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Library ofParliament
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THE WARSAW PACT
Michel RossignolPolitical andSocialAffairs Division
22 December1988
ResearchBranch
MR-32E
The Research Branch of the Library of Parliament worksexclusively for Parliament, conducting research and providinginformation for Commfttees and Members of the Senate and theHouse of Commons. This service is extended without partisanbias in such forms as Reports, Background Papers and IssueReviews. Research Officers in the Branch are also available forpersonal consultation in their respective fields of expertise.
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BIBLIOTHEQUE DU PARLEMENT
THE WARSAWPACT
ORIGINS AND MEMBERSHIP
The Warsaw Pact was formed when the Soviet Union, Albania,
Bulgaria, Czechoslovakia, Hungary, the German Democratic Republic (GDR),
Poland and Rornania signed the Warsaw Treaty of Friendship, Cooperation and
Mutual Assistance on 14 May 1955. After the Second World War, the Soviet
Union had signed bilateral treaties of friendship and mutual assistance
with each of its East European satellites, but it decided to supplement
these with a multilateral agreement in reaction to the 1954 Paris agreement
between the Western powers which admitted West Germany into NATO. As well
as establishing a unified military command and providing for the mainte-
nance of Soviet forces in the member states, the Warsaw Treaty allowed the
Soviet leadership to strengthen its hold over the East European satel-
lites. Although articles 4 and 8 of the Treaty exclude interventions by
Pact forces to quell a civil war in member states or to deal with anything
other than an enemy attack, Soviet and Pact troops marched into Hungary in
1956 and Czechoslovakia in 1968 to restore Soviet control.Of the original signatories, only Albania which took a pro-
China stand in the Sino—Soviet dispute, has left the Pact, curtailing its
participation in 1962 and formally ending it in 1968 to protest Soviet
intervention in Czechoslovakia. Apart from Albania’s departure and a
short-lived repudiation of the Treaty by Hungary during the 1956 uprising,
the Pact’s membership has not changed. Article 9 of the Treaty allows any
country to join, regardless of its form of government, but the Pact remains
a Soviet dominated grouping of East European states preoccupied with
defence coordination.
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ORGANIZATION
The Pact accelerated the standardization on the Soviet model
of the armed forces of the East European countries undertaken in the early
195Os and made the Soviet Union the main weapons supplier of the alliance.
It also established committees for mutual consultations and set up a joint
command structure. The main political body of the Warsaw Pact is the
Political Consultative Committee (PCC) where delegations from member states
led by the General Secretary of the Comunist Party meet to consult on
general policy or a crisis situation. Although the PCC was intended to
meet twice a year, the frequency of its meetings has varied considerably.
Between 1972 and 1985, meetings took place every second year, but since
1985, the PCC has met annually. Pact leaders, however, also hold summit
meetings which are not formally described as PCC meetings. The Treaty does
not spell out how decisions are reached, but they are presented as being
unanimous. Other political committees include the Committee of Defence
Ministers and the Committee of Foreign Ministers established in 1969 and
1976 respectively. There is also a Joint Secretariat which was
reinstituted in 1976 following a period of inactivity. On the military
side, there is the Military Council composed of national Chiefs of Staff or
Deputy Ministers of Defence which meets twice a year, the Technical
Committee of the Joint Armed Forces, the Joint Command of the Armed Forces
and the Combined General Staff headquartered in Moscow. Although a
consultative process was established, the preeminent position of the Soviet
military and Soviet security considerations is demonstrated by the fact
that the Commander-in-Chief of the Pact forces has always been a Soviet
officer.
CURRENTSITUATION
The Warsaw Treaty was signed for an initial period of 20
years followed by an automatic 10-year extension. The Treaty was renewed
in April 1985 for another 20—year period with an option for an additional10 years. The terms of the Treaty were not changed and the Warsaw Pact
remains the Soviet Bloc’s answer to the NATO alliance on both the military
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and diplomatic levels. Warsaw Pact forces, including Soviet forces based
on the territory of its allies, confront NATO forces on the central front
in Western Europe in keeping with the defensive character of the Treaty,
although the Pact’s superiority, at least in terms of numbers, and its
emphasis on offensive operations have always been of concern to NATO
countries. On the diplomatic front, Warsaw Pact representatives have
participated with their NATO counterparts in the Mutual and Balanced Force
Reductions (MBFR) negotiations since 1973 and in the 35-nation Conference
on Security and Cooperation in Europe (CSCE).
Summit and PCC meetings have often been used to present the
Soviet Bloc’s arms control and disarmament proposals. The May 1987 meeting
of the PCC proposed substantial cuts in force levels by both East and West,
but also recognized the need for asymmetrical reductions. At their summit
meeting in Warsaw on 15-16 July 1988, the Warsaw Pact leaders adopted
resolutions which called for comprehensive talks with NATO on the reduction
of conventional forces, a freeze on military spending, moratoriums on
nuclear testing and chemical-arms production and negotiations on the
reduction of battlefield nuclear weapons. It is clear, however, that the
agenda of the Pact’s meetings is set by the preeminent partner, the Soviet
Union, and that the Warsaw Pact’s proposals reflect above all the Soviet
position. By the same token, there is no doubt that the Warsaw Pact
members support Soviet troop reduction proposals made outside the context
of the Pact such as Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev’s 7 December 1988
announcement at the United Nations General Assembly concerning the
reduction of Soviet forces by 500,000 men and the withdrawal of 5,000
Soviet tanks from Eastern Europe.
While the Warsaw Pact still maintains a common front on
security issues, relations within the alliance are not without tensions.
Romania has been a recalcitrant member in recent years and refuses to allow
Soviet troops on its soil. Relations between Romania and Hungary dete-
riorated seriously in early 1988 due to renewed complaints by Hungary
concerning the treatment of ethnic Hungarians in Romania. The biggest
problem facing the East European regimes in the Warsaw Pact, however, is
how to respond to the push towards economic reform and democratization in
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the Soviet Union led by Mikhail Gorbachev. Indeed, the relationship
between the Soviet Union and its satellites is changing significantly.
Gorbachev’s speech in Prague in April 1987 and other
statements appear to repudiate the Brezhnev Doctrine, which has guided
Soviet relations with its satellites since 1968. Shortly before the
invasion of Czechoslovakia in 1968, Soviet leader Brezhnev had reiterated
the Soviet Union’s control over Eastern Europe and had justified its right
to intervene in the affairs of its satellites. Recent statements by
Mikhail Gorbachev, however, imply that the Soviet Union is no longer
claiming complete supremacy over Eastern Europe and is inviting the regimes
in the area to undertake reforms. The satellite regimes, especially those
who in the past received strong Soviet support for their hard-line stand
against demands for liberalization, were hesitant at first, but most have
welcomed developments in the Soviet Union and have undertaken similar
reforms. Besides, the Soviet Union is not the only Warsaw Pact country
facing economic difficulties and growing public demands for social and
political reforms. Indeed, the East European regimes of the Warsaw Pact
can only welcome proposals for armed forces reductions and the easing of
East-West tensions at a time when they need to increase trade with the West
to bolster their weak economies and to reduce military spending to free
resources for economic and social development.
SELECTED BIBLIOGRAPHY
Braun, Aurel. “Whither the Warsaw Pact in the Gorbachev Era? Interna-tional Journal. Vol. 43, No. 1, Winter 1987-88, p. 63-105.
Clauson, Robert, and Lawrence Kaplan, (eds.). The Warsaw Pact: PoliticalPurpose and Military Means. Scholarly Resources, Wilmington,Delaware, 1982, 297 p.
Holloway, David, and Jane Sharp (eds.). The Warsaw Pact. Alliance inTransition? Macmillan Press, New York, 1984, 290 p.
Mason, David. “Glasnost, Perestroika and Eastern Europe.” InternationalAffairs. Vol. 64, Summer 1988, p. 431-48.
Staar, Richard. “The Warsaw Treaty Organization”. Current History,Vol. 86, November 1987, p. 357-60.
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APPENDIX 1
Warsaw Pact Forces in July 1987 according to InternationalInstitute of Strategic Studies, The Military Balance1987-1988
TotalRegular
Army Navy Air Force Forces
USSR Strategic ForcesUSSR Air Defence ForceUSSR railway constructionand labour troops, commandand support troops
USSR Total
298,000520,000
Bulgaria 110,000 8,800 34,000 152,800
Czechoslovakia 145,000 56,000 201,00
GermanDemocraticRepublic 120,000 16,000 40,000 176,000
Hungary 84,500 22,000 106,000
Poland 230,000 19,000 80,000 394,000
Romania 140,000 7,500 32,000 179,000
USSR 2,000,000 477,000 454,000 2,931,000
1 ,477 ,000
5,226,600
APPENDIX 2
Extract from NATO document Conventional Forces in Europe:The Facts, November 1988.
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PERSONNEL
Covers full-time military personnel o~ Land Forces,including Army personnel who perform ground-based air defenceduties. Also included are Command and General Support troops andOther Ministry of Defence troops. • Paramilitary forces are
. excluded. .
Country NationalTotals
Country NationalTotals
BELGIUM 68,000 BULGARIA 135,000
CANADA 5,000 CSSR 145,000.
DENMARK . 20,540 GDR 120,000
FRANCE 267,000 HUNGARY 80,000
GERMA.NY 351,800 POLAND 230,000
GREECE 116,990 ROMANIA 180,000
ICELAND — USSR 2,200,000
ITALY 297,000
LUXEMBOURG 695
NETHERLANDS 68,000
NORWAY ~ 25,059
PORTUGAL 46,949
SPAIN 210,000
TURKEY 380,000 .
UNITED KINGDOM 140,560 .
..
UNITED STATES 216,000
LIBRARY OF PARLIAMENTBIBLIOTHEQUE DU PARLEMENT
PERSONNEL(Ground Forces)
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