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Documents

May 14, 1955

Warsaw Pact Treaty

Treaty establishing the Warsaw Pact in response to the integration of West Germany into NATO.

April 17, 1958

Letter addressed by N.S. Khrushchev, First Secretary of the CC of the CPSU to the CC of the RWP concerning the withdrawal of Soviet troops from the Romanian territory

Letter from Nikita Khrushchev to Gheorghiu Dej, informing the Romanian leadership of the decision taken by the Soviet leadership to withdraw the Soviet Red Army troops from the territory of Romania. Military and security services advisors will however remain in place until 1963.

November 22, 1978

Meeting of the Political Consultative Committee of the Warsaw Treaty Member Countries

Meeting minutes taken by Romanian Ambassador Vasile Sandru at sessions of the Warsaw Treaty Political Consultative Committee, taking place in Moscow on 22-23 November 1978. Session I contains a speech by Leonid Brezhnev in which he discusses détente, Warsaw Pact economic cooperation, disarmament, national liberation movements, and relations with China, the Western countries, and Japan. In Session II and III political leaders of the other Warsaw member countries respond to Brezhnev’s speech. Session IV features a report by Commander-in-Chief Viktor Kulikov on the United Armed Forces. He recommends an increase in military expenditures. All of the leaders agree, except for Nicolae Ceausescu of Romania.

June 6, 1979

Operational Directive from a Military Exercise Performed from June 6 to June 13, 1979

This document is a simulation of a Warsaw Pact response to a hypothetical NATO conventional attack on the GDR and the Baltic region. It provides pathways of assault with specific coordinates for naval maneuvers and specific objectives to be achieved on each day of hostilities. The United Baltic Fleet is supposed to make its way as quickly as possible to the North Sea. The ground counteroffensive first is to defend the GDR and then attack the FRG and advance along its northern coast to the border with the Netherlands and France. Other counteroffensive measures included: an amphibious landing on Bornholm and other Danish Islands, destroying aircraft carriers in the North Sea and disrupting the offshore oil platforms there. The document specifies exact villages and towns that are to be used as objectives for individual operations, and finally notes which types of units and existing divisions are supposed to participate in the counteroffensive.

April 14, 1988

Lecture by Sergei Akhromeyev, 'The Current State of Soviet Military Doctrine'

This is a transcript of a lecture delivered by Sergei Akhromeyev, the Chief of the General Staff of the Soviet Armed Forces, to the Polish General Staff about Soviet military doctrine in early 1988. The document defines what the Soviets meant by military doctrine, differentiating between the doctrine of the Soviet Union and the Warsaw Pact by stressing the former’s wider range objectives, especially concerning the use of strategic nuclear weapons. In addition, it identifies contemporary issues facing Soviet doctrine and analyzes topics such as nuclear non-proliferation, reduction of nuclear stockpiles and refutes the idea that nuclear weapons should be used in a counter-offensive operation. It stresses the importance of defense, negating offensive military preparedness in lieu of purely defensive Warsaw Pact capabilities (albeit altogether sufficient to successfully deter a NATO attack from the West). It also discusses the results of the March 2-3 1988 NATO talks and concludes that the West is not willing to stop the arms race and is increasing its offensive capabilities. The Warsaw Pact’s response should include increased military research, better vigilance to capture signals of a possible attack and more tactical and technical training for the military command. It asserts that even though a war is less likely than in the past, quoting Gorbachev, “the nature of capitalism itself can be the cause of war.”

January 20, 1965

Minutes of the Meeting of the Political Consultative Committee of the Warsaw Pact Member States, Warsaw

(Excerpts) Minutes of discussions of the Warsaw Pact Political Consultative Committee concerning non-proliferation. The Romanian delegation argues against a joint declaration of the Warsaw Pact on non-proliferation for fear that it might be used against China. The other delegations argue that a joint declaration is necessary in order to prevent the creation of the Multilaterall Nuclear Force proposed by NATO.

February 29, 1980

Report on the Meeting of the Foreign Secretaries of the Socialist Countries in Moscow, 26 February 1980

This document explains the views of the cooperating Socialist countries relating to Afghanistan. The USSR perceived the US attempt to line up NATO support against the Soviets as an aggressive action, designed to counter Soviet influence. The Soviets, by contrast, viewed their involvement in Afghanistan as increasing their sphere of influence around the Warsaw-pact countries, making such actions defense, rather than offensive. The USSR's leadership states that it should increase its ties to NATO countries to counteract the foreign policy of the US.

July 16, 1980

Memorandum of conversation between Vadim Zagladin of the CPSU CC and Gyula Horn, deputy head of the HSWP CC Foreign Department on debates inside the Soviet leadership on issues of international politics

This document reveals substantial internal debate among Soviet policy makers regarding the USSR'S foreign policy. Issues of counter-balancing US influence by increasing alliances in Western Europe, and the disagreement regarding political turmoil in Afghanistan, illustrate two prominent disagreements in Soviet politics.

December 5, 1980

Speech by Nicolae Ceausescu at the Meeting of the Party and State Leaders of the Warsaw Pact

Ceausescu talks at length about the problems confronting the Polish United Worker’s Party. He emphasizes the need to not dwell on the causes of the discontent, but rather to stop it from continuing.

December 5, 1980

Speech by Erich Honecker at the meeting of the party and state leaders of the Warsaw Pact

Honecker discusses the problems facing the Polish United Worker’s Party and emphasizes that the “counter-revolutionary” forces must be stopped and punished.

Pagination