Warsaw Pact - Simple English Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Treaty of Friendship, Cooperation and Mutual Assistance

The WTO in 1990
Abbreviation	WTO, WAPA, DDSV
Motto	Union of peace and socialism
Founded	14 May 1955 (1955-05-14)
Founded at	Warsaw, Poland
Dissolved	1 July 1991 (1991-07-01)
Type	Military alliance
Headquarters	Moscow, Soviet Union
Membership	Albania[a]  Bulgaria  Czechoslovakia  East Germany  Hungary  Poland  Romania  Soviet Union
Supreme Commander	Ivan Konev (first) Pyotr Lushev (last)
Chief of Combined Staff	Aleksei Antonov (first) Vladimir Lobov (last)
Affiliations	Council for Mutual Economic Assistance

Distinguish from the Warsaw Convention, which is an agreement about financial liability in air travel, and the Treaty of Warsaw (1970) between West Germany and the People's Republic of Poland.

The Warsaw Pact, officially the Treaty of Friendship, Cooperation and Mutual Assistance, was an organization of Central and Eastern European socialistic and people’s democracy states. The states were all allies and would fight together if one of them was attacked. While in theory all the countries in the organisation were equals, the smaller countries were controlled by the Soviet Union.^[1] The countries in the Warsaw Pact were East Germany, Poland, Czechoslovakia, Hungary, Romania, Bulgaria and Albania however Albania withdrew in 1968 following the 1968 Warsaw Pact Invasion Of Czechoslovakia and so did Romania.

It was established in 1955 in Warsaw, Poland in response to West Germany joining the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO). The treaty was signed in Warsaw, on 14 May 1955 and official copies were made in the languages of Russian, Polish, Czech, and German. The Pact lasted until the end of the Cold War when some members quit in 1991, following the collapse of the Eastern bloc and political changes in the Soviet Union.^[2]

All of these countries, except the Soviet Union, have now joined NATO.

Members[change | change source]

Most member states were considered puppet states of the Soviet Union. Additionally, Mongolia, North Korea, Vietnam and (until 1961) China were observer states.

Country	Status
Albania (until 1968)	Puppet state (until 1961) Independent (1961-1968)
Bulgaria	Puppet state
Czechoslovakia	Puppet state
East Germany	Puppet state
Hungary	Puppet state
Poland	Puppet state
Romania	Puppet state (before the 1960s) Independent (after the 1960s)
Soviet Union	Main contributor

References[change | change source]

Notes

1. ↑ Withheld support in 1961 due to the Soviet–Albanian split, but formally withdrew in 1968.