Question

Why do you think the Soviet Union created the Warsaw Pact with their neighboring allies shortly after the formation of NATO? Do you feel that it was an effective strategy? Why or why not?

Answer 1

Answer:

The PACT was formed in response to NATO as well as to unify the nations of the Eastern Bloc. Effective? Yes. It gave the West the impression that the East had all their ducks in a row.

Explanation:

That all said, the various member nations of the Warsaw PACT hated the USSR. In 1956, the Hungarians revolted against Soviet occupation and the Communist Hungarian government. The Czechs were resistant to any sort of cooperation with the USSR (This can be seen in their arms development but that is a whole other ordeal to explain). Romanians and Hungarians weren't thrilled about working together, much like how they did in WWII. The Poles had a huge anti-Soviet sentiment within their population since the Russian Revolution. The Deutsche Demokratische Republik were the most powerful PACT nation only really because the National Volksarmee were allowed to retain many of their traditions and organization, whereas the West German Bundeswehr had been completely de-Nazified, and subsequently de-Germanized. Had things come to blows, the USSR and DDR would have been the ones rolling through the Fulda Gap, in my opinion of course.