Warsaw Pact faction review feature - Red March

"If tomorrow the war, if the enemy would attack,
If the dark power strike, -
As one man, all the Soviet people
For a free Homeland rise."

- Song "If tomorrow the war" from the same soviet film.

The Warsaw Treaty of Friendship, Cooperation and Mutual Assistance, in the West better known as the Warsaw Pact (it used to be known as the Warsaw Treaty Organisation, but that name has now disappeared due to a more famous organisation taking the acronym), is a military defensive alliance of the USSR and its european satellite states. It was pretty much formed as a direct response to United Nations.

At a glance
Playing Style: Superior firepower.
Preferred Theatre of Operations: Ground warfare.
Strengths: Many heavily armoured units, many powerful AoE weapons, perfect anti-air, mass production.
Weaknesses: Slow basebuilding, weak light vehicles and airplanes, mobility worse than UN units.
Intended Players: Fans of the classic Command & Conquer games.

History

Origin
After the Federal Republic of Germany joined the UN and with the escalation of the Cold War, the Soviet Union decided to set up its' own military bloc as a response to the UN. The Warsaw Treaty Organization was to be a united force of European socialist states that would protect their interests.

The peoples of Europe remembered that many of their own former governments had fought on Hitler's side and plunged their nations into the depths of that terrible war. Czechoslovakia, for example, did not forget the betrayal by the West of the Munich Agreement. By contrast, Soviet support of the Polish resistance and relieving the exhausted fighters of the Warsaw Uprising in 1944 did much to endear the USSR to the Polish people, and it is not the only such story from the liberation of Europe. As such, though some countries are still erasing the remnants of fascist government, public opinion still maintains that the USSR is the best hope for the recovering nations of Eastern Europe.

Formation
With public thought this way, the treaty was signed by Albania, Bulgaria, Hungary, East Germany, Poland, Romania, the USSR and Czechoslovakia on May 14th, 1955 at the Warsaw meeting of the European states to "Ensure peace and security in Europe". The Treaty entered into force on 5 June 1955.

The Future
It was, and still is, held that the Soviet Union can provide security in Eastern Europe in the case of a new war, as western armies will inevitably go through the borders of these countries. The concept of an anti-communistic "sanitaire cordon" continued to play its' role even after WWII in Western thinking, and the USSR remains convinced that buffer states are necessary for the continued survival of the Socialist dream, especially facing so dangerous a foe as the UN. It is therefore, not surprising that rumours abound of pro-independence supporters in Eastern Europe disappearing, as do descriptions of trench-coated men knocking on politicians doors in the morning, and of darkened train carriages, with black-out curtains, travelling non-stop to colder climes in the East. But of course, such rumours are entirely baseless... aren't they?