History UsefulNotes / WarsawPact

The Warsaw Treaty of Friendship, Cooperation and Mutual Assistance, better known as the Warsaw Pact in the West (it used to be known as the Warsaw Treaty Organization too, but that name has now disappeared due to a more famous organization taking the acronym), was a military defense alliance of the [[UsefulNotes/SovietRussiaUkraineAndSoOn USSR]] and its European satellite states. It was pretty much formed as a direct response to UsefulNotes/{{NATO}}.

* [[UsefulNotes/CzechRepublic Czech]]o[[{{UsefulNotes/Slovakia}} slovakia]]

The Warsaw Treaty of Friendship, Cooperation and Mutual Assistance, better known as the Warsaw Pact in the West (it used to be known as the Warsaw Treaty Organization too, but that name has now disappeared due to a more famous organization taking the acronym), was a military defense alliance of the USSR and its European satellite states. It was pretty much formed as a direct response to UsefulNotes/{{NATO}}.

Accordingly, it's a good place for us to discuss Central and Eastern Europe as CommieLand.

* {{UsefulNotes/Poland}}

* {{UsefulNotes/Hungary}}
* {{UsefulNotes/Romania}}
* {{UsefulNotes/Bulgaria}}

[[caption-width-right:300:''[[PuppetState Alliance]] of [[RedsWithRockets Peace]] and [[CommieLand Socialism]] - Warsaw Pact'']]

* Several episodes of ''Series/MacGyver'' have Mac treading the territory of WP countries. A notable one involves Mac trying to smuggle out a dissident from Czechoslovakia's capital of Prague.

* ''Film/FromRussiaWithLove'' had some Bulgarian [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Committee_for_State_Security DS]] agents preforming counter-espionage on [=MI6=]'s Istanbul division for the Soviets.
* The first third of ''Film/TheLivingDaylights'' was set in Bratislava, Czechoslovakia ([[CaliforniaDoubling doubled]] by Vienna, Austria) and featured incursions with the Czech [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ve%C5%99ejn%C3%A1_bezpe%C4%8Dnost police]] and [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Czechoslovak_Armed_Forces army]].

* It is a card event in ''TabletopGame/TwilightStruggle''. It's existence usually dissuades US forays into Eastern Europe until it is played, and is one of two cards that allows "UsefulNotes/{{NATO}}" to be played (the other being "Marshall Plan").

[[caption-width-right:300:''[[WeAreStrugglingTogether Alliance]] of [[RedsWithRockets Peace]] and [[CommieLand Socialism]] - Warsaw Pact'']]

* ''Film/FromRussiaWithLove'' had some Bulgarian [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Committee_for_State_Security DS]] agents preforming counter-espionage on MI6's Istanbul division for the Soviets.

[[caption-width-right:300:''[[WeAreStrugglingTogether Alliance]] of [[RedsWithRockets Peace]] and Socialism - Warsaw Pact'']]

[[caption-width-right:300:''[[WeAreStrugglingTogether Alliance]] of Peace and Socialism - Warsaw Pact'']]

A lot of works called into question the reliability of the non-Soviet Warsaw Pact members in an offensive war against NATO. The general answer would be as long as the Soviets were successful, the loyalty of the Warsaw Pact nations would certainly be assured. Even then, the Soviets would had to take some measures to avoid the Pact from unreliability, like not having East Germans fight West Germans, having Poles fight British or American troops, and using a Soviet formation in between two Pact armies.

For most of the UsefulNotes/ColdWar, the conventional military balance in Europe was in favor of the Warsaw Pact from the 1950s to the late 1980s, a imbalance which was off-set by NATO's nuclear superiority until the Soviets [[UsefulNotes/FromRussiaWithNukes achieved rough parity]] in the late-60s. From the mid-80s on, the introduction of various emerging "information age" technologies for military use swung the balance to the West. The plans for WorldWarThree were to go on the offensive immediately, in case of attack. The Warsaw Pact ''never'' planned to strike first. Neither did NATO for that matter. This meant that a Third World War could only have been started by accident. But neither side knew this, and often assumed that the other was preparing to strike first.

[[caption-width-right:300:''Alliance of Peace and Socialism - Warsaw Pact'']]

The states of the WarsawPact were:

With UsefulNotes/HoleInFlag, the WarsawPact collapsed.

For most of the UsefulNotes/ColdWar, the conventional military balance in Europe was in favor of the Warsaw Pact from the 1950s to the late 1980s, a imbalance which was off-set by NATO's nuclear superiority until the Soviets [[UsefulNotes/FromRussiaWithNukes achieved rough parity]] in the late-60s. From the mid-80s on, the introduction of various emerging "information age" technologies for military use swung the balance to the West. The plans for WorldWarThree were to go on the offensive immediately, in case of attack. The WarsawPact ''never'' planned to strike first. Neither did NATO for that matter. This meant that a Third World War could only have been started by accident. But neither side knew this, and often assumed that the other was preparing to strike first.

!!The WarsawPact and its member states in fiction:

For most of the UsefulNotes/ColdWar, the conventional military balance in Europe was in favor of the Warsaw Pact from the 1950s to the late 1980s, a imbalance which was off-set by NATO's nuclear superiority until the Soviets [[MnogoNukes achieved rough parity]] in the late-60s. From the mid-80s on, the introduction of various emerging "information age" technologies for military use swung the balance to the West. The plans for WorldWarThree were to go on the offensive immediately, in case of attack. The WarsawPact ''never'' planned to strike first. Neither did NATO for that matter. This meant that a Third World War could only have been started by accident. But neither side knew this, and often assumed that the other was preparing to strike first.

* An East German tank regiment shows up in the ''VideoGame/FlashpointCampaigns'' scenario ''A Thin Tan Line'', where they attack a British battalion defending an important town.

* An East German tank regiment shows up in ''VideoGame/FlashpointCampaigns'' scenario ''A Thin Tan Line'', where they are committed against a British force defending an important town.

With HoleInFlag, the WarsawPact collapsed.

* [[SovietRussiaUkraineAndSoOn USSR]]

In fiction, the existence of Warsaw Pact members other than the Soviet Union and East Germany is often ignored. Especially in [[SpyFiction Spy Dramas]]. Commie spies will almost invariably be Russian. Their home country will nearly always be depicted like Russia. You won't see the warm, almost-Mediterranean climate of southern Bulgaria, nor the medieval architecture of Prague (unless it's meant to be a crossover with UberWald).