Warsaw Pact: Quick Facts

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Facts

Also Known As	Warsaw Treaty of Friendship, Cooperation, and Mutual Assistance
Date	May 14, 1955 - July 1, 1991
Participants	Albania • Bulgaria • Czechoslovakia • East Germany • Hungary • Poland • Romania • Soviet Union
Context	Cold War • international relations • North Atlantic Treaty Organization • Prague Spring • Warsaw Treaty Organization

Photos

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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Topics

alliance

Timeline

President Harry S. Truman and Prime Minister Winston Churchill stand side by side on the steps of the Little White House during the Potsdam Conference.

Iron Curtain speech

March 5, 1946

Harry Truman's presidency: World War II, the atomic bomb, and the Cold War

Truman Doctrine

March 12, 1947

George C. Marshall

Marshall Plan

April 1948 - December 1951

Berlin blockade and airlift

Berlin blockade

June 24, 1948 - May 12, 1949

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.

Warsaw Pact

May 14, 1955 - July 1, 1991

Francis Gary Powers

U-2 Incident

May 5, 1960 - May 17, 1960

Black-and-white photo of armed soldiers escorting captured men with hands bound in front, during the Bay of Pigs invasion, 1961. Other soldiers follow in the background.

Bay of Pigs invasion

April 17, 1961

The Brandenburg Gate is seen through coils of barbed wire, with a sign reading in German that you are leaving West Berlin, during the early Berlin Wall era, circa 1962.

Berlin crisis of 1961

August 1961

Kennedy announces U.S. naval blockade of Cuba

Cuban missile crisis

October 22, 1962 - November 20, 1962

John F. Kennedy: Nuclear Test-Ban Treaty

Nuclear Test-Ban Treaty

August 5, 1963

Strategic Arms Limitation Talks

Strategic Arms Limitation Talks

1969 - 1979

Mutual and Balanced Force Reductions

October 1973 - February 9, 1989

Korean Air Lines flight 007

September 1, 1983

Ronald Reagan (left) and Mikhail Gorbachev, 1986

Reykjavík summit of 1986

October 11, 1986 - October 12, 1986

Boris Yeltsin and the collapse of the Soviet Union

collapse of the Soviet Union

August 18, 1991 - December 31, 1991

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

Facts You Should Know: The Cold War Quiz

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.

Comprehension Quiz: Cold War