Warsaw Treaty Organization

The Warsaw Treaty Organization, also known as the Warsaw Pact, was a military alliance formed in 1955 by the Soviet Union and Eastern European countries during the Cold War. Its purpose was to coordinate defense and maintain Soviet influence over member states, especially in response to NATO’s Western alliance. The pact included countries like East Germany, Poland, Czechoslovakia, Hungary, Romania, Bulgaria, and Albania (which later withdrew). It functioned as a collective security agreement, meaning an attack on one member was considered an attack on all. The organization dissolved in 1991, following the end of the Cold War and political shifts in Eastern Europe.