What was the Warsaw Pact?
The Warsaw Pact is the name given to an agreement between several Communist states of Europe. It is also known as the Warsaw Treaty of Friendship, Cooperation and Mutual Assistance. The Warsaw Pact was established in 1955, in Poland.
The Soviet Union initiated the Warsaw Pact in response to the formation of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), which in turn was formed in response to the perceived threat to European and North Atlantic nations by the Soviet Union. The Warsaw Pact was made available in Polish, Czech, German, Hungarian, Romanian, and Russian.
Originally, the members of the Warsaw Pact were the Soviet Union, Bulgaria, Albania, Hungary, Poland, Romania, and Czechoslovakia. The German Democratic Republic joined in 1956, and Albania left the pact in 1961 after the Sino-Soviet split. The Warsaw Pact ultimately dissolved in 1991 as the Soviet Union dissolved and many of the Communist states which made up the pact moved to democratic systems.
The Warsaw Pact had two main duties, and two main branches. The Political Consultative Committee was responsible for non-military activities between the various nations that made up the pact. The Unified Command of Pact Armed Forces was responsible for the various troops under its auspices from the various nations that made up the pact. The Supreme Commander of the Unified Command was also the First Deputy Minister of Defense for the Soviet Union itself.
The basic idea of the Warsaw Pact was that the various nations who were signatories would come to one another’s aid, in case of aggression. There were fears among many of the members that Western nations, especially after the formation of NATO, might choose to invade or take military action against various Eastern Bloc states to try to topple their Communist governments. The Warsaw Pact assuaged these fears somewhat by combining each nation’s military power into a much greater force. The Soviet Union also used the Warsaw Pact as a way to control its smaller allies, as it did when it swept into Czechoslovakia in 1968 with the assistance of other Warsaw Pact members to overthrow a government it said was showing Imperialistic tendencies, and therefore threatening other pact members.
In spite of the Cold War and the rivalry between NATO nations and nations which were a part of the Warsaw Pact, there were many examples of mutual cooperation between the two. Both nations often deployed troops under the auspices of the United Nations, who would serve side by side with one another. The International Commission of Control and Supervision, for example, deployed both Canadian and Polish troops to Vietnam.
In 2005 Poland released many classified documents from its Warsaw Pact days, which shed light on much of the strategy of the Warsaw Pact nations. Most surprising to many were the contingency plans of the Warsaw Pact nations in the case of a war with the Western powers. The primary strategy was incredibly offensive, with plans laid out on how to deploy quickly and effectively into Western Europe to seize control, using nuclear force if necessary. Very few defensive plans were present, with the strategy relying on speed and efficiency to neutralize European powers.
In 1999 a number of former Warsaw Pact member nations, and the nations that have since replaced them, joined NATO. In 2004, even more nations joined. The membership of Bulgaria, Poland, Hungary, Estonia, Latvia, Romania, Slovakia, the Czech Republic, and Lithuania represents in many ways a closing of one of the last circles of the Cold War.
Written by Brendan McGuigan
