Learning from the Enemy

NATO as a Model for the Warsaw Pact

Author(s): Vojtech Mastny
Editor(s): Kurt R. Spillmann, Andreas Wenger
Series: Zürcher Beiträge zur Sicherheitspolitik und Konfliktforschung
Issue: 58
Publisher(s): Forschungsstelle für Sicherheitspolitik und Konfliktanalyse, ETH Zurich
Publication Year: 2001
Publication Place: Zurich

In 1955 the Warsaw Pact was created as mirror image of NATO. The USSR intended the Pact as a bargaining chip, one that could be negotiated away if favorable international conditions allowed for the simultaneous dissolution of both alliances. When this plan failed, the Warsaw Pact gradually evolved into an alliance in its own right, but remained haunted by the image of its Western counterpart. The book examines the various attempts by both the Soviet Union and its East European dependents to remodel the Warsaw Pact along NATO lines, and why these efforts led to its eventual disintegration. The author argues that the Warsaw Pact's inability to strike the right balance between its military and political functions provides a cautionary tale for NATO.

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