Editing Warsaw Pact (section)

===Beginnings===
[[File:Pałac Prezydencki w Warszawie korpus główny 2019.jpg|thumb|right|<!-- DO NOT ADD A DIFFERENT PHOTO. The horse monument was put on the square only in 1960s -->The [[Presidential Palace, Warsaw|Presidential Palace]] in [[Warsaw]], Poland, where the Warsaw Pact was established and signed on 14 May 1955.]]
[[File:Warsaw Pact 1955.jpg|thumb|right|Conference during which the Pact was established and signed.]]
Before the creation of the Warsaw Pact, the Czechoslovak leadership, fearful of a re-militarized West Germany, sought to create a security pact with East Germany and Poland.<ref name="Laurien Crump Routledge page 21-22" /> These states protested strongly against the re-militarization of [[West Germany]].<ref>{{cite book |title=Europa dwudziestego wieku: zarys historii politycznej |language=pl |trans-title=Outline of the Political History of Twentieth-Century Europe |author-first=Antoni |author-last=Czubiński |author-link=Antoni Czubiński |publisher=Wydawnictwo Poznańskie |date=1998 |page=298 |isbn=9788386138708}}</ref> The Warsaw Pact was put in place as a consequence of the [[rearmament of West Germany|rearming of West Germany]] inside [[NATO]]. Soviet leaders, like many European leaders on both sides of the [[Iron Curtain]], feared Germany being once again a military power and a direct threat. The consequences of [[German militarism]] remained a fresh memory among the Soviets and Eastern Europeans.<ref name="History Channel 1" /><ref name="History Channel 2" /><ref>{{cite book |title=World Politics: The Menu for Choice |page=87 |author1-first=Bruce |author1-last=Russett |author1-link=Bruce Russett|author2-first=Harvey |author2-last=Starr |author3-first=David |author3-last=Kinsella |date=2009 |isbn=9780495410683 |publisher=[[Cengage Learning]]|quote=The Warsaw Pact was established in 1955 as a response to West Germany's entry into NATO; German militarism was still a recent memory among the Soviets and East Europeans.}}</ref><ref>"When the Federal Republic of Germany entered NATO in early May 1955, the Soviets feared the consequences of a strengthened NATO and a rearmed West Germany". Citation from:{{cite web|last1=United States Department of State|first1=Office of the Historian|title=The Warsaw Treaty Organization, 1955|url=https://history.state.gov/milestones/1953-1960/warsaw-treaty|website=Office of the Historian|publisher=history.state.gov|access-date=24 December 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151128050302/http://history.state.gov/milestones/1953-1960/warsaw-treaty|archive-date=28 November 2015|url-status=live|author1-link=United States Department of State}}</ref><ref>"1955: After objecting to Germany's admission into [[NATO]], the [[Soviet Union]] joins [[Albania]], [[Bulgaria]], [[Czechoslovakia]], East Germany, Hungary, Poland and Romania in forming the Warsaw Pact.". See chronology in:{{cite news|url=https://www.cbc.ca/news/world/fast-facts-about-nato-1.778864|date=6 April 2009|title=Fast facts about NATO|publisher=[[CBC News]]|access-date=16 July 2011|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120504110549/http://www.cbc.ca/news/world/story/2009/04/03/f-nato-fast-facts.html|archive-date=4 May 2012|url-status=live}}</ref> As the Soviet Union already had an [[Soviet Empire|armed presence and political domination]] all over its eastern [[satellite state]]s by 1955, the pact has been long considered "superfluous",<ref>Laurien Crump (2015). ''The Warsaw Pact Reconsidered: International Relations in Eastern Europe, 1955–1969''. Routledge. p. 17</ref> and because of the rushed way in which it was conceived, NATO officials labeled it a "cardboard castle".<ref>Laurien Crump (2015). ''The Warsaw Pact Reconsidered: International Relations in Eastern Europe, 1955–1969''. Routledge. p. 1.</ref>

[[File:Iron Curtain map.svg|thumb|left|The Iron Curtain (black line)
{{legend|#FF8282|Warsaw Pact countries}}
{{legend|#004990|[[NATO]] countries (May 1982 to October 1990)}}
{{legend|#C0C0C0|Militarily [[neutral countries]]}}
{{legend|#57D557|[[Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia|Yugoslavia]], member of the [[Non-Aligned Movement]]<hr />}}
The black dot represents [[West Berlin]], an [[enclave]] aligned with [[West Germany]]. [[People's Socialist Republic of Albania|Albania]] withheld its support to the Warsaw Pact in 1961 due to the [[Soviet–Albanian split]] and formally withdrew in 1968.]]

The USSR, fearing the restoration of German militarism in West Germany, had suggested in 1954 that it join NATO, but this was rejected by the US.<ref name="soviet request nato" /><ref>"1954: Soviet Union suggests it should join NATO to preserve peace in Europe. [[United States|U.S.]] and [[United Kingdom|U.K.]] reject this". See chronology in:{{cite news|url=https://www.cbc.ca/news/world/fast-facts-about-nato-1.778864|date=6 April 2009|title=Fast facts about NATO|publisher=[[CBC News]]|access-date=16 July 2011|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120504110549/http://www.cbc.ca/news/world/story/2009/04/03/f-nato-fast-facts.html|archive-date=4 May 2012|url-status=live}}</ref><ref name="soviet request nato frus" />

The Soviet request to join NATO arose in the aftermath of the [[Berlin Conference (1954)|Berlin Conference]] of January–February 1954. Soviet foreign minister [[Vyacheslav Molotov|Molotov]] made proposals to have [[German reunification|Germany reunified]]{{sfn|Molotov|1954a|pp=197, 201}} and elections for a pan-German government,{{sfn|Molotov|1954a|p=202}} under conditions of withdrawal of the [[Allied Control Council|four powers]]' armies and German neutrality,{{sfn|Molotov|1954a|pp=197–198, 203, 212}} but all were refused by the other foreign ministers, [[John Foster Dulles|Dulles]] (US), [[Anthony Eden|Eden]] (UK), and [[Georges Bidault|Bidault]] (France).{{sfn|Molotov|1954a|pp=211–212, 216}} Proposals for the reunification of Germany were nothing new: earlier on 20 March 1952, talks about a German reunification, initiated by the so-called '[[Stalin Note]]', ended after the [[United Kingdom]], [[France]], and the United States insisted that a unified Germany should not be neutral and should be free to join the [[European Defence Community]] (EDC) and rearm. [[James Clement Dunn|James Dunn]] (US), who met in [[Paris]] with Eden, [[Konrad Adenauer]] (West Germany), and [[Robert Schuman]] (France), affirmed that "the object should be to avoid discussion with the Russians and to press on the European Defense Community".<ref>{{cite book |last=Steininger |first=Rolf |author-link=Rolf Steininger |date=1991 |title=The German Question: The Stalin Note of 1952 and the Problem of Reunification |publisher=[[Columbia University Press]] |page=56}}</ref> According to [[John Lewis Gaddis|John Gaddis]], "there was little inclination in Western capitals to explore this offer" from the USSR,<ref>{{cite book |last=Gaddis |first=John |author-link=John Lewis Gaddis|date=1997 |title=We Now Know: Rethinking Cold War History |publisher=[[Clarendon Press]] |page=126 |isbn=9780198780700 |url=https://www.google.com/books/edition/We_Now_Know/rZLtAAAAMAAJ?hl=en&gbpv=1&bsq=little%20inclination}}</ref> while historian [[Rolf Steininger]] asserts that Adenauer's conviction that "neutralization means [[sovietization]]", referring to the Soviet Union's policies towards Finland known as [[finlandization]], was the main factor in the rejection of the Soviet proposals.<ref>{{cite book |last=Steininger |first=Rolf |date=1991 |title=The German Question: The Stalin Note of 1952 and the Problem of Reunification |publisher=Columbia University Press |page=80}}</ref> Adenauer also feared that German unification might have resulted in the end of the CDU's leading political role in the West German Bundestag.<ref>{{cite book |last=Steininger |first=Rolf |date=1991 |title=The German Question: The Stalin Note of 1952 and the Problem of Reunification |publisher=Columbia University Press |page=103}}</ref>

Consequently, Molotov, fearing that the EDC would be directed in the future against the USSR and "seeking to prevent the formation of groups of European States directed against the other European States",<ref name="molotov proposal europe" /> made a proposal for a General European Treaty on Collective Security in Europe "open to all European States without regard to their social systems",<ref name="molotov proposal europe" /> which would have included the unified Germany (thus rendering the EDC obsolete). But Eden, Dulles, and Bidault opposed the proposal.{{sfn|Molotov|1954a|p=214}}

One month later, the proposed European Treaty was rejected not only by supporters of the EDC, but also by Western opponents of the European Defence Community (like French [[Gaullist]] leader [[Gaston Palewski]]) who perceived it as "unacceptable in its present form because it excludes the USA from participation in the collective security system in Europe".<ref name="molotov proposal nato" /> The Soviets then decided to make a new proposal to the governments of the US, UK, and France to accept the participation of the US in the proposed General European Agreement.<ref name="molotov proposal nato" /> As another argument deployed against the Soviet proposal was that it was perceived by Western powers as "directed against the North Atlantic Pact and its liquidation",<ref name="molotov proposal nato" />{{sfn|Molotov|1954a|p=216}} the Soviets decided to declare their "readiness to examine jointly with other interested parties the question of the participation of the USSR in the North Atlantic bloc", specifying that "the admittance of the USA into the General European Agreement should not be conditional on the three Western powers agreeing to the USSR joining the North Atlantic Pact".<ref name="molotov proposal nato" />
Again, all Soviet proposals, including the request to join NATO, were rejected by the UK, US, and French governments shortly after.<ref name="soviet request nato frus" /><ref name="soviet request nato reply" /> Emblematic was the position of British General [[Hastings Ismay, 1st Baron Ismay|Hastings Ismay]], a fierce supporter of [[Enlargement of NATO|NATO expansion]]. He opposed the request to join NATO made by the USSR in 1954<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.theguardian.com/world/2001/jun/17/russia.iantraynor|title=Soviets tried to join Nato in 1954|author-first=Ian |author-last=Traynor|work=[[The Guardian]]|date=17 June 2001|access-date=18 December 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170216223602/https://www.theguardian.com/world/2001/jun/17/russia.iantraynor|archive-date=16 February 2017|url-status=live}}</ref> saying that "the Soviet request to join NATO is like an unrepentant burglar requesting to join the police force"<!-- punctuation in original -->.<ref name="soviet request nato note" />

In April 1954, Adenauer made his first visit to the United States, meeting [[Richard Nixon|Nixon]], [[Dwight D. Eisenhower|Eisenhower]], and [[John Foster Dulles|Dulles]]. Ratification of the EDC was delayed but the US representatives made it clear to Adenauer that the EDC would have to become a part of NATO.{{sfn|Adenauer|1966a|p=662}}

Memories of the Nazi occupation were still strong, and the rearmament of Germany was feared by France too.<ref name="History Channel 2" /><ref name="EDC refusal" /> On 30 August 1954, the French Parliament rejected the EDC, thus ensuring its failure<ref name="EDC failure" /> and blocking a major objective of US policy towards Europe: to associate West Germany militarily with the West.<ref name="Alternatives to EDC" /> The US Department of State started to elaborate alternatives: West Germany would be invited to join NATO or, in the case of French obstructionism, strategies to circumvent a French veto would be implemented in order to obtain German rearmament outside NATO.<ref name="german rearmament" />

[[File:ParkPatriot2015part4-12.jpg|thumb|left|A typical Soviet military jeep [[UAZ-469]], used by most countries of the Warsaw Pact]]

On [[London and Paris Conferences|23 October 1954]], the admission of the Federal Republic of Germany to the North Atlantic Pact was finally decided. The incorporation of West Germany into the organization on 9 May 1955 was described as "a decisive turning point in the history of our continent" by [[Halvard Lange]], [[Minister of Foreign Affairs (Norway)|Foreign Affairs Minister of Norway]] at the time.<ref>{{cite news|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/may/9/newsid_2519000/2519979.stm|title=West Germany accepted into Nato|work=BBC News|date=9 May 1955|access-date=17 January 2012|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120106185539/http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/may/9/newsid_2519000/2519979.stm|archive-date=6 January 2012|url-status=live}}</ref> In November 1954, the USSR requested a new European Security Treaty,<ref>{{cite book |title=Indivisible Germany: Illusion or Reality? |author-first=James H. |author-last=Wolfe |publisher=[[Springer Science & Business Media]] |year=2012 |page=73}}</ref> in order to make a final attempt to not have a remilitarized West Germany potentially opposed to the Soviet Union, with no success.

On 14 May 1955, the USSR and seven other Eastern European countries "reaffirming their desire for the establishment of a system of European collective security based on the participation of all European states irrespective of their social and political systems"<ref name="warsaw treaty text" /> established the Warsaw Pact in response to the integration of the Federal Republic of Germany into NATO,<ref name="History Channel 1" /><ref name="NATO short history" /> declaring that: "a remilitarized Western Germany and the integration of the latter in the North-Atlantic bloc [...] increase the danger of another war and constitutes a threat to the national security of the peaceable states; [...] in these circumstances the peaceable European states must take the necessary measures to safeguard their security".<ref name="warsaw treaty text" />

One of the pact's founding members, [[East Germany]], was allowed to re-arm by the Soviet Union and the [[National People's Army]] was established as the armed forces of the country to counter the rearmament of West Germany.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.economist.com/europe/2012/10/13/no-shooting-please-were-german|title=No shooting please, we're German|newspaper=[[The Economist]]|date=13 October 2012|access-date=23 August 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180823210307/https://www.economist.com/europe/2012/10/13/no-shooting-please-were-german|archive-date=23 August 2018|url-status=live}}</ref>

The USSR concentrated on its own recovery, seizing and transferring most of Germany's industrial plants, and it exacted [[World War II reparations|war reparations]] from East Germany, [[People's Republic of Hungary|Hungary]], [[People's Republic of Romania|Romania]], and [[People's Republic of Bulgaria|Bulgaria]] using Soviet-dominated joint enterprises. It also instituted trading arrangements deliberately designed to favour the country. Moscow controlled the Communist parties that ruled the satellite states, and they followed orders from the Kremlin. Historian Mark Kramer concludes: "The net outflow of resources from eastern Europe to the Soviet Union was approximately $15 billion to $20 billion in the first decade after World War II, an amount roughly equal to the total aid provided by the United States to western Europe under the [[Marshall Plan]]."<ref>{{cite book |author-first=Mark |author-last=Kramer |author-link=Mark Kramer (journalist)|contribution=The Soviet Bloc and the Cold War in Europe |editor-first=Klaus | editor-last=Larres |editor-link=Klaus Larres |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=EyNcCwAAQBAJ&pg=PT174 |title=A Companion to Europe Since 1945 |publisher=[[Wiley (publisher)|Wiley]] |year=2014 |isbn=978-1-118-89024-0 |page=79}}</ref>

In November 1956, [[Soviet Army|Soviet forces]] invaded [[Hungarian People's Republic|Hungary]], a Warsaw Pact member state, and violently [[Hungarian Revolution of 1956#Soviet invasion|put down the Hungarian Revolution]]. After that, the USSR made bilateral 20-year-treaties with [[Peoples Republic of Poland|Poland]] (17 December 1956),<ref>spiegel.de: [https://www.spiegel.de/politik/warum-steht-in-polen-eine-sowjet-garnison-a-4a249a97-0002-0001-0000-000014018986 ''Warum steht in Polen eine Sowjet-Garnison?''] ([[Der Spiegel]] 20/1983)</ref> the [[East Germany|GDR]] (12 March 1957),<ref>see also [[Group of Soviet Forces in Germany]]</ref> [[Socialist Republic of Romania|Romania]] (15 April 1957; Soviet forces were later removed as part of [[De-satellization of the Socialist Republic of Romania|Romania's de-satellization]]),<ref>see also [[History of Romania#Communist period (1947–1989)]]</ref> and [[Hungarian People's Republic|Hungary]] (27 May 1957),<ref>{{cite journal | url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/2195705 | jstor=2195705 | doi=10.2307/2195705 | issue=1 | date=1958 | journal=[[The American Journal of International Law]] | title=Union of Soviet Socialist Republics--Hungarian People's Republic: Agreement on the Legal Status of the Soviet Forces Temporarily Present on the Territory of the Hungarian People's Republic | volume=52 | pages=215–221 | s2cid=246005881}}</ref> ensuring that Soviet troops were deployed in these countries.