The
Warsaw Treaty (1955–91) is the informal name for the
mutual defense Treaty of Friendship, Cooperation and Mutual Assistance commonly known as the
Warsaw Pact subscribed by eight
communist states in
Eastern Europe, that was established at the
USSR’s initiative and realised on 14 May 1955, in
Warsaw, Poland. In the
Communist Bloc, the treaty was the military analogue of the
Council for Mutual Economic Assistance (CoMEcon), the Communist (East) European economic community. The Warsaw Treaty was the
Soviet Bloc’s military response to
West Germany’s October 1954 integration to
NATO Pact, per the
Paris Pacts of 1954.
Communist Bloc Conclave: The Warsaw Pact conference, 11 May 1955, Warsaw, Poland.
Nomenclature
Soviet philatelic commemoration: At its 20th anniversary in 1975, the Warsaw Pact remains On Guard for Peace and Socialism.
In
the West, the
Treaty of Friendship, Cooperation and Mutual Assistance is often called as the
Warsaw Pact military alliance; abbreviated
WAPA,
Warpac, and
WP. Elsewhere, in the member states, the Warsaw Treaty is known as:
Member States
The Cold War (1945–90): NATO vs. the Warsaw Pact, the status of forces in 1973.
The eight member countries of the Warsaw Treaty pledged the mutual defense of any member who is attacked; relations among the treaty signatories were based upon mutual non-interference in the internal affairs of the member countries, respect for national sovereignty, and political independence. The multi-national Communist armed forces’ sole joint action was the
Warsaw Treaty involvment of Czechoslovakia crisis, in August 1968. The founding signatories to the
Treaty of Friendship, Cooperation and Mutual Assistance consisted of the following communist nations:
Structure
The Warsaw Treaty’s organisation was two-fold: the Political Consultative Committee handled civil matters, and the Unified Command of Pact Armed Forces controlled the assigned multi-national forces, with headquarters in Warsaw, Poland. Furthermore, the Supreme Commander of the Warsaw Treaty forces also was the First Deputy
Minister of Defense of the USSR, and the head of the Warsaw Treaty Unified Staff also was the First Deputy Head of
General Staff of the Ministry of Defense of the USSR. Therefore, although ostensibly an international
collective security alliance, USSR Dominated the Warsaw Treaty armed forces, as the
USA dominated NATO Pact.
History
In May 1955, the USSR established the Warsaw Treaty in response to the West’s integration of the Federal Republic of Germany into NATO in October 1954 — only nine years after the defeat of
Nazi Germany (1933–45) that ended only with the Western Allies' (principally the US and Great Britain) and Soviet invasion of Germany in 1944/45 during
World War II in Europe. Nevertheless, for 36 years,
NATO and the Warsaw Treaty never directly waged war against each other in Europe; but the United States and the Soviet Union and their respective allies did confront each other in Europe, and they did fight
proxy wars within the wider
Cold War (1945–91) outside Europe.
Beginning at the Cold War’s conclusion, in late 1989, popular civil and political public discontent forced the Communist governments of the Warsaw Treaty countries from power — independent
national politics made feasible with the
perestroika- and
glasnost-induced institutional collapse of Communist government in the USSR. In the event the populaces of
Hungary,
Czechoslovakia,
Albania,
East Germany,
Poland,
Romania, and
Bulgaria deposed their Communist governments in the period from 1989–91.
On 1 July 1991, in
Prague, the Czechoslovak President,
Václav Havel (1989–92), formally ended the 1955
Treaty of Friendship, Cooperation and Mutual Assistance and so disestablished the Warsaw Treaty after 36 years of military alliance with the USSR. Four months later, the USSR disestablished itself in December 1991.
Eastern Europe after the Warsaw Treaty
On 12 March 1999, the Czech Republic, Hungary, and Poland joined
NATO Pact; later,
Bulgaria,
Estonia,
Latvia,
Lithuania,
Romania, and
Slovakia joined during March 2004; and Albania joined on 1 April 2009.
In November 2005, the
conservative Polish government opened its Warsaw Treaty archives to the
Institute of National Remembrance who published some 1,300 declassified documents in January 2006. Yet the Polish government reserved publication of 100 documents, pending their military declassification. In the event, 30 of the reserved 100 documents were published; 70 remained secret, and unpublished.
Among the documents published is the Warsaw Treaty 's nuclear war plan,
Seven Days to the River Rhine — a short, sharp, shock capturing Western Europe, using
nuclear weapons, in self defense, after a NATO
first strike. The plan originated as a 1979 field training exercise war game, and metamorphosed into official Warsaw Treaty battle doctrine, until the late 1980s — thus why the People’s Republic of Poland was a nuclear weapons base, first, to 178, then, to 250 tactical-range rockets. Doctrinally, as a Soviet-style (offensive) battle plan,
Seven Days to the River Rhine gave commanders few defensive-war strategies for fighting NATO in Warsaw Treaty territory.
The Cold War (1945–90): NATO (blue) and the Warsaw Pact (red).
See also
