warsaw pact

• Context behind Warsaw Pact 1955:

  After Stalin came Khrushchev. He acted differently from Stalin but still saw it essential for the USSR to maintain the security of Communist EE. EG: he wanted to improve living standards in order to benefit the Soviet people but also to show that communism could deliver the same benefits for its people as the US could deliver for its people.

  One aspect of Stalin's policy didn't change - his aim in EE was to create buffer zones against an attack from the West, Khrushchev continued this policy.
• Signing of Warsaw Pact 1955:

  In May 1955, Western allies signed a series of agreements in Paris which made West Germany a member of NATO and allowed the country to have its own armed forces again. There were strict limits on the new German army, but to the USSR, USA rearming the enemy who had caused so much turmoil during WW2 was worrying. In response, Khrushchev created the Warsaw Pact which was a military alliance similar to NATO. The members would defend each other if one was attacked. It included all of the Communist EE countries except Yugoslavia, but it was dominated by the USSR.