Warsaw Pact | Summary, History, Countries, Map, Significance, & Facts (2024)

Europe [1955–1991]

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Also known as: Warsaw Treaty of Friendship, Cooperation, and Mutual Assistance

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Formally:
Warsaw Treaty of Friendship, Cooperation, and Mutual Assistance
Date:
May 14, 1955 - July 1, 1991
Participants:
Albania
Bulgaria
Czechoslovakia
East Germany
Hungary
Poland
Romania
Soviet Union
Context:
Cold War
international relations
North Atlantic Treaty Organization
Prague Spring
Warsaw Treaty Organization

See all related content →

Top Questions

What was Warsaw Pact formally called?

The Warsaw Pact formally was called the Warsaw Treaty of Friendship, Cooperation, and Mutual Assistance. It was established on May 14, 1955.

What event prompted the creation of the Warsaw Pact?

In May 1955 West Germany joined NATO, which prompted the Soviet Union to form the Warsaw Pact alliance in central and eastern Europe the same year.

Which countries were part of the Warsaw Pact?

Warsaw Pact was a treaty that established a mutual-defense organization. It was composed originally of the Soviet Union and Albania, Bulgaria, Czechoslovakia, East Germany, Hungary, Poland, and Romania. Later Albania withdrew from the pact in 1968 and East Germany withdrew in 1990.

What did the Warsaw Pact do?

The Warsaw Pact provided for a unified military command and the systematic ability to strengthen the Soviet hold over the other participating countries.

When did the Warsaw Pact end?

After the democratic revolutions of 1989 in eastern Europe, the Warsaw Pact became moribund and was formally declared “nonexistent” on July 1, 1991, at a final summit meeting of Warsaw Pact leaders in Prague, Czechoslovakia.

Warsaw Pact, (May 14, 1955–July 1, 1991) treaty establishing a mutual-defense organization (Warsaw Treaty Organization) composed originally of the Soviet Union and Albania, Bulgaria, Czechoslovakia, East Germany, Hungary, Poland, and Romania. (Albania withdrew in 1968, and East Germany did so in 1990.) The treaty (which was renewed on April 26, 1985) provided for a unified military command and for the maintenance of Soviet military units on the territories of the other participating states.

The immediate occasion for the Warsaw Pact was the Paris agreement among the Western powers admitting West Germany to the North Atlantic Treaty Organization. The Warsaw Pact was, however, the first step in a more systematic plan to strengthen the Soviet hold over its satellites, a program undertaken by the Soviet leaders Nikita Khrushchev and Nikolay Bulganin after their assumption of power early in 1955. The treaty also served as a lever to enhance the bargaining position of the Soviet Union in international diplomacy, an inference that may be drawn by the concluding article of the treaty, which stipulated that the Warsaw agreement would lapse when a general East-West collective-security pact should come into force.

Cold War Events

Truman DoctrineMarch 12, 1947 Marshall PlanApril 1948 - December 1951 Berlin blockadeJune 24, 1948 - May 12, 1949 Warsaw PactMay 14, 1955 - July 1, 1991 U-2 IncidentMay 5, 1960 - May 17, 1960 Bay of Pigs invasionApril 17, 1961 Berlin crisis of 1961August 1961 Cuban missile crisisOctober 22, 1962 - November 20, 1962 Nuclear Test-Ban TreatyAugust 5, 1963 Strategic Arms Limitation Talks1969 - 1979 Mutual and Balanced Force ReductionsOctober 1973 - February 9, 1989 Korean Air Lines flight 007September 1, 1983 Reykjavík summit of 1986October 11, 1986 - October 12, 1986 collapse of the Soviet UnionAugust 18, 1991 - December 31, 1991

The Warsaw Pact, particularly its provision for the garrisoning of Soviet troops in satellite territory, became a target of nationalist hostility in Poland and Hungary during the uprisings in those two countries in 1956. The Soviet Union invoked the treaty when it decided to move Warsaw Pact troops into Czechoslovakia in August 1968 to bring the Czechoslovak regime back into the fold after it had begun lifting restraints on freedom of expression and had sought closer relations with the West. (Only Albania and Romania refused to join in the Czechoslovak repression.)

After the democratic revolutions of 1989 in eastern Europe, the Warsaw Pact became moribund and was formally declared “nonexistent” on July 1, 1991, at a final summit meeting of Warsaw Pact leaders in Prague, Czechoslovakia. Deployed Soviet troops were gradually withdrawn from the former satellites, now politically independent countries. The decades-long confrontation between eastern and western Europe was formally rejected by members of the Warsaw Pact, all of which, with the exception of the Soviet successor state of Russia, subsequently joined NATO.

The Editors of Encyclopaedia BritannicaThis article was most recently revised and updated by Adam Augustyn.

Warsaw Pact | Summary, History, Countries, Map, Significance, & Facts (2024)

FAQs

Warsaw Pact | Summary, History, Countries, Map, Significance, & Facts? ›

Warsaw Pact

Warsaw Pact
The Warsaw Pact (WP), formally the Treaty of Friendship, Cooperation and Mutual Assistance (TFCMA), was a collective defense treaty signed in Warsaw, Poland, between the Soviet Union and seven other Eastern Bloc socialist republics of Central and Eastern Europe in May 1955, during the Cold War.
https://en.wikipedia.org › wiki › Warsaw_Pact
, (May 14, 1955–July 1, 1991) treaty establishing a mutual-defense organization (Warsaw Treaty Organization) composed originally of the Soviet Union and Albania, Bulgaria, Czechoslovakia, East Germany, Hungary, Poland, and Romania. (Albania withdrew in 1968, and East Germany did so in 1990.)

Which countries were involved in the Warsaw Pact and why? ›

The Warsaw Pact was a collective defence treaty established by the Soviet Union and seven other Soviet satellite states in Central and Eastern Europe: Albania, Bulgaria, Czechoslovakia, East Germany, Hungary, Poland and Romania (Albania withdrew in 1968).

What was the strongest country in the Warsaw Pact? ›

Dominated by the Soviet Union, the Warsaw Pact was established as a balance of power or counterweight to the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) and the Western Bloc.

What communist countries did not join the Warsaw Pact? ›

Yugoslavia did not join the Warsaw Pact. NATO members did not join the Warsaw Pact. Sweden and Switzerland both remained neutral and did not join either organization. In an effort to bring about change and improvement to the Soviet Union, Russian leader Mikhail Gorbachev implemented drastic changes.

Which two major nations did not join the Warsaw Pact or NATO? ›

Expert-Verified Answer. NATO (North Atlantic Treaty Organization) and Warsaw Pact were established in 1949 during the Cold War. Two major nations that did not join either the Warsaw Pact or NATO are India and Yugoslavia.

Why was Yugoslavia not in the Warsaw Pact? ›

Its geographic position enabled it to serve as a buffer between the two opposing blocks. Yugoslavia was a socialist state, but it did not side with either of the superpowers. Instead, it maintained its role as an independent socialist state following the uncompromised Marxist-Leninist principles.

What replaced the Warsaw Pact? ›

The Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO) is an intergovernmental military alliance in Eurasia consisting of six post-Soviet states: Armenia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Russia, and Tajikistan, formed in 2002.

Why did Warsaw Pact fail? ›

By the late 1980s political changes in most of the member states made the Pact virtually ineffectual. In September 1990, East Germany left the Pact in preparation for reunification with West Germany. By October, Czechoslovakia, Hungary, and Poland had withdrawn from all Warsaw Pact military exercises.

Who was more powerful NATO or Warsaw Pact? ›

The growth of Soviet military divisions between 1968 and 1980. In 1975 the Warsaw Pact had considerable numerical superiority over the NATO forces deployed in Central Europe.

Why was China not in Warsaw Pact? ›

Mao's decision to cut institutional relations with the Warsaw Pact Organization had mainly domestic reasons. He tried to use the Soviet–Albanian split to increase his political influence, lost in 1960, in the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) leadership.

Does the Warsaw Pact still exist today? ›

After the democratic revolutions of 1989 in eastern Europe, the Warsaw Pact became moribund and was formally declared “nonexistent” on July 1, 1991, at a final summit meeting of Warsaw Pact leaders in Prague, Czechoslovakia.

Why did the Soviets not help Warsaw? ›

However, the consensus among most historians is that Stalin did not want to aid the Home Army in Warsaw, made up of likely opponents of the Communist regime that he wanted to impose on Poland after the war, and other Allied powers were reluctant to intervene against Stalin's will.

Why wasn t Austria in the Warsaw Pact? ›

The next day, Austria's parliament enacted a Declaration of Neutrality, whereby Austria would never join a military alliance such as NATO or the Warsaw Pact, or allow foreign troops be based within Austria.

Where is the headquarters of the Warsaw Pact? ›

The treaty was to last for twenty years in the first instance or until an acceptable East-West security pact came into being. Renewed in 1975 and again in 1985, it provided for a unified military command, initially under Marshal Koniev, dominated by the Red Army and with its headquarters in Moscow.

What is the opposite of the Warsaw Pact? ›

The Warsaw Pact was created in reaction to the integration of West Germany into NATO in 1955 and represented a Soviet counterweight to NATO, composed of the Soviet Union and seven other Soviet satellite states in Central and Eastern Europe.

Who were the original nations in the Warsaw Pact? ›

The Warsaw Pact, so named because the treaty was signed in Warsaw, included the Soviet Union, Albania, Poland, Romania, Hungary, East Germany, Czechoslovakia and Bulgaria as members.

Why did Poland, Hungary, and East Germany join the Warsaw Pact? ›

Why did Poland, Hungary, and East Germany join the Warsaw Pact? They were Soviet satellites that had little choice. fled to the West from a Communist country. defend member nations against Communist attacks.

Why did Eastern European countries join NATO? ›

There are two reasons why several Eastern European and Baltic countries, chose to join NATO. Because Soviet/Warsaw treaty countries were never a defense cooperation like NATO is. Russia had complete control, and many countries felt more invaded than protected.

What countries were involved in the Cold War? ›

After World War II, the United States and its allies, and the Soviet Union and its satellite states began a decades-long struggle for supremacy known as the Cold War. Soldiers of the Soviet Union and the United States did not do battle directly during the Cold War.

Why did Poland join NATO? ›

In November 1992, Poland made NATO membership an explicit goal of its foreign and security policy, stating that “the strategic objective of Poland in the [1990s] is membership in NATO and the Western European Union”. After three years of steadily closer relations, Poland had clearly and unequivocally decided on NATO.

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