Six years after the founding of NATO, in 1955, the Warsaw Treaty Organization appeared in opposition to the alliance . The creation of the ATS marked a new round of the Cold War. However, the socialist countries actively collaborated among themselves long before that. After the war ended, in 1945, the Communists came to power in Eastern European states . This was partly due to the presence of Soviet troops in these states , as well as the general psychological background. Before the creation of ATS, relations between the socialist countries were built on the basis of agreements on cooperation and friendship. In 1949, the Council for Mutual Economic Assistance appeared. However, the creation of ATS was completely the initiative of the USSR.
The members of the new bloc are: the USSR, Romania, Poland, East Germany, Czechoslovakia, Hungary, Albania and Bulgaria. The contract was signed for twenty years with a simplified extension for another decade. In 1962, Albania ceased to participate in the bloc due to political differences. In 1968 she completely got out of it.
The creation of the police department was a military-political act. This is evidenced even by the structure of the governing bodies of the bloc: the joint command of the Armed Forces and the political advisory body, coordinating a common foreign policy. Education ATS played a huge political role. The bloc was the main mechanism that helped the USSR control the countries of the socialist camp. Militarily, the Treaty was also of great importance. The troops of the participating countries regularly conducted joint exercises, and the military bases of the USSR were located on the territories of Eastern European states.
In 1968, the ATS countries jointly sent troops to Czechoslovakia to suppress the liberalization and democratization of this country, which could eventually lead to its exit from the bloc. In the conditions of the Cold War, it was unacceptable for the USSR to lose such a key state for the security system as Czechoslovakia. However, the main danger was that other states could follow her example.
The creation of ATS provided for the equal rights of all participants. However, the formal equality of the members of the Treaty, who were to collectively make political and military decisions, was only an appearance. The relations of the USSR with other members of the bloc differed little from its relations with its own republics. All important decisions were made in Moscow. The history of ATS has preserved many such examples.
When during the perestroika in the USSR there was a change in political course, the country abandoned the doctrine of control and interference in the internal affairs of its organization allies. In 1985, the block members extended their membership in it for another 20 years. However, in 1989, the active destruction of the socialist system began. A wave of "velvet revolutions" took place in the socialist countries, and within a short time the communist governments were liquidated. This, in fact, destroyed the ATS power system. After these events, the bloc ceased to be the mechanism that helped the USSR control the East European countries. In 1991, the Treaty finally ceased to exist along with the complete collapse of the socialist system.