Warsaw Pact formed

Following the inclusion of the Federal Republic of (West) Germany in the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation, the USSR was motivated to create the Treaty of Friendship, Cooperation and Mutual Assistance, a collective defence treaty that was signed in Warsaw, Poland by the Soviet Union and seven Soviet satellite states of Central and Eastern Europe on 14 May 1955. It was commonly known as the 'Warsaw Pact'. It was also a reflection of the Soviet effort to maintain control over the military forces of Central and Eastern Europe.