CIA • 1966

THE WARSAW PACT: ITS ROLE IN SOVIET BLOC AFFAIRS FROM ITS ORIGIN TO THE PRESENT DAY

Approved For Release 2002/09/04: CIA-RDP79T00826A000600010056-1) STAT Its Role In Soviet Bloc Affairs From Its Origin to the Present Day 6 May 1966 Approved For Release 2002/09/04: CIA-RDP79T00826A000600010056-8 D Approved For Release 2002/09/04: CIA-RDP79T00826A000600010056-8 THE WARSAW PACT Table of Contents Page Summary 1 History of the Organization 3 The Warsaw Pact Today and Its Value To the USSR 14 Benefits Derived by Eastern Europe from the Pact 21 Problems Within the Pact 24 Bilateral Treaties of Friendship, Cooperation and Mutual Assistance Signed By Warsaw Pact Members 9 11 Estimated Personnel Strength of the Eastern European Armed Forces 15 Appendices Appendix A Text of Warsaw Pact Agreement B Comparison of Warsaw Pact Treaty and North Atlantic Treaty C Military Expenditures in the Eastern European Communist Counties D Warsaw Pact Meetings Since May 1955 Approved For Release 2002/09/04: CIA-RDP79T00826A000600010056-8 Approved For Release 2002/09/04: CIA-RDP79T00826A000600010056-8 The Warsaw Pact was created in May 1955 by the USSR as a political response to West Germany?s rearmament and admission to NATOO The establishment of the pact was in part an outgrowth of the desire of Russia?s post-Stalin leadership to replace the methods of Stalin, which were no longer practicable, with a new mechanism for maintaining its position as the supreme arbiter of Soviet bloc affairs. The Warsaw Pact provided a new basis for the presence of Soviet troops on the territory of some of the Eastern European countries. The Russians probably thought--although they were later proven to be wrong--that the pact was also a form of insurance against effective political initiatives by the leaders of the East European Communist parties...