Warsaw Pact:
The Warsaw Treaty of Friendship, Cooperation and Mutual Assistance, or more commonly called the Warsaw Pact, was a military alliance signed into effect on May 14, 1955 and headquartered in Moscow, Russia. This infamous pact, in response to the Allied-led alliance of NATO (North Atlantic Treaty Organization), included Albania, Bulgaria, Czechoslovakia, East Germany, Hungary, Poland, Romania, and the Soviet Union. This uncommon union lasted until the dissolution of the Soviet Union in July of 1991.
The Warsaw Treaty of Friendship, Cooperation and Mutual Assistance, or more commonly called the Warsaw Pact, was a military alliance signed into effect on May 14, 1955 and headquartered in Moscow, Russia. This infamous pact, in response to the Allied-led alliance of NATO (North Atlantic Treaty Organization), included Albania, Bulgaria, Czechoslovakia, East Germany, Hungary, Poland, Romania, and the Soviet Union. This uncommon union lasted until the dissolution of the Soviet Union in July of 1991.
"Taking into consideration, at the same time, the situation that has come about in Europe as a result of the ratification of the Paris Agreements, which provide for the constitution of a new military group in the form of a "West European Union", with the participation of a remilitarized West Germany and its inclusion in the North Atlantic bloc, thereby increasing the danger of a new war and creating a threat to the national security of peaceloving States" -Part of the Preamble to the Articles of the Warsaw Pact, May 14 1955 Full Text
- The Warsaw Pact provided for each member the mutual assurance of assistance from other pact members should they be attacked; In practice, the U.S.S.R. controlled a majority of the pact's facets, from troop facilitation to decision-making. The Warsaw Pact allowed Soviet troops to occupy Russian satellites, even those they previously had no access in such as Poland and Czechoslovakia. With soviet troops in Eastern European satellites, the Soviet Union could both prepare a defense against Western aggression, should it ever surmount, and suppress anti-Soviet groups in these localities.
- A prime example of Soviet suppression was in Hungary in 1956; the failed yet promising uprising of Hungarian citizens against a primarily Soviet-led government. This was the first instance of rebellion against Soviet rule within its protectorates since the denazification of East Germany in 1945, and through example, more independent countries would begin to undermine the Soviet sphere of control and eventually lead to its ultimate demise.
- A prime example of Soviet suppression was in Hungary in 1956; the failed yet promising uprising of Hungarian citizens against a primarily Soviet-led government. This was the first instance of rebellion against Soviet rule within its protectorates since the denazification of East Germany in 1945, and through example, more independent countries would begin to undermine the Soviet sphere of control and eventually lead to its ultimate demise.
The U.S.S.R. did not trust the Western Powers to let it control its domain with Communist ideology, and for good reason. Communist support did not reign supreme everywhere, even within the Soviet Union. Seeing the Western Powers creating a military alliance prompted the Soviet Union to create their own; The Warsaw Pact, therefore, gives historians a great view of the political mindset of the U.S.S.R. at the time. Strictly speaking, the Soviet Union from this point showed itself to be weaker internally than they should have been, which would prompt the expansion of control they desired to protect their ideology. Unrealistic from the beginning, the Warsaw Pact saw the emergence of stronger and more independent states as well, which may never have had such an opportunity to exercise their nationalistic tendencies. -Adam Coscia