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Warsaw Pact
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Map of Europe in 1960 during the Cold War, showing countries color-coded by political alignment: NATO members in green across Western Europe, Warsaw Pact countries in orange in Eastern Europe, and non-aligned nations in beige. The Soviet Union and its allies are grouped to the east, while Western European countries are aligned with the United States. Soviet invasion of Prague Suppression of the Prague Spring, 1968 World map highlighting NATO member countries in dark blue, Euro-Atlantic Partnership Council countries in light blue, NATO's Mediterranean Dialogue partners in purple, Istanbul Cooperation Initiative partners in pink, and global partners in teal. Brussels, Belgium, is marked as NATO headquarters. A timeline below the map shows the years each member joined NATO from 1949 to 2024.
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Wreckage of the U-2 spy plane shot down inside the Soviet Union in 1960. U-2 spy plane incident, U-2 affair, Cold War.
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Thermonuclear hydrogen bomb, code-named MIKE, detonated in the Marshall Islands in the fall of 1952. Photo taken at a height of 12,000 feet, 50 miles from the detonation site. (Photo 3 of a series of 8) Atomic bomb explosion nuclear energy hydrogen energy
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Map of Europe in 1960 during the Cold War, showing countries color-coded by political alignment: NATO members in green across Western Europe, Warsaw Pact countries in orange in Eastern Europe, and non-aligned nations in beige. The Soviet Union and its allies are grouped to the east, while Western European countries are aligned with the United States.
NATO and the Warsaw Pact During the Cold War most of western Europe was aligned with the United States through membership in the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), while the Soviet Union maintained garrisons in its satellites under the terms of the Warsaw Pact.

Warsaw Pact

Europe [1955–1991]
Also known as: Warsaw Treaty of Friendship, Cooperation, and Mutual Assistance(Show More)
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Warsaw Pact, (May 14, 1955–July 1, 1991) treaty establishing a mutual-defense organization (Warsaw Treaty Organization) composed originally of the Soviet Union and Albania, Bulgaria, Czechoslovakia, East Germany, Hungary, Poland, and Romania. (Albania withdrew in 1968, and East Germany did so in 1990.) The treaty (which was renewed on April 26, 1985) provided for a unified military command and for the maintenance of Soviet military units on the territories of the other participating states. The immediate...

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