Two effects of the WARSAW PACT

Question 1

1st consequence

Answer 1

The first effect of the creation of the Warsaw Pact was that it distinguished a divided Europe, economically, politically, and militarily, increasing tension between the superpowers

• The Warsaw Pact was formed following the formation of NATO, the Federal Republic of Germany joining NATO, and the Korean War
• Europe was divided ideologically into the capitalist West and the communist East.
• Comecon, an economic aid package based on communist beliefs, was in direct competition with the Marshall Plan

-> The Warsaw Pact distinguished that now there were two Europes, one under the protection of the USA, working to defend communist control, and the other was led by the Soviet Union and seeking to extend communist control

Question 2

2nd consequence

Answer 2

The second effect was that the Warsaw Pact contributed heavily to the Soviet invasion of Hungary

• Nagy, the prime minister of Hungary, announced in his set of proposed reforms to leave the Warsaw Pact and become a neutral country
• This concerned Khrushchev that if Hungary left, other Eastern European countries may follow, threatening the strategy of achieving security for the Soviet Union by surrounding it with pro-communist governments, part of the Warsaw Pact which formed the ‘Eastern Bloc’
• Khrushchev therefore set up a new pro-communist government under Kadar, executing Nagy