.

Despite the American hegemony (mainly military and economic) over NATO, all decisions of the North Atlantic Alliance required unanimous consensus in the [[North Atlantic Council]] and the entry of countries into the alliance was not subject to domination but rather a natural democratic process.<ref name="NATO1" /> In the Warsaw Pact, decisions were ultimately taken by the Soviet Union alone; the countries of the Warsaw Pact were not equally able to negotiate their entry in the Pact nor the decisions taken.<ref name="NATO1" />

Although nominally a "defensive" alliance, the Pact's primary function was to safeguard the [[Soviet Empire|Soviet Union's hegemony]] over its [[Soviet Bloc|Eastern European]] satellites, with the Pact's only direct military actions having been the invasions of its own member states to keep them from breaking away.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/warsaw-pact-ends|title=Warsaw Pact ends|website=History.com|date=13 November 2009 }}</ref>

===Romania and Albania===
[[File:Eastern bloc.png|thumb|The Warsaw Pact before its 1968 invasion of Czechoslovakia, showing the Soviet Union and its satellites (red) and the two independent non-Soviet members: Romania and Albania (pink)]]

Romania and (until 1968) Albania were exceptions. Together with Yugoslavia, which [[Tito–Stalin split|broke with the Soviet Union]] before the Warsaw Pact was created, these three countries completely rejected the Soviet doctrine formulated for the Pact. Albania officially left the organization in 1968, in protest of its invasion of Czechoslovakia. Romania had its own reasons for remaining a formal member of the Warsaw Pact, such as [[Nicolae Ceaușescu]]'s interest of preserving the threat of a Pact invasion so he could sell himself as a nationalist, as well as privileged access to NATO counterparts and a seat at various European forums which otherwise he would not have had (for instance, Romania and the Soviet-led remainder of the Warsaw Pact formed two distinct groups in the elaboration of the [[Helsinki Accords|Helsinki Final Act]]).<ref>{{cite book| url = https://books.google.com/books?id=HFdtAAAAMAAJ&q=%22(with+other+Warsaw+Pact+members+except+Romania)%22 |publisher=Lexington Books |title=Conflict Management in the Middle East| page=242| isbn = 978-0669141733| last1 = Ben-Dor |first1 = Gabriel| last2 = Dewitt| first2 = David Brian| year = 1987}}</ref> When [[Andrei Grechko]] assumed command of the Warsaw Pact, both Romania and Albania had for all practical purposes defected from the Pact. In the early 1960s, Grechko initiated programs meant to preempt Romanian doctrinal heresies from spreading to other Pact members. Romania's doctrine of territorial defense threatened the Pact's unity and cohesion. No other country succeeded in escaping from the Warsaw Pact like Romania and Albania did. For example, the mainstays of Romania's tank forces were locally developed models. Soviet troops were deployed to Romania for the last time in 1963, as part of a Warsaw Pact exercise. After 1964, the Soviet Army was barred from returning to Romania, as the country refused to take part in joint Pact exercises.<ref>{{cite book| url = https://books.google.com/books?id=kH6TAWUst5EC&pg=140|publisher=Stanford University Press|title=The Diffusion of Military Technology and Ideas|pages= 140–143| isbn = 978-0804745352| last1 = Goldman| first1 = Emily O.| last2 = Eliason| first2 = Leslie C.| year = 2003}}</ref>

[[File:TR-85tankRomanianRevolution1989.jpg|thumb|left|A Romanian [[TR-85]] tank in December 1989 (Romania's TR-85 and TR-580 tanks were the only non-Soviet tanks in the Warsaw Pact on which restrictions were placed under the 1990 [[Treaty on Conventional Armed Forces in Europe|CFE Treaty]]<ref>{{cite web| url = https://books.google.com/books?id=BWqbAAAAMAAJ&pg=RA2-PA13| title = Office of Public Communication, Bureau of Public Affairs, 1991, ''US Department of State Dispatch, Volume 2'', p. 13| year = 1991}}</ref>)]]

Even before the advent of [[Nicolae Ceaușescu]], Romania was in fact an independent country, as opposed to the rest of the Warsaw Pact. To some extent, it was even more independent than [[Cuba]] (a communist Soviet-aligned state that was not a member of the Warsaw Pact).<ref name=":0" /> The Romanian regime was largely impervious to Soviet political influence, and Ceaușescu was the only declared opponent of ''[[glasnost]]'' and ''[[perestroika]]''. On account of the contentious relationship between Bucharest and Moscow, the West did not hold the Soviet Union responsible for the policies pursued by Bucharest. This was not the case for the other countries in the region, such as [[Czechoslovak Socialist Republic|Czechoslovakia]] and Poland.<ref>{{cite book| url = https://books.google.com/books?id=btzuDwAAQBAJ&pg=PA192| title = Jacques Lévesque, University of California Press, May 28, 2021, ''The Enigma of 1989: The USSR and the Liberation of Eastern Europe'', pp. 192–193| isbn = 978-0520364981| last1 = Lévesque| first1 = Jacques| date = 28 May 2021| publisher = Univ of California Press}}</ref> At the start of 1990, the Soviet foreign minister, [[Eduard Shevardnadze]], implicitly confirmed the lack of Soviet influence over Ceaușescu's Romania. When asked whether it made sense for him to visit Romania less than two weeks after [[Romanian Revolution|its revolution]], Shevardnadze insisted that only by going in person to Romania could he figure out how to "restore Soviet influence".<ref>{{cite book| url = https://books.google.com/books?id=VrxtCQAAQBAJ&pg=PA429| publisher= [[Pan Macmillan]] |title=The End of the Cold War: 1985–1991|page= 429| isbn = 978-1447287285| last1 = Service| first1 = Robert |author1-link=Robert Service (historian) |date = 2015}}</ref>

Romania requested and obtained the complete withdrawal of the Soviet Army from its territory in 1958. The Romanian campaign for independence culminated on 22 April 1964 when the Romanian Communist Party issued a declaration proclaiming that: "Every Marxist–Leninist Party has a sovereign right...to elaborate, choose or change the forms and methods of socialist construction." and "There exists no "parent" party and "offspring" party, no "superior" and "subordinated" parties, but only the large family of communist and workers' parties having equal rights." and also "there are not and there can be no unique patterns and recipes". This amounted to a declaration of political and ideological independence from Moscow.<ref>{{cite book| url = https://books.google.com/books?id=SdldDwAAQBAJ&pg=PA195|publisher= Springer |title=Eastern Europe in 1968: Responses to the Prague Spring and Warsaw Pact Invasion| page= 195| isbn = 978-3319770697| last1 = McDermott| first1 = Kevin| last2 = Stibbe| first2 = Matthew| date = 2018}}</ref><ref>{{cite book| url = https://books.google.com/books?id=BlWwCwAAQBAJ&pg=PA68| title =Warsaw Pact and the Balkans: Moscow's Southern Flank |page=68| isbn = 978-1349099412| last1 = Eyal| first1 = Jonathan| date = 1989| publisher = Springer}}</ref><ref>{{cite book| url = https://books.google.com/books?id=vXS9iL543D8C&pg=PA51| publisher= Cambridge University Press|title=Internationalism and the Ideology of Soviet Influence in Eastern Europe|page= 51| isbn = 978-0521414388| last1 = Valdez| first1 = Jonathan C.| date = 1993}}</ref><ref>{{cite book| url = https://books.google.com/books?id=HyzWCgAAQBAJ&pg=PR16| publisher=Princeton University Press|title=Dynamics of Communism in Eastern Europe|page= XVI| isbn = 978-1400877225| last1 = Burks| first1 = Richard Voyles| date = 2015}}</ref>
[[File:IAR-93SC aircraft.jpg|thumb|The Romanian [[IAR-93 Vultur]] was not the only combat jet designed and built by a non-Soviet member of the Warsaw Pact.<ref>{{cite web| url = https://books.google.com/books?id=hxokAQAAIAAJ&q=IAR+93+%22non-soviet%22| title = Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, Incorporated, 1994, RFE/RL Research Report: Weekly Analyses from the RFE/RL Research Institute, Volume 3, p. 3| year = 1994}}</ref> See also Czechoslovak jet [[Aero L-39 Albatros]].]]
Following Albania's withdrawal from the Warsaw Pact, Romania remained the only Pact member with an independent military doctrine which denied the Soviet Union use of its armed forces and avoided absolute dependence on Soviet sources of military equipment.<ref>{{cite book| url = https://books.google.com/books?id=GCNrSJew0wEC&pg=PA102| publisher=Cambridge University Press|title=Soviet Strategy and the New Military Thinking|pages= 102, 110 and 113–114| isbn = 978-0521407694| last1 = Leebaert| first1 = Derek |author1-link=Derek Leebaert| last2 = Dickinson| first2 = Timothy| year = 1992}}</ref> Romania was the only non-Soviet Warsaw Pact member which was not obliged to militarily defend the Soviet Union in case of an armed attack.<ref>{{cite book| url = https://books.google.com/books?id=BlWwCwAAQBAJ&pg=PA74| publisher= Springer|title=Warsaw Pact and the Balkans: Moscow's Southern Flank|page= 74| isbn = 978-1349099412| last1 = Eyal| first1 = Jonathan| date = 1989}}</ref> Bulgaria and Romania were the only Warsaw Pact members that did not have Soviet troops stationed on their soil.<ref>{{cite book| url = https://books.google.com/books?id=NwviIpm0JxsC&q=%22except+Romania%27s%22| publisher=[[Nelson Canada]]|title=An Introduction to Government and Politics: A Conceptual Approach|page= 75| isbn = 978-0176034856| last1 = Dickerson| first1 = M. O.| last2 = Flanagan| first2 = Thomas |author2-link=Thomas Flanagan (political scientist) |year = 1990}}</ref> In December 1964, Romania became the only Warsaw Pact member (save Albania, which would leave the Pact altogether within 4 years) from which all Soviet advisors were withdrawn, including those in the intelligence and security services.<ref>{{cite book| url = https://books.google.com/books?id=0tEFBAAAQBAJ&pg=PA189| title = R. J. Crampton, Routledge, 2014, ''The Balkans Since the Second World War'', p. 189| isbn = 978-1317891178| last1 = Crampton| first1 = R. J.|author1-link=R. J. Crampton| date = 2014| publisher = Routledge}}</ref> Not only did Romania not participate in joint operations with the KGB, but it also set up "departments specialized in anti-KGB counterespionage".<ref>{{cite book| url = https://books.google.com/books?id=QjqxzR0xTvoC&pg=PA536| publisher=[[Lexington Books]]|title=Romania Since 1989: Politics, Economics, and Society|page= 536| isbn = 978-0739105924| last1 = Carey| first1 = Henry F.| year = 2004}}</ref>

Romania was neutral in the [[Sino-Soviet split]].<ref>{{cite book| url = https://books.google.com/books?id=NWwRzLr-Y7MC&q=%22they+remained+neutral%22| publisher= Prentice-Hall|title=Civilization in the West|page= 683| isbn = 978-0131350120| last1 = Brinton| first1 = Crane |author1-link=Crane Brinton |last2 = Christopher| first2 = John B.| last3 = Wolff| first3 = Robert Lee |author3-link=Robert Lee Wolff| year = 1973}}</ref><ref>{{cite book| url = https://books.google.com/books?id=lnBnN7tqFSoC&q=%22Soviet-led+efforts+at+condemning+China%22| publisher=[[Prentice-Hall]]|title=Today's Isms: Communism, Fascism, Capitalism, Socialism| page= 68| isbn = 978-0139243998| last1 = Ebenstein| first1 = William| last2 = Fogelman| first2 = Edwin| year = 1980}}</ref><ref>{{cite book| url = https://books.google.com/books?id=8ExpAAAAMAAJ&q=%22strict+neutrality%22| publisher= [[Pinter Publishers|Pinter]] |title=Romania: Politics, Economics and Society : Political Stagnation and Simulated Change|page= 177| isbn = 978-0861874385| last1 = Shafir| first1 = Michael |author-link=Michael Shafir| year = 1985}}</ref> Its neutrality in the Sino-Soviet dispute along with being the small Communist country with the most influence in global affairs enabled Romania to be recognized by the world as the "third force" of the Communist world. Romania's independence – achieved in the early 1960s through its [[De-satellization of the Socialist Republic of Romania|freeing from its Soviet satellite status]] – was tolerated by Moscow because Romania was not bordering the [[Iron Curtain]] – being surrounded by socialist states – and because its ruling party was not going to abandon communism.<ref name=":1" /><ref>{{cite magazine |url = https://books.google.com/books?id=j2KzAAAAIAAJ&q=%22Romania%20as%20a%20kind%20of%22| title =Title |magazine=[[The Reporter (magazine)|The Reporter]] |volume=33 |page=32 |issn=1049-1600| last1 = Ascoli| first1 = Max |author1-link=Max Ascoli | year = 1965}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |author-first=Yong |author-last=Liu |publisher=National Institute for the Study of Totalitarianism |date=2006 |title=Sino-Romanian Relations: 1950s–1960s  |oclc=164809102|page=199}}</ref>

Although certain historians such as [[Robert R. King]]<ref>{{cite book |author-first=Robert R. |author-last=King |author-link=Robert R. King |title=A History of the Romanian Communist Party |isbn=9780817973322 |date=1980 |pages=135–136 |publisher=[[Hoover Institution Press]]}}</ref> and [[Dennis Deletant]]<ref>{{cite journal |author-first=Dennis |author-last=Deletant |author-link=Dennis Deletant |title=Taunting the Bear: Romania and the Warsaw Pact, 1963–89 |journal=[[Cold War History (journal)|Cold War History]] |date=2007 |volume=7 |issue=4 |page=496 |doi=10.1080/14682740701621796}}</ref> argue against the usage of the term "independent" to describe Romania's relations with the Soviet Union, favoring "autonomy" instead on account of the country's continued membership within both the Comecon and the Warsaw Pact along with its commitment to socialism, this approach fails to explain why in July 1963 Romania blocked [[Mongolian People's Republic|Mongolia]]'s accession to the Warsaw Pact, why in November 1963 Romania voted in favor of a UN resolution to establish a nuclear-free zone in Latin America when the other Soviet-aligned countries abstained, or why in 1964 Romania opposed the Soviet-proposed "strong collective riposte" against China (and these are examples solely from the 1963–1964 period).<ref>{{cite book| url = https://books.google.com/books?id=FfGmBgAAQBAJ&pg=PA14| publisher=[[Cambridge Scholars Publishing]]|title=Cold War Perceptions: Romania's Policy Change towards the Soviet Union, 1960–1964|page=14| isbn = 978-1443873031| last1 = Dragomir| first1 = Elena| year= 2015}}</ref> [[Propaganda in the Soviet Union|Soviet disinformation]] tried to convince the West that Ceaușescu's empowerment was a dissimulation in connivance with Moscow.<ref>{{cite book| url = https://books.google.com/books?id=BZ9sDQAAQBAJ&pg=PA61| publisher= [[Bloomsbury Publishing]] |title=Romania since the Second World War: A Political, Social and Economic History|page= 61| isbn = 978-1472529923| last1 = Abraham| first1 = Florin| year= 2016}}</ref> To an extent this worked, as some historians came to see the hand of Moscow behind every Romanian initiative. For instance, when Romania became the only Eastern European country to maintain diplomatic relations with Israel, some historians have speculated that this was at Moscow's whim. However, this theory fails upon closer inspection.<ref>{{cite book| url = https://books.google.com/books?id=kOT8DwAAQBAJ&pg=PA307|publisher= [[University of Nebraska Press]]|title=The Star and the Scepter: A Diplomatic History of Israel|page= 307| isbn = 978-0827618602| last1 = Navon| first1 = Emmanuel |author1-link=Emmanuel Navon |date = 2020}}</ref> Even during the Cold War, some thought that Romanian actions were done at the behest of the Soviets, but Soviet anger at said actions was "persuasively genuine". In truth, the Soviets were not beyond publicly aligning themselves with the West against the Romanians at times.<ref>{{cite book| url = https://books.google.com/books?id=w7Hst5Swj_4C&pg=PA85|publisher=[[Royal United Services Institute]]|title=Managing the Cold War: A View from the Front Line|pages= 85–86| isbn = 978-0855161910| last1 = Alexander| first1 = Michael |author1-link=Michael Alexander (diplomat)| year = 2005}}</ref>

== Strategy ==
The strategy behind the formation of the Warsaw Pact was driven by the desire of the [[Soviet Union]] to prevent [[Central Europe|Central]] and [[Eastern Europe]] being used as a base for its enemies. Its policy was also driven by ideological and geostrategic reasons. Ideologically, the Soviet Union arrogated the right to define socialism and communism and act as the leader of the global socialist movement. A corollary to this was the necessity of military intervention if a country appeared to be "violating" core socialist ideas, i.e. breaking away from the [[Soviet sphere of influence]], explicitly stated in the [[Brezhnev Doctrine]].<ref>{{cite journal |title=The Brezhnev Doctrine and Communist Ideology |journal=[[The Review of Politics]] |volume=34 |issue=2 |date=April 1972 |author-first=R. Judson |author-last=Mitchell |pages=190–209 |jstor=1406470|doi=10.1017/S0034670500021045}}</ref>

===Notable military exercises===
{{external media|float=right|width=250px|video1=[https://youtube.com/watch?v=EApCYZR-NMk Czechoslovak Military Parade "Shield-84" – Vojenská přehlídka ČSLA "Štít-84]}}
* "[[1962 Szczecin military parade|Szczecin]]" ([[Polish People's Republic|Poland]], 1962)
* "Vltava" ([[Czechoslovak Socialist Republic|Czechoslovakia]], 1966)
* Operation "Rhodope" ([[People's Republic of Bulgaria|Bulgaria]], 1967)
* "Oder-Neisse" ([[East Germany]], 1969)
* Shield 72 ([[Czechoslovakia]], 1972)
* Shield 82 ([[People's Republic of Bulgaria|Bulgaria]], 1982)<ref>{{Cite web|title=Communist bloc war games in Bulgaria|url=https://www.upi.com/Archives/1982/09/25/Communist-bloc-war-games-in-Bulgaria/4429401774400/|website=UPI}}</ref>
* "[[Seven Days to the River Rhine]]," 1979 - [[command post exercise]] without field activity
* Przyjaźń 84 ([[Polish People's Republic|Poland]], 1984)
* Shield 84 ([[Czechoslovak Socialist Republic|Czechoslovakia]], 1984)<ref>{{Cite web|title=NATO and Warsaw Pact begin exercises|url=https://www.upi.com/Archives/1984/09/03/NATO-and-Warsaw-Pact-begin-exercises/5510463032000/|website=UPI}}</ref>

==NATO and Warsaw Pact: comparison of the two forces==
===NATO and Warsaw Pact forces in Europe===
{| class="wikitable"
|+ Data published by the two alliances (1988–1989)<ref>{{cite book |title=The future of U.S.-Soviet relations hearings before the Committee on Foreign Relations, United States Senate, One Hundred First Congress, first session, April 4, 12, 19 and May 3, 15, 18 and June 1 and 20, 1989 |publisher=Washington : U.S. G.P.O |pages=325 |edition=National government publication |url=https://link.springer.com/content/pdf/bbm%3A978-1-349-20462-5%2F1.pdf |access-date=11 May 2021 |format=Microfiche}}</ref>
|-
!
! colspan="2" | NATO estimates
! colspan="2" | Warsaw Pact<br>estimates
|-
! Type !! NATO !! Warsaw Pact !! NATO !! Warsaw Pact
|-
| Personnel || 2,213,593 || 3,090,000 || 3,660,200 || 3,573,100
|-
| Combat aircraft || 3,977 || 8,250 || 7,130 || 7,876
|-
| Total strike aircraft || NA || NA || 4,075 || 2,783
|-
| Helicopters || 2,419 || 3,700 || 5,720 || 2,785
|-
| Tactical missile launchers || NA || NA || 136 || 1,608
|-
| Tanks || 16,424 || 51,500 || 30,690 || 59,470
|-
| Anti-tank weapons || 18,240 || 44,200 || 18,070 || 11,465
|-
| Armored infantry fighting vehicles || 4,153 || 22,400 || 46,900 || 70,330
|-
| Artillery || 14,458 || 43,400 || 57,060 || 71,560
|-
| Other armored vehicles || 35,351 || 71,000 ||  ||
|-
| Armored vehicle launch bridges || 454 || 2,550 ||  ||
|-
| Air defense systems || 10,309 || 24,400 ||  ||
|-
| Submarines ||  ||  || 200 || 228
|-
| Submarines (nuclear powered) ||  ||  || 76 || 80
|-
| Large surface ships ||  ||  || 499 || 102
|-
| Aircraft-carrying ships ||  ||  || 15 || 2
|-
| Aircraft-carrying ships armed with cruise missiles ||  ||  || 274 || 23
|-
| Amphibious warfare ships ||  ||  || 84 || 24
|}

==Post–Warsaw Pact==
[[File:History_of_NATO_enlargement.svg|thumb|right|Expansion of [[NATO]] before and after the collapse of communism throughout Central and Eastern Europe]]

On 12 March 1999, the Czech Republic, Hungary, and Poland joined [[NATO]]; Bulgaria, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Romania, Slovenia and Slovakia joined in March 2004; Croatia and Albania joined on 1 April 2009.<ref>{{Cite web |url=https://www.nato.int/docu/comm/1999/9904-wsh/pres-eng/03acce.pdf |title=Archived copy |access-date=23 August 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190412055701/https://www.nato.int/docu/comm/1999/9904-wsh/pres-eng/03acce.pdf |archive-date=12 April 2019 |url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |url=https://www.nato.int/docu/update/2004/03-march/e0329a.htm |title=NATO Update: Seven new members join NATO |date= 29 March 2004 |access-date=23 August 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180312062520/https://www.nato.int/docu/update/2004/03-march/e0329a.htm |archive-date=12 March 2018 |url-status=live}}</ref>

The USSR's successor [[Russia]] and some other post-Soviet states joined the [[Collective Security Treaty Organization]] (CSTO) in 1992, and the [[Shanghai Five]] in 1996, which was renamed the [[Shanghai Cooperation Organisation]] (SCO) after [[Uzbekistan]]'s addition in 2001.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Sahai |first=Kajari |date=2002 |title=Declaration of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation |url=http://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/000944550203800118 |journal=[[China Report]] |language=en |volume=38 |issue=1 |pages=129–132 |doi=10.1177/000944550203800118 |issn=0009-4455|url-access=subscription }}</ref>

In November 2005, the Polish government opened its Warsaw Treaty archives to the [[Institute of National Remembrance]], which published some 1,300 declassified documents in January 2006, yet the Polish government reserved publication of 100 documents, pending their military declassification. Eventually, 30 of the reserved 100 documents were published; 70 remained secret and unpublished. Among the documents published was the Warsaw Treaty's nuclear war plan, ''[[Seven Days to the River Rhine]]'' – a short, swift invasion and capture of Austria, Denmark, Germany, and the Netherlands east of the Rhine – using [[nuclear weapon]]s in response after a supposed NATO first strike.<ref>{{cite news |first=Nicholas |last=Watt |author-link=Nicholas Watt|url=https://www.theguardian.com/world/2005/nov/26/russia.poland#article_continue |title=Poland risks Russia's wrath with Soviet nuclear attack map |newspaper =[[The Guardian]] |date=26 November 2005 |access-date=14 June 2013}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://css.ethz.ch/content/specialinterest/gess/cis/center-for-securities-studies/en/services/digital-library/articles/article.html/107840|title=Poland reveals Warsaw Pact war plans|publisher=[[International Relations and Security Network]]|access-date=23 December 2014|archive-date=9 July 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210709183149/https://css.ethz.ch/content/specialinterest/gess/cis/center-for-securities-studies/en/services/digital-library/articles/article.html/107840|url-status=dead}}</ref>

==See also==
* [[Eastern Bloc]]
* [[Finno-Soviet Treaty of 1948]] – treaty that defined Finland's level of neutrality towards Soviet Union
** [[Finlandization]] – the USSR's influence on Finland following the treaty
* [[Russosphere]]
* [[Soviet Empire]]
* [[Sovietization]]
*[[Bamboo curtain]]
* [[Treaty of friendship]] – any treaty establishing close ties between countries

== Explanatory notes ==
{{reflist|group=lower-alpha}}

==References==
=== Citations ===
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<ref name="csmonitor">{{cite web|url=https://www.csmonitor.com/1991/0226/odate.html|title=Warsaw Pact and Comecon To Dissolve This Week|publisher=[[Christian Science Monitor]]|date=26 February 1991|access-date=4 June 2012|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120804165046/http://www.csmonitor.com/1991/0226/odate.html|archive-date=4 August 2012|url-status=live}}</ref>
<ref name="EDC failure">{{cite web|url=http://www.cvce.eu/obj/debates_in_the_national_assembly_on_30_august_1954-en-b7be6e26-f125-4f20-af78-5699906abc9a.html|title=Debates in the French National Assembly on 30 August 1954|publisher=[[CVCE]]|access-date=1 August 2013|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140202095631/http://www.cvce.eu/obj/debates_in_the_national_assembly_on_30_august_1954-en-b7be6e26-f125-4f20-af78-5699906abc9a.html|archive-date=2 February 2014|url-status=live}}</ref>
<ref name="Alternatives to EDC">{{cite web|url=http://digicoll.library.wisc.edu/cgi-bin/FRUS/FRUS-idx?type=goto&id=FRUS.FRUS195254v05p2&page=1164|title=US positions on alternatives to EDC|publisher=[[United States Department of State]] / FRUS collection|access-date=1 August 2013|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140202170917/http://digicoll.library.wisc.edu/cgi-bin/FRUS/FRUS-idx?type=goto&id=FRUS.FRUS195254v05p2&page=1164|archive-date=2 February 2014|url-status=live}}</ref>
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<ref name="EDC refusal">{{cite web|url=http://www.cvce.eu/education/unit-content/-/unit/en/803b2430-7d1c-4e7b-9101-47415702fc8e/c23dd653-ba51-4f7e-9bf1-2c33b347d339#fe1c3284-c9e9-4d0e-8ce1-cba01b013352|title=The refusal to ratify the EDC Treaty|publisher=CVCE|access-date=1 August 2013|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140202095634/http://www.cvce.eu/education/unit-content/-/unit/en/803b2430-7d1c-4e7b-9101-47415702fc8e/c23dd653-ba51-4f7e-9bf1-2c33b347d339#fe1c3284-c9e9-4d0e-8ce1-cba01b013352|archive-date=2 February 2014|url-status=live}}</ref>
<ref name="soviet request nato">{{cite web|url=http://www.nato.int/history/doc/5-Soviet-Union-s-request-to-join%20NATO/Soviet%20request%20English.pdf|title=Soviet Union request to join NATO|publisher=Nato.int|access-date=31 July 2013|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120311044021/http://www.nato.int/history/doc/5-Soviet-Union-s-request-to-join%20NATO/Soviet%20request%20English.pdf|archive-date=11 March 2012|url-status=live}}</ref>
<ref name="soviet request nato frus">{{cite web|url=http://digicoll.library.wisc.edu/cgi-bin/FRUS/FRUS-idx?type=turn&id=FRUS.FRUS195254v05p1&entity=FRUS.FRUS195254v05p1.p0531|title=Proposal of Soviet adherence to NATO as reported in the Foreign Relations of the United States Collection|publisher=UWDC FRUS Library|access-date=31 July 2013|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140222032812/http://digicoll.library.wisc.edu/cgi-bin/FRUS/FRUS-idx?type=turn&id=FRUS.FRUS195254v05p1&entity=FRUS.FRUS195254v05p1.p0531|archive-date=22 February 2014|url-status=live}}</ref>
<ref name="soviet request nato reply">{{cite web|url=http://www.nato.int/history/doc/5-Soviet-Union-s-request-to-join%20NATO/RDC%2854%29240-E.pdf|title=Final text of tripartite reply to Soviet note|publisher=Nato website|access-date=31 July 2013|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120311044037/http://www.nato.int/history/doc/5-Soviet-Union-s-request-to-join%20NATO/RDC(54)240-E.pdf|archive-date=11 March 2012|url-status=live}}</ref>
<ref name="soviet request nato note">{{cite web|url=http://www.nato.int/60years/doc/5-Soviet-Union-s-request-to-join%20NATO/Transcript%20of%20Lord%20Ismay%27s%20Memo.pdf|title=Memo by Lord Ismay, Secretary General of NATO|publisher=Nato.int|access-date=31 July 2013|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160304060749/http://www.nato.int/60years/doc/5-Soviet-Union-s-request-to-join%20NATO/Transcript%20of%20Lord%20Ismay%27s%20Memo.pdf|archive-date=4 March 2016|url-status=live}}</ref>
<ref name="molotov proposal nato">{{cite web|url=https://digitalarchive.wilsoncenter.org/document/113924|title=Molotov's Proposal that the USSR Join NATO, March 1954|publisher=[[Wilson Center]]|access-date=1 August 2013|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140202113859/http://digitalarchive.wilsoncenter.org/document/113924|archive-date=2 February 2014|url-status=live}}</ref>
<ref name="warsaw treaty text">{{cite web|url=http://avalon.law.yale.edu/20th_century/warsaw.asp|title=Text of the Warsaw Security Pact (see preamble)|publisher=[[Avalon Project]]|access-date=31 July 2013|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130515014559/http://avalon.law.yale.edu/20th_century/warsaw.asp|archive-date=15 May 2013|url-status=live}}</ref>
<ref name="molotov proposal europe">{{cite web|url=http://www.cvce.eu/content/publication/2005/9/6/babc9886-6d90-4005-b266-d698e1d3aa4a/publishable_en.pdf|title=Draft general European Treaty on collective security in Europe – Molotov proposal (Berlin, 10 February 1954)|publisher=CVCE|access-date=1 August 2013|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140222040634/http://www.cvce.eu/content/publication/2005/9/6/babc9886-6d90-4005-b266-d698e1d3aa4a/publishable_en.pdf|archive-date=22 February 2014|url-status=live}}</ref>
<ref name="dictionary">''The New Fontana Dictionary of Modern Thought'', third edition, 1999, pp. 637–38</ref>
<ref name=":0">{{cite book| url = https://books.google.com/books?id=E7pQDwAAQBAJ&pg=PA132|title=Romania Confronts Its Communist Past: Democracy, Memory, and Moral Justice|page= 132| isbn = 978-1107025929 |author1-last = Tismaneanu| author1-first = Vladimir |author1-link=Vladimir Tismăneanu |last2 = Stan| first2 = Marius| date = 2018|publisher=[[Cambridge University Press]]}}</ref>
<ref name=":1">{{cite book| url = https://books.google.com/books?id=hafLHZgZtt4C&pg=PA1075|publisher=[[Taylor & Francis]]|title=Europe Since 1945: An Encyclopedia, Volume 2 |page=1075| isbn = 978-0815340584| last1 = Cook| first1 = Bernard A.| last2 = Cook| first2 = Bernard Anthony| year = 2001}}</ref>
<ref name="NATO short history">"In reaction to West Germany's NATO accession, the Soviet Union and its Eastern European client states formed the Warsaw Pact in 1955." Citation from: {{cite web|last1=NATO website|title=A short history of NATO|url=http://nato.int/cps/en/natohq/declassified_139339.htm|website=nato.int|access-date=24 December 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170326231233/http://nato.int/cps/en/natohq/declassified_139339.htm|archive-date=26 March 2017|url-status=live}}</ref>
<ref name="Laurien Crump Routledge page 21-22">Laurien Crump (2015). ''The Warsaw Pact Reconsidered: International Relations in Eastern Europe, 1955–1969''. Routledge, pp. 21–22.</ref>
<ref name="Yoder1993">{{cite book|author-first=Amos |author-last=Yoder|title=Communism in Transition: The End of the Soviet Empires|url=https://archive.org/details/communismintrans00yode|url-access=registration|year=1993|publisher=Taylor & Francis|isbn=978-0-8448-1738-5|page=[https://archive.org/details/communismintrans00yode/page/58 58]|access-date=1 January 2016}}</ref>
<ref name="Reinalda2009">{{cite book|author-first=Bob |author-last=Reinalda|title=Routledge History of International Organizations: From 1815 to the Present Day|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Ln19AgAAQBAJ&pg=PA369|year=2009|publisher=[[Taylor & Francis]]|isbn=978-1-134-02405-6|page=369|access-date=1 January 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160101212444/https://books.google.com/books?id=Ln19AgAAQBAJ&pg=PA369|archive-date=1 January 2016|url-status=live}}</ref>
<ref name="History Channel 2">{{cite web|url=http://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/the-warsaw-pact-is-formed|title=The Warsaw Pact is formed|date=13 November 2009 |publisher=[[History (U.S. TV channel)|History Channel]]|access-date=22 December 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151223050529/http://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/the-warsaw-pact-is-formed|archive-date=23 December 2015|url-status=live}}</ref>
<ref name="History Channel 1">{{cite web|url=http://www.history.com/topics/cold-war/formation-of-nato-and-warsaw-pact|title=Formation of Nato and Warsaw Pact|date=14 April 2010 |publisher=[[History (U.S. TV channel)|History Channel]]|access-date=22 December 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151223045828/http://www.history.com/topics/cold-war/formation-of-nato-and-warsaw-pact|archive-date=23 December 2015|url-status=live}}</ref>
<ref name="history.com">{{cite web|url=https://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/the-warsaw-pact-is-formed|title=The Warsaw Pact is formed – May 14, 1955 |website= History.com|date=13 November 2009 |access-date=23 August 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180818203116/https://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/the-warsaw-pact-is-formed|archive-date=18 August 2018|url-status=live}}</ref>
<ref name="auto">{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Jm4L_b8CHycC&q=mongolia+warsaw+pact&pg=PA152|title=A Cardboard Castle?: An Inside History of the Warsaw Pact, 1955–1991|first1=Vojtech|last1=Mastny|author1-link=Vojtech Mastny (historian) |first2=Malcolm|last2=Byrne|date=2005|publisher=[[Central European University Press]]|access-date=23 August 2018|via=Google Books|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180823210411/https://books.google.com.au/books?id=Jm4L_b8CHycC&pg=PA152&lpg=PA152&dq=mongolia+warsaw+pact&source=bl&ots=01GUQAwggH&sig=XW12kzqHCS_-NbCX5al3ZOPGACE&hl=pl&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwiDu729p4PdAhWMFIgKHdqwC4gQ6AEwBHoECAUQAQ#v=onepage&q=mongolia+warsaw+pact&f=false|archive-date=23 August 2018|url-status=live|isbn=978-9637326080}}</ref>
<ref name="auto1">{{cite web|url=http://www.enrs.eu/pl/news/1083-warsaw-pact-invasion-of-czechoslovakia|title=Warsaw Pact invasion of Czechoslovakia|first=Agnieszka|last=Nosowska|website=www.enrs.eu|access-date=23 August 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180823174239/http://www.enrs.eu/pl/news/1083-warsaw-pact-invasion-of-czechoslovakia|archive-date=23 August 2018|url-status=dead}}</ref>
<ref name="auto2">{{cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1991/07/02/world/death-knell-rings-for-warsaw-pact.html|title=Death Knell for Warsaw Pact|first=Steven|last=Greenhouse |author-link=Steven Greenhouse|newspaper=The New York Times|date=2 July 1991|access-date=23 August 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180823174651/https://www.nytimes.com/1991/07/02/world/death-knell-rings-for-warsaw-pact.html|archive-date=23 August 2018|url-status=live}}</ref>
<ref name="NATO1">{{cite journal|url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/45343492|journal=Atlantische Tijdingen|issue=57|year=1967|jstor=45343492|accessdate=9 January 2022|title=Differences Between Nato and the Warsaw Pact|pages=1–16}}</ref>
}}

===Works cited===
{{refbegin|30em}}
* {{cite book |last= Adenauer |first= Konrad |title= Memorie 1945–1953 |publisher= Arnoldo Mondadori Editore |year= 1966a |url= https://www.amazon.it/Memorie-1945-1953-Adenauer-Konrad/dp/B005SFPS36/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1375399817&sr=8-1&keywords=konrad+adenauer+memorie+1945-1953 |archive-url= https://archive.today/20130801233525/http://www.amazon.it/Memorie-1945-1953-Adenauer-Konrad/dp/B005SFPS36/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1375399817&sr=8-1&keywords=konrad+adenauer+memorie+1945-1953 |url-status= dead |archive-date= 1 August 2013 |language=it}}
* {{cite book |last= Molotov |first=Vyacheslav |year= 1954a |title=La conferenza di Berlino |publisher= Ed. di cultura sociale |url= https://books.google.com/books?id=Cd8tcgAACAAJ |language=it}}
* {{cite book|first=William E.|last=Odom|author-link=William Eldridge Odom|title=The Collapse of the Soviet Military|publisher=Yale University Press|place=New Haven and London|date=1998}}
* {{Country study}}
{{refend}}

==Further reading==
{{refbegin|30em}}
* {{Cite book |last=Faringdon |first=Hugh |title=Confrontation: The Strategic Geography of NATO and the Warsaw Pact |date=1986 |publisher=[[Routledge & Kegan Paul]] |isbn=978-0-7102-0676-3 |location=London}}
* {{cite journal|last=Heuser|first=Beatrice|title=Victory in a Nuclear War? A Comparison of NATO and WTO War Aims and Strategies|journal=[[Contemporary European History]]|year=1998|volume=7|issue=3|pages=311–327|doi=10.1017/S0960777300004264|s2cid=159502812 |author-link=Beatrice Heuser}}
* {{cite journal |author-last=Kramer |author-first=Mark N. |title=Civil-military relations in the Warsaw Pact: The East European component |journal=[[International Affairs (journal)|International Affairs]]|volume=61 |number=1 |date=Winter 1984–85 |pages=45–66 |doi=10.2307/2619779 |jstor=2619779}}.
* {{Cite book |last=Lewis |first=William Julian |url=https://archive.org/details/warsawpactarmsdo0000lewi |title=The Warsaw Pact: Arms, Doctrine, and Strategy |publisher=Institute for Foreign Policy Analysis |year=1982 |isbn=978-0-07-031746-8 |location=Cambridge, Mass.}} This book presents an overview of all the Warsaw Pact armed forces as well as a section on Soviet strategy, a model land campaign which the Soviet Union could have conducted against [[NATO]] and a full-color section on the uniforms, nations, badges and rank-insignia of the Warsaw Pact. (Later CWIHP, Heuser, and CIA FOIA documents present a much better picture of Soviet plans.)
* {{Cite journal |last=Mackintosh |first=John Malcolm |author-link=Malcolm Mackintosh |url=https://www.tandfonline.com/toc/tadl19/9/58 |title=The Evolution of the Warsaw Pact |journal=[[Taylor & Francis]] |date=1969 |publisher=[[Institute for Strategic Studies]] |volume=9 |location=London |issn=0567-932X |issue=58}}
* {{Cite book |title=A Cardboard Castle?: An Inside History of the Warsaw Pact, 1955–1991 |publisher=[[Central European University Press]] |year=2005 |isbn=978-963-7326-07-3 |editor-last=Byrne |editor-first=Malcolm |location=Budapest |editor-last2=Mastny |editor-first2=Vojtech |editor-link2=Vojtech Mastny (historian)}}
* {{Cite book |last=MacAdams |first=A. James |author-link=A. James McAdams |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=qOmrU3fmGT8C |title=East Germany and Detente: Building Authority After the Wall |date=1989 |publisher=[[Cambridge University Press]] |isbn=978-0-521-26835-6 |location=Cambridge; New Rochelle; Melbourne [etc.] |orig-year=1985}}
* {{Cite book |last=McAdams |first=Arthur James |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=cET_DwAAQBAJ |title=Germany Divided: From the Wall to Reunification |date=2022 |publisher=[[Princeton University Press]] |isbn=978-0-691-22197-7 |location=Princeton, NJ |orig-year=1993}}
{{refend}}

===Other languages===
{{refbegin|30em}}
* {{ill|lt=Umbach, Frank|Frank Umbach|de}}. {{cite book|title=Das rote Bündnis: Entwicklung und Zerfall des Warschauer Paktes 1955 bis 1991|trans-title=The Red Alliance: Development and Collapse of the Warsaw Pact: 1955 to 1991|year=2005|publisher={{ill|Ch. Links Verlag|de}}|location=Berlin|isbn=978-3-86153-362-7|language=de}}
* {{ill|lt=Wahl, Alfred|Alfred Wahl (historian)|de|Alfred Wahl (Historiker)}}. {{cite book |title=La seconda vita del nazismo nella Germania del dopoguerra|trans-title=The Second Life of Nazism in Postwar Germany|publisher=[[Lindau]]|location=Turin|year=2007|isbn=978-88-7180-662-4|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Cp0KPQAACAAJ|language=it}}
** Original edition: {{cite book|last=Wahl|first=Alfred|title=La seconde histoire du nazisme dans l'Allemagne fédérale depuis 1945.|publisher=[[Armand Colin]]|location=Paris|year=2006|isbn=2-200-26844-0|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=f4VHp88-bpAC|language=fr}}
{{refend}}

===Memoirs===
{{refbegin|30em}}
* {{cite book|last=Adenauer|first=Konrad|author-link=Konrad Adenauer|title=Konrad Adenauer Memoirs 1945–53|publisher=[[Henry Regnery Company]]|year=1966b|url=https://archive.org/details/konradadenauerme0000unse |url-access=registration}}
* {{cite book|last=Molotov|first=Vyacheslav|author-link=Vyacheslav Molotov|title=Statements at Berlin Conference of Foreign Ministers of U.S.S.R., France, Great Britain and U.S.A., January 25 – February 18, 1954|publisher=[[Foreign Languages Publishing House (Soviet Union)|Foreign Languages Publishing House]]|year=1954b|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=58kIAQAAMAAJ}}
{{refend}}
{{clear}}

==External links==
{{commons category}}
* {{Cite web|url=http://www.nato.int/cps/en/natohq/declassified_138294.htm|title=What was the Warsaw Pact?|publisher=North Atlantic Treaty Organization}}
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20121030153427/http://legacy.wilsoncenter.org/va2/index.cfm?topic_id=1409&fuseaction=home.browse&sort=collection&item=Warsaw%20Pact The Woodrow Wilson Center Cold War International History Project's Warsaw Pact Document Collection]
* [http://www.php.isn.ethz.ch/ Parallel History Project on Cooperative Security]
* [http://memory.loc.gov/frd/cs/soviet_union/su_appnc.html Library of Congress / Federal Research Division / Country Studies / Area Handbook Series / Soviet Union / Appendix C: The Warsaw Pact] (1989)
* [http://omniatlas.com/maps/russia/19550921/ Map of Russia and the Warsaw Pact (omniatlas.com)]
* [https://sites.google.com/view/nuclear-weapons-in-hungary/ Soviet Nuclear Weapons in Hungary 1961–1991]
* ''[https://archive.org/details/warsawpact19551900embr The Warsaw Pact, 1955–1968]'' by Hugh Collins Embry. Contain extensive documentation of the Pact's first 13 years.

{{Cold War}}
{{Communist Eastern and Central Europe}}
{{Eastern Bloc}}
{{Commanders of the Warsaw Pact}}
{{Warsaw Pact militaries}}
{{Treaties of Hungary}}
{{Marxism–Leninism}}
{{International relations}}
{{Authority control}}

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