Warsaw Pact

Warsaw, 14 May 1955

Representatives of Albania, Bulgaria, Hungary, East Germany, Poland, Romania, the Soviet Union and Czechoslovakia signed the Treaty of Friendship, Cooperation and Mutual Assistance in Warsaw on 14 May 1955.

Every signature came from a head of government: Nikolai Bulganin for the USSR, Otto Grotewohl for East Germany, Józef Cyrankiewicz for Poland, Mehmet Shehu for Albania, and so on through all eight delegations.

The preamble cited a remilitarized West Germany inside the North Atlantic bloc. Ratification of the Paris Agreements and West Germany's admission to NATO were the immediate trigger.

What the articles do

Article 4 committed each party to assist a member subjected to armed attack, including by armed force when considered necessary — a trigger limited to attacks occurring in Europe.

Article 5 provided for a Unified Command to which agreed elements of the members' armed forces would be allocated, and Article 6 established a Political Consultative Committee in which every member state would be represented.

Not yet in force

Signing did not make the treaty effective. It entered into force on 6 June 1955, when Albania deposited the final ratification instrument.

The original term was twenty years. The same document that created a Unified Command also promised respect for sovereignty and non-interference in domestic affairs.