Wow what year. Armed forces of the Warsaw Pact countries. Introduction
Education Background
After the Second World War, the two great powers, the USSR and the USA, turned out to be the strongest militarily and economically and gained greatest influence in the world. As the deadly threat of fascism, which united the world, disappeared, the initial contradictions between the anti-Hitler alliance and the geopolitical interests of the powers led to the collapse of the coalition and to a new split into hostile blocs. The incompleteness and inconsistency of the cardinal shifts in the balance of power that occurred after the war, the instability of their new balance, pushed the great powers to incline it to their side.
The USA and the USSR adopted the theory of a bipolar world and embarked on the path of tough confrontation. An influential American journalist then called the conflicts between these countries the “cold war”. The press picked up this phrase, and it became the designation of the entire period of international politics until the end of the 80s. “ cold war” was characterized by two major features: an arms race and a split in the world and Europe.
Warsaw Pact 1955 on Friendship, Cooperation and Mutual Assistance, signed by Albania (1968 - withdrew), Bulgaria, Hungary, East Germany, Poland, Romania, the USSR and Czechoslovakia on May 14, 1955 at the Warsaw Conference of European States to ensure peace and security in Europe - after 6 years after the formation of NATO. However, cooperation between the countries of the socialist camp existed long before that: after the Second World War, governments led by the communists came to power in the countries of Eastern Europe, this was partly due to the fact that after the war Soviet troops remained in Eastern Europe, creating a psychological background. Prior to the formation of the Department of Internal Affairs, relations between the states of the socialist system were built on the basis of treaties of friendship and cooperation. In 1949, the Council for Mutual Economic Assistance was established (an intergovernmental economic organization was created to promote the development of the CMEA member countries), which initially included the USSR, Bulgaria, Hungary, Poland, Romania and Czechoslovakia, and then a number of other countries.
In connection with some distortions in relations between the USSR and its allies in Eastern Europe after March 1953, signs of mass discontent appeared in some countries of the socialist camp. There were strikes and demonstrations in some cities of Czechoslovakia, and the situation in Hungary worsened. The most serious unrest was in June 1953 in the GDR, where strikes and demonstrations caused by the deteriorating living standards of the population brought the country to the brink of a general strike. The Soviet government was forced to bring tanks into the GDR, which, with the help of the police, suppressed the protests of the workers. After the death of I. V. Stalin, the new Soviet leadership made a number of trips abroad, with the aim of negotiations and personal acquaintance with the leaders of the social. countries. As a result of these trips, in 1955, the Warsaw Pact organization was formed, which included almost all the countries of Eastern Europe, except for Yugoslavia, which traditionally adhered to a policy of non-alignment. The conclusion of the Warsaw Pact was caused by the threat to peace in Europe created by the ratification by the Western states of the Paris Agreements of 1954, which provided for the formation of the Western European Union, the remilitarization of West Germany and its inclusion in NATO.
The essence and objectives of the Treaty
At a meeting on May 11-14, 1955, it was also decided to create a Joint Command of the Armed Forces of the States Parties to the Treaty. This decision provided that general issues relating to the strengthening of defense capabilities and to the organization of the Joint Armed Forces (JAF) of the member states of the Treaty, are subject to consideration by the Political Consultative Committee, which will apply the appropriate decisions. The treaty consisted of 11 preambles and articles. In accordance with its terms and the Charter of the United Nations, the states parties to the Warsaw Pact pledged to refrain in their international relations from the threat or use of force, and in the event of an armed attack on any of them, to provide immediate assistance to the attacked states by all means that seem necessary to them. including the use of military forces. The members of the Warsaw Pact Organization pledged to act in a spirit of friendship and cooperation in order to further development and strengthening economic and cultural ties among themselves, following the principles of mutual respect for independence, sovereignty and non-interference in the internal affairs of each other and other states. The term of the Warsaw Pact is 20 years with an automatic extension for 10 years for those states that, a year before the expiration of the term, do not submit to the government of Poland a statement on the denunciation of the Warsaw Pact. It is open to the accession of other states, regardless of their social and political system. The Warsaw Pact will lose force if a system is created in Europe collective security and the conclusion of a pan-European treaty for this purpose.
The ATS clearly defined its goals:
coordination of foreign policy efforts in the struggle for the joint security of the participating states, for the preservation and strengthening of peace and security in Europe and throughout the world;
cooperation of the participating states in the field of defense for the joint defense of their sovereignty and independence, the most effective rebuff to any aggressive attempts of imperialism.
In essence, the Warsaw Pact legitimized the presence of Soviet troops in the member countries, tk. they practically did not have heavy weapons, and the USSR thereby secured its western borders.
Warsaw Pact
Treaty of Friendship, Cooperation and Mutual Assistance between the People's Republic of Albania, the People's Republic of Bulgaria, the People's Republic of Hungary, the German Democratic Republic, the People's Republic of Poland, the Romanian People's Republic, the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics and the Czechoslovak Republic.
Contracting parties.
Reaffirming their desire to create a system of collective security in Europe, based on the participation in it of all European states, regardless of their social and political system, which would allow them to unite their efforts in the interests of ensuring peace in Europe, taking into account at the same time the situation that has arisen in Europe as a result of the ratification of the Paris agreements providing for the formation of a new military grouping in the form of a "Western European Union" with the participation of the remilitarized West Germany and its inclusion in the North Atlantic bloc, which increases the danger new war and poses a threat to the national security of peace-loving states, being convinced that in these conditions the peace-loving states of Europe must take the necessary measures to ensure their security and in the interests of maintaining peace in Europe, guided by the purposes and principles of the Charter of the United Nations, in the interests of further strengthening and development of friendship, cooperation and mutual assistance in accordance with the principles of respect for the independence and sovereignty of states, as well as non-interference in their internal affairs, have decided to conclude this Treaty of Friendship, Cooperation and Mutual Assistance and have appointed as their authorized representatives:
Presidium of the People's Assembly of the People's Republic of Albania - Mahmet Shehu, Chairman of the Council of Ministers of the People's Republic of Albania Presidium of the People's Assembly of the People's Republic of Bulgaria - Vylko Chervenkov, Chairman of the Council of Ministers of the People's Republic of Bulgaria Presidium of the People's Republic of Hungary - András Hegedus, Chairman of the Council of Ministers of the People's Republic of Hungary, President German Democratic Republic- Otto Grotewohl, Prime Minister of the German Democratic Republic, State Council of the Polish People's Republic - Jozef Cyrankiewicz, Chairman of the Polish People's Republic, Presidium of the Grand National Assembly of the Romanian People's Republic - Gheorghe Georgiou-Dej, Chairman of the Council of Ministers of the Romanian People's Republic, Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics - Nikolai Aleksandrovich Bulganin, Chairman of the Council of Ministers of the USSR.
The President of the Czechoslovak Republic - William Shiroky, Prime Minister of the Czechoslovak Republic, who, having submitted their powers, found in due form and in full order, have agreed as follows:
The Contracting Parties undertake, in accordance with the Charter of the United Nations, to refrain in their international relations from the threat or use of force and to resolve their international disputes by peaceful means in such a way as not to jeopardize international peace and security.
The Contracting Parties declare their readiness to participate in a spirit of sincere cooperation in all international actions aimed at ensuring international peace and security, and will devote their energies fully to the achievement of these objectives.
At the same time, the Contracting Parties will seek the adoption, by agreement with other states that wish to cooperate in this matter, of effective measures for the general reduction of armaments and the prohibition of atomic, hydrogen and other types of weapons of mass destruction.
The Contracting Parties will consult among themselves on all important international issues affecting their common interests, guided by the interests of strengthening international peace and security.
They will consult without delay among themselves whenever, in the opinion of any of them, there is a threat of an armed attack against one or more of the States Parties to the Treaty, in the interests of ensuring joint defense and maintaining peace and security.
In the event of an armed attack in Europe against one or more States Parties to the Treaty by any State or group of States, each State Party to the Treaty, in exercising the right to individual or collective self-defence, in accordance with Article 51 of the Charter of the United Nations, will to the State or States subjected to such attack, immediate assistance, individually and in agreement with other States Parties to the Treaty, by all means that it deems necessary, including the use of armed force. The States Parties to the Treaty will immediately consult on joint measures to be taken for the purpose of restoring and maintaining international peace and security.
Action taken under this Article shall be reported to the Security Council in accordance with the provisions of the Charter of the United Nations. These measures will be terminated as soon as the Security Council takes the measures necessary to restore and maintain international peace and security.
The Contracting Parties have agreed on the creation of a Joint Command of their armed forces, which will be allocated by agreement between the Parties to the jurisdiction of this Command, acting on the basis of jointly established principles. They will also take other agreed measures necessary to strengthen their defense capabilities in order to protect the peaceful labor of their peoples, guarantee the inviolability of their borders and territories and ensure protection against possible aggression.
In order to carry out the consultations provided for by this Treaty between the States Parties to the Treaty and to consider issues arising in connection with the implementation of this Treaty, a Political Consultative Committee is created, in which each State Party to the Treaty will be represented by a member of the Government or another specially appointed representative.
The Committee may establish subsidiary bodies as deemed necessary.
The Contracting Parties undertake not to take part in any coalitions or alliances and not to conclude any agreements, the purposes of which contradict the purposes of this Treaty.
The Contracting Parties declare that their obligations under existing international treaties do not conflict with the provisions of this Treaty.
The Contracting Parties declare that they will act in the spirit of friendship and cooperation for the further development and strengthening of economic and cultural ties between them, following the principles of mutual respect for their independence and sovereignty and non-interference in their internal affairs.
This Treaty is open for accession by other states, regardless of their social and state system, which will express their readiness through participation in this Treaty to contribute to the unification of the efforts of peace-loving states in order to ensure the peace and security of peoples. Such accession will enter into force with the consent of the States Parties to the Treaty after the instrument of accession is deposited with the Government of the Polish People's Republic.
This Treaty is subject to ratification, and the instruments of ratification will be deposited with the Government of the Polish People's Republic.
The Treaty will enter into force on the date of deposit of the last instrument of ratification. The Government of the Polish People's Republic will inform the other states parties to the Treaty on the Deposit of each instrument of ratification.
This Treaty shall remain in force for twenty years. For Contracting Parties which, one year before the expiration of this period, do not submit to the Government of the Polish People's Republic a declaration of denunciation of the Treaty, it will remain in force for the next ten years.
If a system of collective security is created in Europe and a Pan-European Collective Security Treaty is concluded for this purpose, to which the Contracting Parties will steadily strive, this Treaty will lose its force from the day the Pan-European Treaty comes into force.
Done at Warsaw on May 14, 1955, in a single copy in Russian, Polish, Czech and German and all texts are equally valid. Certified copies of this Agreement will be sent by the Government of the Polish People's Republic to all other parties to the Agreement.
IN WITNESS WHEREOF, the Plenipotentiaries have signed this Treaty and have affixed their seals thereto.
Department of Internal Affairs activities
Of the conflicts of the Warsaw Treaty Organization (USSR) with NATO (USA), two of the most important ones that almost led the world to the Third World War should be noted: the Berlin and Caribbean crises.
The Berlin crisis of 1959-1962 was caused by the exodus of East Germans to West Berlin. To stop these riots, in just one night, the Berlin Wall was erected around West Berlin. Checkpoints were set up at the border. The construction of the wall caused even more tension, which led to the appearance of crowds near these points, wishing to leave the Soviet sector of Berlin. Soon, at the Brandenburg Gate, at the main checkpoints, Soviet and american tanks. The Soviet-American confrontation ended with the withdrawal of Soviet tanks from these borders.
The Caribbean crisis erupted in 1962 and brought the world to the brink of nuclear war. It all started with the fact that the United States placed its missile base in Turkey. In response to this, the USSR secretly deployed its medium-range missiles in Cuba. In the United States, learning about this, a real panic began. The actions of the USSR were regarded as preparation for war. The conflict was resolved by Soviet missiles from Cuba, the Americans from Turkey, and the obligation of the United States not to resort to any action against Cuba.
Inside the OVD itself, in addition to the Berlin one, there were other crises caused by the desire of the socialist countries of Eastern Europe for a better life and liberation from Soviet influence: the uprising in Hungary (1956, Operation Whirlwind), suppressed Soviet tanks and attempts to reform in Czechoslovakia "Prague Spring" (1968, operation "Danube"), also suppressed by the introduction of troops into Czechoslovakia from five neighboring socialist states.
The Afghan war of 1979-1989 should also be noted. In 1978, as a result of a military coup, a government came to power in Afghanistan, which set as its goal to build socialism in the country along the lines of the USSR. This caused widespread discontent in the country, and then Afghan President Amin asked the USSR for military assistance. A "limited contingent" of Soviet troops was introduced into Afghanistan. The Afghan war lasted 10 years and ended in failure. The outbreak of this war caused a wide wave of criticism. The USSR found itself in international isolation, and protests began to grow inside the country.
The collapse of the ATS
With the beginning of perestroika in the USSR, the entire foreign policy of the country changed. The Soviet Union began to declare its adherence to the principles of collective security and respect for the sovereign right of peoples to choose the path of development. The USSR did not interfere with the peaceful (“velvet”) revolutions of 1989-1990 in the countries of Eastern Europe. On November 8, 1989, the Berlin Wall fell and the Brandenburg Gate opened. In 1990, the unification of Germany took place, although it meant the liquidation of the GDR, a former staunch Soviet ally.
The engine of the collapse of the Soviet military empire was the three states of Central Europe - Poland, Hungary and East Germany. Budapest Protocol 1991 drew a line under existence military organization Warsaw Pact. Representatives of Poland, Hungary, Czechoslovakia, Bulgaria and Romania left their Moscow residences.
On June 30, 1991, the last meeting of the heads of state and government took place, signing the final document on the dissolution of the Warsaw Pact, which had existed for 36 years. From 1991 to 1994, a gradual withdrawal of Soviet troops from Czechoslovakia, Hungary, East Germany and Poland began. Thus, the final point was put in the history of the Warsaw Pact.
In December 1991, the leaders of Russia, Ukraine and Belarus (the founding countries of the USSR) announced the termination of the Union Treaty of 1922 and signed documents on the creation of the Commonwealth Independent States. The collapse of the USSR marked the end of the Cold War.
Dictionary "What is what in world politics"
Warsaw Pact Organization (WTO)
It was established under the leadership of the Soviet Union in 1955. The Treaty of Friendship, Cooperation and Mutual Assistance was signed on May 14, 1955 at the Warsaw Conference of European States on Ensuring Peace and Security in Europe by the leaders of Albania, Bulgaria, Hungary, the GDR, Poland, Romania, USSR and Czechoslovakia for a period of 30 years. In 1985
Warsaw Pact
The agreement has been extended for another 20 years. According to the Treaty, the parties that signed it were obliged to refrain in their international relations from the threat or use of force, and in the event of an armed attack on any of them, to provide immediate assistance to the states that were attacked by all means that seemed necessary to them, including the use of armed forces. .
The creation of the Department of Internal Affairs was the military-political response of the Soviet Union to the expansion of the NATO bloc to the east. In 1954, the West ratified the Paris Agreements of 1954, providing for the formation of the Western European Union, carried out the remilitarization of West Germany and the inclusion of the FRG in NATO. As a result, with the creation of the Department of Internal Affairs in Europe, a confrontation between two military blocs arose for three decades. The internal task of the WTS was to maintain power in the countries of Central Europe in the hands of the pro-Soviet communist regimes.
The political leadership of the ATS was carried out by the Political Consultative Committee, which united the heads of states - members of the organization. The military leadership was carried out by the Joint Command of the Armed Forces, which, according to tradition, was headed by a marshal of the Soviet Union. The first commander was the hero of the Great Patriotic War, Marshal I.S. Konev.
The language of command was Russian. All the main documentation of the Department of Internal Affairs was prepared in Russian.
Within the framework of the ATS, the Military Council of the Joint Armed Forces was also created. The presence of the Department of Internal Affairs provided a legal basis for the participation of Soviet troops in the suppression of the anti-communist uprising in Hungary in 1965. In 1968, military contingents countries participating in the ATS took part in the events in Czechoslovakia, suppressing the Prague Spring. In the same 1968, the participants in the Bucharest meeting of the Warsaw Pact, as well as the PKK meeting in Sofia, strongly condemned the US armed intervention in Vietnam.
Taking into account the fact that the total military potential of the countries of Europe participating in the Warsaw Pact was not comparable with the military potential of the USSR, the essence of the Warsaw Pact was the nuclear "umbrella" of the USSR over the European socialist countries and the ability of the Soviet Armed Forces to use the territory of the allies. The creation of the Department of Internal Affairs legitimized the deployment of Soviet troops in the countries of Central Europe. In the mid 80s. in the GDR, a grouping of Soviet troops of 380 thousand people was stationed, in Poland - 40 thousand, in Czechoslovakia - 80 thousand, in Hungary - about 70 thousand SA servicemen. At the end of the 50s. the opening of a naval base on the Adriatic Sea (Albania) was being prepared. Within the framework of the ATS, the USSR Ministry of Defense got the opportunity to control the armed forces of the countries participating in the ATS, to re-equip them. An exchange of intelligence information was established. As part of the ATS, the troops of the Warsaw Pact countries were constantly rearmed, and the officers were retrained as planned. A wide exchange of military experience was developed.
The most important part of the activities of the Department of Internal Affairs was the broad cooperation of special services and various special forces, which constitute the main support of the ruling regimes in the countries participating in the organization.
In line with the diplomatic efforts of the USSR to prevent a global nuclear conflict, the Warsaw Pact was positioned as a defensive bloc, whose activities are directed against possible aggression from NATO.
Large-scale exercises of joint groupings of troops were regularly held. The last of them, the most massive, took place in 1982 - "Shield-82".
The ATS was not devoid of internal contradictions and problems. In 1961, due to political and ideological disagreements between Moscow and Tirana, Albania ceased its participation in the activities of the Department of Internal Affairs, in 1968 Albania formalized its withdrawal from the organization. In the 70-80s, Romania periodically demonstrated its special position in the activities of the Department of Internal Affairs. From time to time, leaks of military-technical information to NATO member countries were detected in the activities of the allies.
Within the framework of the ATS, decisions were not made by consensus. The organization was under the complete control of the Soviet leadership, militarily - the General Staff of the USSR Ministry of Defense. Within the framework of the Warsaw Pact, a policy of bilateral multi-level comprehensive military-political integration of the socialist countries of Central Europe with the USSR was pursued, and the establishment of strict control over the armies of the countries - allies of the Soviet Union. The effectiveness of this policy was demonstrated in 1981, when the armed forces of the Polish People's Republic actually performed police functions, saving the ML from the need to interfere in the internal affairs of Poland, following the example of 1968 in Czechoslovakia.
After the fall of the "Berlin Wall" and the wave of "velvet" revolutions in the countries of Central Europe, the Warsaw Treaty Organization lost its ideological basis. The leadership of the USSR in the late 80s and early 90s. considered the Department of Internal Affairs a relic of the Cold War and an unnecessary burden. A rapid withdrawal of Soviet troops from Germany began, and then from other ATS countries. The liquidation of the organization turned out to be a formal fact. On July 1, 1991, the parties included in the ATS signed the Protocol on the termination of the Treaty. Countries - former members of the Department of Internal Affairs undertook the obligation not to declassify the archives of the Department of Internal Affairs, but not all of this obligation was fulfilled.
Suzdaltsev Andrey Ivanovich
NINA EVGENEVNA BYSTROVA
Candidate of Historical Sciences (Moscow),
Senior Research Fellow of the Institute Russian history RAS
Warsaw Pact: on the history of creation and collapse
The Warsaw Pact, as you know, was signed on May 14, 1955. It did not last long - a little over 36 years, but it had a noticeable impact on the post-war reorganization of the world. This article tells about how it was created and what caused its collapse.
From allies to adversaries
The path to the new world order, which humanity entered in the 21st century, turned out to be very difficult. Echoes of long years of confrontation can still be heard. And the lessons of the first post-war decade of the mid-twentieth century. clearly confirm how important it is to build relations between states in such a way that they remain partnership and cooperation based on mutual interests and mutual trust, as they were between the allies in the anti-Hitler coalition during the Second World War. The absence of such trust and such interests between them in the post-war years, supplemented by ideological and political confrontation, became the source of the deepest crisis in relations between the USSR and Western countries. A big war between them was avoided, but the world found itself in the ice of the cold war for a long time.
Among the most important factors in the growth of contradictions between the USSR and Western countries, a special place was occupied by the situation in Eastern Europe, where, after the elimination of Hitler's domination, a sphere of Soviet control was formed and regimes were established. People's Democracy. From these countries, a socialist military-political bloc led by the USSR began to form. In the West, the building of a secure world order was seen in a single Anglo-American alliance based on the principles of democracy and a market economy, in the East, in an alliance of Slavic peoples based on the “leading and guiding role of the communist parties” and a planned national economy. It was obvious to everyone: if the former allies failed to agree on further cooperation, these worlds would oppose each other.
The formation of opposing military-political blocs was led by the disengagement of the former allies both on geopolitical and economic issues, covered by an ideological veil, and on the fundamental issues of the reorganization of the post-war world. Winston Churchill's speech in Fulton in March 1946 is considered to be the manifesto of the "cold war". there was still a conclusion about the need for a close political and military alliance between the United States and the British Empire. True, the idea of confrontation between the two camps was certainly present in Churchill's speech. But the speech itself was more of a declaration of a "cold peace" rather than the beginning of a cold war.
Nevertheless, both the East and the West sought to expand the sphere of their maximum influence. And the escalation of tension in regional areas, the growth of mutual distrust and suspicion accelerated the transition of their relations from allied to hostile to a much greater extent than Churchill's Fulton speech. The prerequisite for the creation of opposing military-political blocs was the Marshall Plan (1947),
which provided for the economic recovery of Europe with American help and under US control.
The Soviet Union, of course, was interested in obtaining American loans for post-war reconstruction, but not at the cost of giving up its sphere of influence in the "people's democracy" zone. An economic aid program for Europe could destroy the entire system of Soviet control over the countries of Eastern Europe. And in fact the plan was presented in such a way that the participation of the USSR and the Eastern European countries looked very problematic. This is confirmed by the admission made by Mr. Hoffmann, the administrator of the Marshall Plan, that “without this plan most of Europe would have been under the domination of the Kremlin” and “that the plan stopped the Kremlin’s progress towards Atlantic Ocean" one.
Stalin considered the real purpose of the Marshall Plan to be the strengthening of the Western bloc and the isolation of the Soviet Union. Therefore, the USSR not only rejected the plan, but also did not allow it to be extended to Eastern European countries. A “reliable” obstacle to this was the formation in September 1947 in Szklarska Poręba (Poland) of the Cominform, the Information Bureau of the Communist Parties, which “directed” the internal socio-political processes in the countries of Eastern Europe in the direction desired by the Soviet leaders. And the core of the formation of the Soviet bloc was the formation of a system of bilateral political, military, economic, cultural and ideological ties between the countries of Eastern Europe and the Soviet Union, which became their bloc center. By 1949, 35 interstate treaties of friendship, cooperation and mutual assistance had already been concluded between the USSR and the Eastern European countries, which legally consolidated this bloc.
With the creation of the Western Union, concluded in March 1948 in Brussels, the economic division of Europe was deepened and the first military bloc in post-war history, which was seen as the embryo of a broader military-political organization of the West. In the same year, the first open confrontation between the two systems took place - an attempt to blockade West Berlin. Then N.S. Khrushchev will call it Stalin's desire to "probe the capitalist world with a bayonet." However, the blockade made the Soviet leader convinced that it was impossible to put pressure on Western countries by such means. It only accelerated the creation of NATO.
Strengthened the desire of the West to "isolate itself" from the Soviet Union and the first split in the socialist camp - the Soviet-Yugoslav conflict. Stalin regarded the position of Joseph Broz Tito and his associates, dissatisfied with Moscow's efforts to achieve unconditional subjugation of the Eastern European countries, regardless of their fundamental national interests, as hostile and achieved the exclusion of the Communist Party of Yugoslavia from the Information Bureau, and Yugoslavia itself "excommunicated" from the socialist camp. He accused Tito even of disrupting the Soviet five-year plan, which was focused on supplies, including from his country. The communist leaders of the states of Eastern Europe, having become unwitting accomplices in the anti-Yugoslav campaign, contributed to the tightening of Soviet control over their own countries. They did not limit themselves to carrying out purges of "unreliable elements", but took serious repressive measures. Death sentences were handed down to "Tito's agents" by Laszlo Rajk in Hungary, Rudolf Slansky in Czechoslovakia, Kochi Dzodze in Albania, and Traicho Kostov in Bulgaria. So the Soviet-Yugoslav conflict became not only an internal affair of the Soviet bloc, but also an element of the confrontation between East and West.
Yet by the end of the 1940s. of the last century, the Soviet leadership managed to solve its military-political task by creating a buffer zone of external security, and at the same time - political and ideological, by exporting the socialist revolution to Eastern Europe, expanding the boundaries of the communist bloc. So the Soviet system, replicated in the countries of Eastern Europe, laid in those
the post-war years were the prerequisites for their future crises and, ultimately, the collapse of the entire communist system.
Block logic
By 1949, the military-bloc logic had triumphed. The West has created a military-political North Atlantic alliance. The Eastern bloc, not having such a developed economic, political and military basis to create its own military-political union, organized a closed economic system - the Council for Mutual Economic Assistance. And in May 1955, the bloc confrontation received its formal conclusion - the FRG joined NATO, the formation of the North Atlantic Alliance was completed and the so-called Eastern NATO - the Warsaw Pact Organization was created.
NATO and the Warsaw Treaty Organization have become unique phenomena in the field of international relations. Moreover, if NATO still retains its key role in solving military problems of international security, then the history of the Warsaw Pact is already over.
Creation of the Warsaw Pact organization
Although, it must be admitted, the history of its origin, attempts to reform and collapse has not yet been practically studied. There is no answer to the obvious question: why was the military-political organization of the eastern bloc not created precisely in 1949 as a counterbalance to the formation of the North Atlantic Alliance?
The reason for this, apparently, can be considered that the "Marshall Plan" for the countries of Central and Eastern Europe did not exist. Mechanisms for multilateral cooperation, both in the economic and military-political fields, were just emerging; there was still no political basis on which to create an Eastern NATO. The social order of the people's democracies was not stabilized. The peoples of these countries did not have confidence in their political system, their new ruling stratum - the party-state nomenklatura. In 1949, there was neither readiness nor confidence that the military-political organization of the eastern bloc would be similar to the North Atlantic Alliance. In addition, it was still not clear what the activity of the newly created Western military bloc would result in. And for such an alliance there was neither sufficient economic potential, nor technical means, nor reliable military personnel: most of the command staff of the Eastern European armies were representatives of the old officer corps, who did not show a desire to restructure their armies and did not inspire confidence in either the leaders of their countries, not at the Kremlin. The serious development of the armies began only in the early 1950s. At that time, Eastern European troops were integrated into the Soviet battle formations and reorganized along the Soviet lines. According to the USSR Foreign Ministry, by the end of 1949, 187 specialists were sent to Eastern Europe to provide technical assistance, 61 were military advisers, and 18 were civilian advisers and specialists2. In 1950, 1,000 advisers from the USSR3 were sent to Czechoslovakia alone to organize its armed forces. Soviet military advisers
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Warsaw Pact 1955
Cooperation between Warsaw Pact countries
Not exhausted by questions of joint defense, it also covers the problems of further development and strengthening of economic and cultural ties.
Should be pointed to fundamental difference Warsaw Pact organizations from imperialist blocs such as NATO, WEU, etc.
First of all, unlike the aggressive NATO, the WEU and similar groupings of states, the Warsaw Pact pursues purely defensive goals. This feature of the Treaty follows from the very nature of the socialist states participating in it and is an expression of their peace-loving foreign policy.
The social system of the member states of the Warsaw Pact also determined its other peculiarity. Imperialist alliances in the interests of their organizers - the big imperialist states - are built on the principle of domination and subordination, which found its clearest manifestation in the Paris agreements. The Warsaw Pact proceeds from the principles of sovereign equality of all its participants, mutual respect for the independence, sovereignty of states, and non-interference in their internal affairs.
Moreover, in contrast to the imperialist pacts, in particular the Paris agreements, the Warsaw Pact is in full conformity with the UN Charter. The preamble explicitly states that when concluding the Warsaw Pact, its participants were guided by the purposes and principles of the UN Charter. Indeed, the maintenance of international peace and security, the development of friendly relations among nations, the implementation of international cooperation in the field of economy and culture are the declared goals of the UN, and the same goals are pursued by the conclusion of the Warsaw Pact.
Its participants pledged, in accordance with the UN Charter, to refrain in international relations from the threat or use of force and to resolve their international disputes by peaceful means. Article 4 of the Treaty, which provides for the provision of assistance by all participants to a state subjected to an armed attack, is written in accordance with Art. 51 of the UN Charter, fixing the inalienable right of states to individual or collective self-defence.
Finally, one more important difference should be pointed out between the Warsaw Pact and the agreements concluded by the imperialists. While the aggressive NATO and the WEU are declared by their creators to be blocs of “like-minded” states and exclude the possibility of other states freely joining them, the Warsaw Treaty on Friendship, Cooperation and Mutual Assistance is open for other countries to join it, regardless of their social and political system. . This feature of the Warsaw Pact reveals its defensive character to the same extent that the closed nature of the imperialist blocs testifies to their aggressiveness and orientation against other countries.
Conclusion of the Warsaw Pact
The participants continued their stubborn struggle to create a system of collective security based on the participation of all European states in it. In Art. 11 of the Treaty states that in the event of the conclusion of a pan-European treaty on collective security in Europe, the Warsaw Pact will lose its force.
At the Geneva Conference of the Heads of Government of the USSR, the USA, Britain and France, which took place from July 18 to 23, 1955, the Soviet Union put forward new proposals regarding the creation of a system of collective security in Europe. These proposals took into account the real situation that had developed by that time. Its most important factor was and still is the existence of military groupings of states in Europe. The Soviet proposals were put forward taking into account the fact that the governments of the Western powers so far did not want to liquidate the military blocs they had created - NATO and the WEU. Under these conditions, the USSR proposed to divide the creation of a collective security system into two periods. During the first of them, the duration of which, according to the Soviet proposals, was determined to be two or three years, the North Atlantic Treaty of April 4, 1949, the Paris Agreements of October 23, 1954, and the Warsaw Pact of May 14, 1955 would continue to exist, but they participants must commit themselves not to use armed force and to resolve all possible disputes by peaceful means. In the second period, in accordance with the Soviet proposals, the states would have to assume in full the obligations arising from the creation of a system of collective security. At the same time, the North Atlantic Treaty and the Paris Agreements, as well as the Warsaw Pact, would cease to have effect.
Since further discussion of the issue of collective security in Europe and the achievement of appropriate agreements required a certain time, and the situation in Europe testified to the need to take urgent measures to strengthen the peace and security of peoples, the Soviet delegation at the Geneva Conference put forward another proposal: on the conclusion of an agreement between states - members of groups existing in Europe.
The main thing in the treaty proposed by the USSR delegation is the obligation of the NATO and WEU member states, on the one hand, and the Warsaw Pact, on the other, not to use armed force against each other and to consult in the event of disagreements and disputes between them that could create threat to peace in Europe. The USSR proposal emphasized the temporary nature of this treaty. It was to be replaced by another treaty on the creation of a system of collective security in Europe.
Acceptance of the Soviet proposal would undoubtedly contribute to the relaxation of international tension and would be a definite step towards the creation of a system of collective security, which is the most important way to strengthen world peace. But due to the position of the Western powers, no agreement could be reached on any of the issues discussed at the meeting of heads of government. It was only decided to continue their consideration.
At a conference of foreign ministers of the four powers, also held in Geneva in October-November 1955, the Soviet delegation again proposed concluding a pan-European treaty with the participation of all European states and the United States. As at the previous Geneva meeting, the USSR delegation proposed that a system of collective security in Europe be created in two periods. However, the representatives of the Western powers in their speeches demonstrated their unwillingness to part with the military groups they had created. Considering this circumstance, on October 31, 1955, the representative of the USSR, confirming the conviction of the Soviet government that the strengthening of peace in Europe would be most facilitated by the creation of such a security system in which all European states, as well as the United States, would participate, put forward a new proposal: the conclusion of a security treaty with the participation at first of a narrower circle of states.
This proposal, to a certain extent, synthesized the provisions of the Soviet drafts of the All-European Treaty and the treaty between the groupings of states existing in Europe, and at the same time differed significantly from each of them. The security treaty provided for the participation of a smaller number of states and allowed the North Atlantic Treaty, the Paris Agreements and the Warsaw Pact to remain in force for the period of its validity. In these differences from the All-European Treaty, the draft treaty on security in Europe was reminiscent of the draft treaty proposed by the Soviet government at the Geneva Conference of Heads of Government between the Western grouping of states and the Warsaw Pact organization. But unlike it, the treaty on security in Europe provided for the provision of necessary assistance, including military assistance, to any state party to the treaty in the event that it was subjected to an armed attack.
The Soviet proposal for a European security treaty envisaged its replacement in the future by a broader treaty, at the same time that the North Atlantic Treaty, the Paris Accords, and the Warsaw Pact would become null and void. Thus, the conclusion of a treaty, first for a part of Europe, was considered by the USSR as the basis for the subsequent creation of a pan-European security system with the liquidation of existing military groups.
In an effort to find ways to a coordinated and at least gradual solution to the problem of security in Europe, the USSR delegation at the conference of foreign ministers in Geneva on November 9 again proposed concluding an agreement between the groupings of states existing in Europe. But this time, as well as at the Geneva Conference of Heads of Government, the Soviet initiative did not meet with support from representatives of the Western powers. Opie refused to accept the Soviet projects and at the same time did not put forward their proposals, which would be aimed at ensuring European security.
The Geneva Conference of Foreign Ministers once again convincingly demonstrated the presence of two lines in international relations: the Western powers openly opposed the efforts of the Soviet Union and other peace-loving states aimed at strengthening peace and ensuring the security of peoples by maintaining international tension and preparing for a new war.
Friendship and cooperation between the Soviet Union and the United States
The Soviet Union and other socialist countries, with the support of the progressive public of the whole world, continued their efforts aimed at preserving and strengthening peace, while giving great importance creation of a collective security system. “Peaceful conditions for the development of the European peoples,” it was said in the Declaration adopted by the member states of the Warsaw Pact in January 1956 in Prague at a meeting of the Political Consultative Committee, “can be best ensured by the creation of a system of collective security in Europe, which would replace the existing ones in Europe military groups. The Declaration proposed to conclude an appropriate agreement initially between a part of the European states, including the USSR, Great Britain, France, and also the USA.
In the same days, the Soviet government, in order to strengthen peace, took another important step: it proposed to conclude a treaty of friendship and cooperation between the Soviet Union and the United States.
The ruling circles of the Western powers rejected all Soviet proposals aimed at pooling the efforts of states to uphold the cause of peace. The proposals of the USSR had exclusively importance because they showed the peoples the real way to prevent a new war and contributed to the intensification of the struggle against the imperialist policy of creating aggressive blocs.
The Soviet position played an important role in the struggle against the Paris Agreements. proposals concerning the German question. The USSR proceeded from the fact that the unification of Germany is the business of the Germans themselves, other countries could, through their policies, contribute to the rapprochement or, conversely, to the further alienation of the German states. While the Paris agreements created serious obstacles to the unification of Germany, the Soviet proposals were aimed at bringing the German states closer together. Incidentally, the implementation of the Soviet proposal to create a system of collective security would contribute to the unification of Germany, not only because the organization of collective security in Europe would achieve a general relaxation of international tension, but also because there would be a rapprochement between the two German states, since they, bound by an appropriate treaty, would have to cooperate both with other states and among themselves. Therefore, British Prime Minister H. Macmillan's assertion that the Soviet proposal for a collective security treaty was allegedly based on "the ongoing division of Germany" has no basis. It was just an excuse that the representatives of the Western powers resorted to whenever the Soviet Union proposed to conclude a treaty on the creation of a system of collective security.
The Soviet government strongly supported the proposal of the GDR on the formation of a confederation of two German states.
The Soviet Union took a position fundamentally different from that of the Western powers regarding the continued presence of foreign troops in Germany. While the Paris Agreements essentially consolidated the occupation regime in the FRG for decades to come, the USSR, proceeding from the Leninist principle of recognizing the sovereign rights of all peoples, repeatedly proposed the withdrawal of foreign troops from the territories of the German states.
On November 27, 1958, the Soviet government submitted proposals to the two German states and the Western powers to liquidate the remnants of the occupation and turn West Berlin into a demilitarized free city.
Warsaw Pact Organization
On January 10, 1959, the Soviet government took a new step by submitting a draft peace treaty with Germany for consideration by the states and the world community.
The conclusion of the State Treaty with Austria, the establishment of diplomatic relations between the USSR and the FRG, and then with Japan - all these international actions undertaken during the period under review at the initiative of the Soviet Union were the contribution of our state to the strengthening of peace and the strengthening of mutual trust between countries and peoples.
The consistent struggle of the Soviet Union for general disarmament and for an unconditional ban on atomic and hydrogen weapons received approval and support from progressive forces throughout the world. At that time, two lines were especially clearly marked in the attitude of various states towards the question of disarmament. The Soviet Union, together with other peace-loving states, with the support of the progressive public throughout the world, tirelessly advocated a significant reduction in armaments and armed forces, and a ban on atomic and hydrogen weapons. At the same time, US imperialist circles and their European partners did their best to prevent the conclusion of a disarmament agreement.
It is known that on March 31, 1958, the Supreme Soviet of the USSR adopted a resolution on the unilateral cessation by the Soviet Union of testing atomic and hydrogen weapons. However, the Western powers did not follow this example; on the contrary, they continued the arms race, including the West German revanchists in it.
The active foreign policy, the consistent struggle of the Soviet state against the threat of a new war, exposed to the peoples of all countries the dangerous nature of the Western powers' policy of forging aggressive military blocs with the participation of West German revanchists. During the period of preparation and ratification of the Paris agreements and in the years that followed, in all European countries and, first of all, in those whose governments put their signatures under the Paris agreements, the heroic struggle of progressive forces against the policy of dividing Europe into warring factions unfolded. states, against the revival of militarism in West Germany and its inclusion in aggressive blocs.
A broad peace movement came forward to expose the threat lurking in this policy to the security of peoples. The World Peace Council, meeting at its regular session on November 18-23, 1954, appealed to the peoples to resist the ratification of the Paris agreements and demand the immediate opening of negotiations between all European states, regardless of their system. Representatives of the most diverse social groups of the European population took part in the struggle against the new conspiracy of international reaction.
On December 11, 1954, a European meeting of public and political figures who opposed the Paris agreements opened in Paris. It was attended by about 150 delegates from 15 European countries: France, England, Germany, Italy, Greece, Norway, Danil and others. of the Lombard Parliament, Hans Ivand, Dean of the Faculty of Theology in Bonn, and others. Invited to the meeting public figures The Soviet Union, Poland, Romania, Bulgaria and Hungary could not come to France because they did not receive entry visas.
The European Conference condemned the Paris Agreements and called public opinion, politicians, governments and parliaments of the respective countries to reject them. It was another expression of people's protest common sense and good will against arming the FRG, consolidating the split in Germany, preparing a new war.
Particularly stubborn resistance to the imperialist policy, the expression of which was the Paris agreements, was put up by the working class of European countries. This is understandable. “The working class, which mainly supplies soldiers,” wrote V. I. Lenin, “and which mainly suffers material sacrifices, is in particular natural enemy wars, because wars are contrary to the goal pursued by them: the creation of an economic system based on the socialist principle, which will in fact realize the solidarity of peoples.
On December 9, 1954, the seventh session of the General Council of the World Federation of Trade Unions opened in Warsaw. The next day, the General Council of the WFTU adopted an appeal to the working people of Europe, one of the most striking documents of the period of the struggle against the Paris agreements. This document expresses with the utmost clarity the attitude of the working class of various countries towards the Paris agreements. It pointed to their destructive character for the cause of peace and democracy. The appeal contained an impassioned appeal to all the working men and women of Europe to unite their efforts in the struggle against the Paris agreements and their consequences, for the creation of a pan-European system of collective security.
Establishment of a Council for Mutual Economic Assistance (CMEA). Creation of a socialist camp and the Department of Internal Affairs.
Council for Mutual Economic Assistance. General economic intergovernmental
organization of socialist countries - Council for Mutual Economic Assistance -
established by representatives of Bulgaria, Hungary, Poland, Romania, the USSR,
Czechoslovakia at the International Economic Conference held in
Moscow in January 1949. Subsequently, CMEA members also became: Albania - with
1949 (since the end of 1961
Warsaw Pact collapsed due to betrayal
unilaterally ceased to participate in the work
bodies of the Council), the GDR - since 1950, Mongolia - since 1962, Cuba - since 1972,
Vietnam - since 1978
As a result, by the beginning of 1989, more than 400 million people, who created about 12%
volume of world production, lived in countries with a centralized
planning, that is economic systems, where the production decision
and employment were taken, as a rule, at the government level. Contrary to
some reform measures, the government of the Soviet Union and
Eastern European countries liberated Soviet troops during the Second
world war, still managed their economy mainly
directives from the center, rather than using the market mechanism.
However, by the end of 1991 the situation had changed. communist governments
resigned or were overthrown, and the Soviet Union itself collapsed
to individual states. Most Eastern European countries and former
the Soviet republics took economic reforms intending
transform your economy into market economy Western pattern.
Few economists doubted that in the long run, the transition to
market economy will raise productivity and living standards in these
countries. It is widely accepted that central planning proved that
it is less efficient system than developing the economy through
market laws. Some countries in Eastern Europe, like the Czech Republic and Eastern
Germany, until the fall of communist regimes, governments were considered
advanced industrial regions, but even there it was found that they
there were outdated factories, poor quality goods and services, problems with
environment. Return to the market in these once prosperous
districts, gave hope for rapid growth, perhaps even "economic
miracle" comparable to the restoration Western Europe after World War II
Creation of ATS.
The leading role in most countries of Eastern Europe was played by local communists, who acted under the strong influence of Moscow. In the context of the beginning of the Cold War, Stalin and his supporters switched to harsh forceful methods of influencing the internal political processes in the Eastern European countries. In 1948-1949. the communists are pushing representatives of other political forces out of the leadership, and socialist reforms are being carried out following the example of the USSR. An attempt by the leadership of Yugoslavia, headed by a strong, strong-willed leader, Josip Broz Tito, to act independently provoked an angry reaction from Stalin and led to a break in Soviet-Yugoslav relations.
In 1955, the Warsaw Pact Organization (OVD) appeared - a military-political bloc of European socialist countries. The Treaty of Friendship, Cooperation and Mutual Assistance, signed in Warsaw, the capital of Poland, formalized the creation of a military alliance of European socialist states with the leading role of the Soviet Union. The conclusion of the treaty was a response to Germany's accession to NATO.
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President MS Gorbachev, losing power in the USSR, was unable to direct the development of the situation in Eastern Europe. The former socialist countries sought to destroy Moscow's last instruments of influence. On February 25, 1991, at a meeting of the Ministers of Foreign Affairs and Defense of the Warsaw Pact countries in Budapest, a general agreement was reached to terminate the activities of the Warsaw Pact military organization from April 1, 1991. On July 1, 1991, by decision of the political advisory committee of the Warsaw Pact in Prague, the Warsaw Pact Organization was completely liquidated. Somewhat earlier, on June 27, 1991, an agreement on the self-dissolution of the CMEA was also signed in Budapest.
In 1990, representatives of the former socialist countries began to make statements about their intention to interact more closely with NATO countries and, in the future, seek associate membership in this bloc. In July 1990, a summit of the NATO Council was held in London, at which a declaration was adopted on the need to cooperate with the former socialist countries and an official invitation was issued to their leaders to visit NATO headquarters in Brussels.
Conclusion of the Schengen Convention
The process of European integration, meanwhile, went on as usual. A few months before the reunification of Germany, on June 19, 1990, the Benelux countries, France and the FRG concluded a new convention on the regime of crossing state borders in the Schengen castle (Luxembourg).
It was based on the Schengen Agreement on the gradual abolition of checks at internal borders, signed by the same countries in 1985. It was designed for five years and provided for the replacement of systematic checks of vehicles crossing the internal borders of the countries that acceded to it, visual observation of vehicles without stopping at checkpoints. The document did not require ratification and was essentially recommendatory. But he gave rise to the "Schengen process".
The 1990 Schengen Convention was a lengthy document. It reaffirmed the principle of free movement of citizens of the European Community within the zone formed by the external borders of the states that acceded to it, and established uniform requirements for the issuance of entry visas to foreigners who, having received a single "Schengen" visa to enter one of the countries participating in the agreement, had the right to travel to all other countries of this zone without restrictions.
Italy joined the Schengen Convention in November 1990, Spain and Portugal in 1991, Greece in 1992, Austria in 1995, and, on an experimental basis, France. On December 19, 1996, it was extended to Denmark, Sweden and Finland, as well as Norway and Iceland. Britain and Ireland remained outside the zone of a single European visa regime.
Although the Schengen Convention was signed outside the framework of the European Community and not all EU countries initially joined it, a serious step was taken towards the creation of a single European space in the socio-economic and humanitarian (♦) spheres. In Western Europe, a special psychological climate, which contributed to the strengthening of sentiment in favor of the rapprochement of Western Europeans.
Signing of the Moscow Treaty on the Reduction of Strategic Offensive Arms (START-1)
Noting the weakening of MS Gorbachev's power, the American administration began to fear for the outcome of negotiations on concluding an agreement on strategic arms control with the Soviet Union. Despite the unfavorable situation inside the USSR, in July 1991 US President George W. Bush arrived in Moscow. On July 30-31, 1991, the next Soviet-American summit took place, during which the Treaty on the Reduction of Strategic Offensive Arms (START-1) was signed. According to the treaty, the USSR and the USA were to reduce their nuclear arsenals within 7 years in such a way that each side would have no more than 6,000 nuclear weapons.
Warsaw Pact
units. True, in reality, according to the "rules for offsetting" warheads on heavy bombers, the USSR could have about 6.5 thousand warheads, and the United States - 8.5 thousand. Implementation of the agreements was difficult due to unpredictably developing events in the Soviet Union.
On September 2, 1945, the act of unconditional surrender of Japan was signed, and the Second World War finally ended. However, peace on earth did not come ...
The allies in the anti-Hitler coalition were a tripartite coalition, in which each participant contributed to the common cause, but was an independent figure with his own ambitions, intentions, and principles. With the fall of the common enemy, personal ideas about the post-war world and one's role in it came to the fore. Britain was too weakened to pursue a completely independent policy and was forced to largely follow in the wake of American policy. Thus, the post-war structure was determined by the will of two giants - the USSR and the USA.
Meeting on the Elbe. Less than a year before the start of the Cold War...
The United States saw itself as the undisputed leader and the first power in the world. I must say, they had every reason to do so - perhaps the only one of all the participants, America emerged from the war, having secured the notorious "peace better than before the war." About half of the world economy was controlled by the United States directly, as well as through loans, investments, and debt obligations. America did not intend to yield to anyone, much less to share with anyone. However, the Soviet leaders had absolutely no intention of recognizing anyone's supremacy and becoming a follower. They believed that the Soviet Union paid too high a price for a war unleashed not by them, and therefore cannot and should not become second violin in someone else's orchestra.
This conflict of interest was of a fundamental nature and, given the natural problems of mutual distrust and communication, probably did not have a solution acceptable to both parties. Less than a year after the end of the war (February 22, 1946), George Frost Kennan, adviser to the US Embassy in the USSR, sent home the so-called "Long Telegram", where in eight thousand words he justified the need for a tough "hawkish" policy towards the USSR. The telegram gained a large-scale response and was very widely disseminated.
And finally, the inevitable conflict was declared openly by a person whose word carried real weight.
Winston Churchill and Harry Truman. Fulton, March 5, 1946
With the exception of British Commonwealth and the United States, where communism is in its infancy, communist parties, or fifth columns, are an ever-increasing challenge and danger to Christian civilization. All these are painful facts, which we have to speak about immediately after the victory won by such a magnificent comradeship in arms in the name of peace and democracy. But it would be highly unwise not to see them while there is still time.
Formally, at that time, the English politician did not hold any significant posts, he was the leader of the opposition, who visited the States as a purely private person. However, the speeches of figures of this level are not taken in vain, and interested people on both sides of the Atlantic understood its meaning quite correctly. Stalin's answer was not long in coming, it was just as unofficial in form, but also unambiguous.
Stalin and Churchill, still allies
Question. How do you rate last speech Mr. Churchill, uttered by him in the United States of America?
Answer. I regard it as a dangerous act calculated to sow the seeds of discord among the allied states and hinder their cooperation.
Answer. Certainly yes. In fact, Mr. Churchill is now in the position of warmongers. And Mr. Churchill is not alone here - he has friends not only in England, but also in the United States of America.
Interview with I.V. Stalin to the Pravda newspaper about Churchill's speech in Fulton, March 14, 1946.
However, there is a difference between words and deeds. The Siege of West Berlin in 1948-49 can be considered the actual end of the era of shaky reconciliation. Along the way, on June 11, 1948, the United States adopted the so-called "Vandenberg Resolution" - the official refusal of the United States from the practice of non-alignment with military-political blocs outside the Western Hemisphere in peacetime. On January 14, 1949, representatives of the US State Department openly declared that earlier it was more likely to be read between the lines or leaked from closed sources - that there was a threat to the security of Western Europe. It became obvious that the former allies have become in the full sense of the "former". So, having recently completed the Second World War, the world moved to the third.
On October 27, 1951, the famous American magazine Collier’s, in a special issue on 132 pages, described the plan of the third world war and the subsequent occupation of the USSR by the “forces of democracy”, primarily the United States, with the exact indication of dates, reasons, events, even the moods of people in the former Soviet territories.
Technically, the NATO bloc was created on April 4, 1949, with very harsh wording, especially in Article Five, according to which the participating countries were to provide each other with military assistance immediately and as if they themselves were attacked. In practice, at first it was more of a declaration, and it even acquired its familiar name only in September 1951. The union began as a kind of fiction, a global declaration of intent. However, two years after the founding of The North Atlantic Treaty Organization, it already had at its disposal a developed administration, a unified command and contingents of various branches of the armed forces, work was carried out to standardize weapons, organize exercises, etc. The political and legal phantom took shape very quickly.
Naturally, the USSR and its allies could not ignore the change in the balance of power and the emergence of a new threat. Moreover, despite the abstract nature of the definition of the future enemy, the founders of NATO did not make a secret - against whom the new military alliance was directed. Apparently the last straw was the events of October-December 1954, when at the sessions of the NATO Council, permission was adopted and legally formalized for the remilitarization of the FRG. The specter of armed Germany rose again in the middle of Europe.
Signing of the Warsaw Pact, 1955
The answer followed on May 14, 1955, at the Warsaw Conference of European States on Ensuring Peace and Security in Europe. The leaders of the USSR, the GDR, Poland, Czechoslovakia, Hungary, Bulgaria, Romania and Albania signed the "Treaty of Friendship, Cooperation and Mutual Assistance" for a period of 30 years (in 1985 the agreement was extended for another 20 years). The treaty entered into force on June 4, 1955, and the birth of a new military-political bloc took place. The wording of the Warsaw Pact regarding mutual defense was not as rigid as in the founding documents of the North Atlantic Alliance, but the essence of this did not change. NATO forces were now balanced by the adequate strength of the Warsaw Pact on the eastern side of the Iron Curtain. In any case, they are formally balanced, because the outcome of a hypothetical collision of two titans remains an unsolvable mystery.
The backbone of the ATS was certainly the USSR. The language of command was Russian. All the main documentation of the Department of Internal Affairs was also conducted in Russian. Of the five Commanders-in-Chiefs of the Joint Armed Forces of the countries participating in the Warsaw Pact, four were marshals of the Soviet Union (and one general of the army); of the six chiefs of staff of the United Armed Forces, all are generals of the USSR army.
Ivan Stepanovich Konev, the first commander of the combined armed forces of the ATS countries
Aleksey Innokentyevich Antonov, First Chief of Staff of the United Armed Forces of the ATS countries
Formally, the structure of the organization also included bodies not directly related to the planning and conduct of military operations. For example, the Political Advisory Committee, which brought together party leaders and ministers in order to develop a common strategy and attitude to world events / threats. However, just like the Western adversary, the Warsaw Pact was first and foremost a weapon of war. Possible war.
NATO and the Warsaw Pact
United Military establishment were completed and supplied from the Armed Forces of individual countries participating in the ATS. This process was streamlined and coordinated by bilateral agreements between the government of the USSR and the governments of the other participating countries. Here, as in the Soviet economy, there were "five-year plans" - the contracts were usually updated every five years, in accordance with the plans (again, five-year ones) for the development of the armed forces of individual countries. Since it was assumed that possible hostilities would not begin "immediately suddenly", in peacetime the United Armed Forces maintained only the most trained military units. For example, in the Polish Army, these were the Air Defense Forces of the country and units of the 1st operational echelon in full force. In the event of the outbreak of war (according to the protocols of 1955), Poland was to “put up” the Polish Front from three combined arms armies and one air army, which focused on covering the right flank of the main strike force Soviet army, as well as covering the sea coast from possible NATO landings.
From the armed forces of the USSR in peacetime, four Groups of Forces were allocated, located on the territory of the GDR, Czechoslovakia, Hungary, and Poland. In the mid 80s total strength these groups amounted to more than half a million employees of the Soviet Army.
Fighters of the NNA of the GDR and SA of the USSR. 1960s
As for the doctrine and, in general, the practical plans of the Joint Forces of the Internal Affairs Directorate in the event of a global conflict, here, unfortunately, we are faced with one big unknown ... This data for the most part continues to remain classified. In general, it can be said that initially the armed forces of the Internal Affairs Directorate were oriented towards strategic defense. Considering the damage suffered during the previous war, as well as the lag in nuclear potential, there was no need to wait otherwise. In addition, for the first 4–5 years, the Warsaw Pact, like NATO at the beginning of its existence, was more of a political declaration, and military structures were created along the way.
However, in the 1960s and beyond, as capabilities and nuclear arsenals grew, the emphasis began to change. First (on the example of Czechoslovakia), the tasks of tough offensive actions are "run in" during exercises. Already in 1960, the ChNA was "leading" a strategic offensive against the West with the task of fourth day reach the Stuttgart-Dachau line. And next year, during the exercises, an exit to France, to the Dijon-Lyon line, is already being worked out. And in 1964, the operational planning of the ChNA was brought into line with the tasks worked out during the exercises.
"Young growth" of the Department of Internal Affairs
Considering the few information that is in open (or relatively open) access, for example, declassified Polish materials, as well as the Czechoslovak experience cited above, we can conclude that the ATS Armed Forces were not at all complex about the scale and scope of possible military operations. The goals were supposed to be achieved by large-scale front-line operations, a strategic offensive on enemy territory. The use of nuclear weapons was postulated only as a retaliatory measure or a preemptive method in the event of a clear threat of an enemy attack (subsequently, the refusal to use preemptive use was declared, nuclear weapons were declared only as a means of retaliation).
But in general, the topic of practical military plans for the Department of Internal Affairs is still waiting for its researcher ...
Materials of the exercises "Granit-74", initial period wars over the GDR. NATO's first strike. The actual flight of aircraft to designate the "enemy" is shown by arrows from the airspace of the NDP.
Granite-74. Soviet scheme of real flights of aircraft denoting "enemy"
The history of the Warsaw Pact turned out to be not very long and (probably fortunately) scarce for bright events. Ironically, the structure that was supposed to fight world imperialism is known mainly for the "police" operation to quell the rebellion within the socialist coalition. However, the events in Czechoslovakia in 1968 are a topic for a completely private and very curious conversation...
As the intensity of the confrontation between the two irreconcilable titans decreased, the Soviet leadership saw less and less sense in maintaining a cumbersome militarized structure. The combined armed forces increasingly seemed like a relic of the passing times and a useless burden on the army and the economy. And after the fall of the Berlin Wall and the rapid - on the verge of flight - withdrawal of Soviet troops from Germany, the existence of the organization completely lost all meaning.
On July 1, 1991, the Protocol on the Termination of the Treaty was signed. The history of the Department of Internal Affairs ended with the history of the USSR.
The last meeting of the leaders of the military structures of the Warsaw Pact, 1991.
However, Russia continued to exist. And the world has remained the same - it still has enough challenges, opponents, and possible allies. Will we see the Russian Federation at the head, or at least as part of a new military-political association comparable in scale to the Warsaw Pact? Perhaps... The future will show.
Even during the Second World War, the Soviet Union was actively engaged in the formation of a circle of its future allies.
From the second half of 1943, when the fate of Nazi Germany was decided, and its defeat was only a matter of time, the Soviet leadership began to sign bilateral treaties with its allies.
PREREQUISITES FOR CREATING
Unlike Great Britain and the United States, which were military allies of the USSR, relations with the new Eastern European countries were built not only in the military field, but on a broader basis. The Soviet side tried to transfer its entire socio-political and socio-economic system to the countries of Eastern Europe - and, I must say, it was quite successful. By the end of the 1940s, pro-Soviet regimes were established in Poland, Czechoslovakia, Hungary, Bulgaria, Romania, Albania, as well as the Soviet zone of occupation of Germany. They were distinguished by the dominance of the communist parties in the political system (under various names - for example, the "Polish United Workers' Party" or the "Socialist Unity Party of Germany", which, however, did not change their essence), as well as the establishment of a state monopoly in the economy (though with the preservation in many cases of peasant farms and small businesses). Only Yugoslavia stood apart - also building socialism, but with its own specifics and its own charismatic leader Josip Broz Tito, who did not want to recognize the "leading and guiding role" of Stalin.
WARSAW MEETING
On May 11, 1955, representatives of the Soviet Union, the Polish People's Republic, the Czechoslovak Socialist Republic, the Hungarian People's Republic, the German Democratic Republic, the Socialist Republic of Romania, the People's Republic of Bulgaria and the People's Republic of Albania gathered for a meeting in the capital of Poland. A delegation of the People's Republic of China also attended as an observer. The meeting participants stated the need to take response measures to the creation of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) and the inclusion of West Germany in this bloc, as well as its remilitarization. It was noted that joint security and defense measures based on the bilateral treaties of 1943-1949 were already insufficient. As a result, on May 14, 1955, the Treaty of Friendship, Cooperation and Mutual Assistance between the USSR, Poland, Czechoslovakia, Hungary, East Germany, Romania, Bulgaria and Albania was signed in Warsaw.
CONTRACT
The goals of the Warsaw Pact were proclaimed to ensure the security of the member countries of the Treaty and the maintenance of peace in Europe. The treaty consisted of a preamble and 11 articles. The preamble formulated the goals of concluding the Warsaw Pact, and stated that the parties to the agreement would respect the independence and integrity of the allied states, not interfere in their internal affairs. The purely defensive nature of the Warsaw Pact was declared. The member states of the Warsaw Pact undertook, in accordance with the Charter of the United Nations, to refrain in their international relations from the threat or use of force, to settle disputes by peaceful means, and to consult among themselves on all important international questions affecting their common interests. We declared our readiness to take part in all international actions aimed at ensuring international peace and security, to seek the adoption of effective measures for the general reduction of armaments and the prohibition of weapons of mass destruction. Provided for the provision of immediate assistance by all means, including the use of armed force, in the event of an armed attack in Europe against one or more states party to the Treaty. The Warsaw Pact was concluded for 20 years with an automatic extension for a further 10 years for those states that do not denounce the Treaty one year before the expiration of this period. On April 26, 1985, the member states of the Warsaw Pact (with the exception of Albania, which denounced the treaty in 1968) signed in Warsaw a Protocol extending the validity of the Treaty of Friendship, Cooperation and Mutual Assistance.
In accordance with the Protocol, which entered into force on May 31, 1985, the Warsaw Pact was extended for 20 years with the possibility of a subsequent extension for another 10 years. However, reality corrected these plans. The beginning of perestroika in the USSR and socio-political transformations in other countries of Eastern Europe shook the ideological foundations on which the Warsaw Pact was built. The first "call" was the exit from the Department of Internal Affairs of the German Democratic Republic. On February 25, 1991, the member states of the Warsaw Pact Organization abolished its military structures, and on July 1, 1991 in Prague they signed the Protocol on complete cessation the operation of the Agreement.
To implement the goals and objectives of the Warsaw Pact, it provided for the creation of relevant political and military bodies, including the Political Consultative Committee and the Joint Command of the Armed Forces.
The Political Advisory Committee was the highest military-political body of the Warsaw Pact. It included the leaders of the communist parties of the participating countries, as well as heads of government, ministers of foreign affairs and defense. The task of the Political Consultative Committee was to develop a unified military-political strategy. The supreme military body of the ATS was the Committee of Defense Ministers. He dealt with the organization of joint military events: exercises, maneuvers, command and staff games, as well as interaction in the field of education and training of troops, standardization of charters and instructions, the introduction of new types of weapons, logistics support for troops, etc. More narrow and special issues assigned to the Technical Committee. He dealt with the problems of improving weapons and military equipment, as well as their standardization, which facilitates interaction on the battlefield and technical support. Another task of the Technical Committee was to determine the specialization in the production of weapons for individual countries participating in the ATS.
The direct command of the troops of the ATS countries was carried out by the Joint Command of the Armed Forces. It was headed by the commander of the United Armed Forces. This position has always been occupied by a representative of the USSR (in 1955-1960 - Marshal I. Konev, in 1960-1967 - Marshal A. Grechko, in 1967-1976 - Marshal I. Yakubovsky, in 1976-1989 - Marshal V. Kulikov , and, finally, in 1989-1991 - General of the Army P. Lushev). Other member states of the ATS were represented in the Joint Command by deputy commanders. Initially, these functions were performed by the ministers of defense, and since 1969, by the deputy ministers of defense.
UNITED ARMED FORCES
The composition of the contingents allocated by each country to the Joint Armed Forces was determined, as a rule, by bilateral agreements with the USSR, revised every five years. The most trained units and formations of constant combat readiness were allocated to the Joint Armed Forces. As of 1990 from the USSR they included:
- Western Group of Forces (on the territory of the GDR): 1st and 2nd tank, 3.8th and 20th combined arms armies (three to four divisions each);
- the Central Group of Forces (in Czechoslovakia) - two tank and three motorized rifle divisions;
- Northern Group of Forces (in Poland) - one tank and one motorized rifle division);
- Southern Group of Forces (in Hungary) - two tank and two motorized rifle divisions. The Polish Army was represented by the 1st, 2nd and 4th combined arms armies(the first two - five divisions each, the last - three) and two reserve divisions - a total of 15 divisions, including five tank divisions. Czechoslovakia allocated the 1st and 4th combined arms armies (four to five divisions each) and the 2nd reserve army (six divisions) - a total of 15 divisions, including six tank divisions. National people's army The GDR fielded the 3rd and 5th combined-arms armies (three divisions) and five reserve divisions in the Joint Armed Forces - a total of 11 divisions, of which two were tank divisions. Bulgaria was represented by the 1st, 2nd and 3rd combined arms armies (three divisions each) - a total of nine divisions. Romania - 2nd and 3rd combined arms armies (four divisions each) - a total of eight divisions, including two tank divisions. Finally, Hungary fielded six divisions.
COMBAT TRAINING AND COMBAT USE
Within the framework of the ATS, joint command-staff and military exercises and maneuvers were carried out. The exercises were conducted on the territory of all countries included in the ATS. Among the largest were exercises code-named "Quartet" (1963), "October Storm" (1965), "Rhodopes" (1967), "Dnepr" (1967), "North" (1968), "Brotherhood in Arms" (1970), "West-81" (1981), "Shield-82" (1982). In particular, in May 1967, Operation Rhodopes was carried out - a demonstration of the military presence of the Warsaw Pact countries in the border regions of Bulgaria with Greece, carried out in view of the military coup in Greece and formalized as joint military exercises of the armed forces of the USSR, the NRB, the SRR. The only real military operation carried out by the Joint Armed Forces of the Internal Affairs Directorate was the operation "Danube" - the introduction ATS troops on the territory of Czechoslovakia to suppress the "Prague Spring". Along with the Soviet troops, the 2nd Army of the Polish Army and the Hungarian 8th Motorized Rifle Division, as well as a small group of servicemen of the GDR army, participated in it.
2615
On May 14, 1955, the Treaty of Friendship, Cooperation and Mutual Assistance was signed in Warsaw. The document was signed by representatives of eight states: Albania, Bulgaria, Hungary, East Germany, Poland, Romania, the USSR and Czechoslovakia. Its signing formalized the creation of a military-political union of European socialist states - the Warsaw Pact Organization (OVD). The organization was created as a counterbalance to the Western military bloc NATO, aimed against the countries of the socialist camp.
The main goals of the Warsaw Treaty Organization were proclaimed to be the security of the countries participating in the treaty and the maintenance of peace in Europe. The treaty consisted of a general introductory part and 11 articles and obligated the states included in the bloc to refrain from the use of force in their international relations. However, in the event of an attack on any of the participants, the rest had to immediately provide him with military assistance.
In addition, members of the ATS pledged to act in a spirit of friendship and partnership in order to mutually strengthen economic and cultural ties on the principles of respect for independence, sovereignty and non-interference in the internal affairs of a friend. It is worth noting that membership in the Warsaw Pact was not always voluntary, and attempts by individual countries to withdraw from it were quite severely suppressed.
The Political Consultative Committee (PAC) became the supreme body of the ATS. It was authorized to consult and consider questions arising from the implementation of the Treaty. As a rule, the heads of governments of the countries belonging to the ATS took part in its meetings.
In order to ensure the interaction of the armed forces of the ATS states, the Joint Command of the Armed Forces was created, which was to be led by the Commander-in-Chief (the headquarters was in Moscow). Such commanders-in-chief at different times were Marshals of the Soviet Union I. Konev, A. Grechko, I. Yakubovsky, V. Kulikov, General of the Army P. Lushev.
The Warsaw Pact helped consolidate the political outcome of World War II and became a kind of platform for post-war development. Both military and political sides were present in the activities of the Department of Internal Affairs. Close political interaction helped the participating states to solve many national and international problems. It is worth adding that joint command-staff and military exercises were held on the territory of all participating countries.
The intelligence agencies of the ATS countries constantly coordinated their actions with each other, and in 1979 a secret project of the global electronic intelligence system - SOUD was implemented, which included the means of electronic and space intelligence of the USSR, Bulgaria, Hungary, Poland, Czechoslovakia, the GDR, as well as those not included to the Warsaw Pact of Vietnam, Mongolia and Cuba.
The Warsaw Pact organization existed until the early 1990s. Albania ceased participation in the activities of the Department of Internal Affairs in 1962, and in 1968 formally withdrew from it - after the entry of the Department of Internal Affairs into Czechoslovakia. In 1990, the Organization's military organs were abolished. On July 1, 1991, in Prague, representatives of the USSR, Bulgaria, Hungary, Poland, Romania and Czechoslovakia signed a protocol on the final termination of the Warsaw Pact.
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- Soviet anti-American poster. From the collection of Sergo Grigoryan, . The proposed selection of posters is entirely devoted to one of the most pressing political and social life - anti-Americanism. Cold War, confrontation of systems, imperialist…
- Soviet anti-American poster. From the collection of Sergo Grigoryan. Second edition, . "The proposed selection of posters is entirely dedicated to one of the hot topics our political and public life to anti-Americanism. Cold War, confrontation of systems, ...