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THE WARSAW PACT

Michel RossignolPolitical andSocialAffairs Division

22 December1988

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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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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

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PERSONNEL(Ground Forces)

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