| Treaty of Friendship, Cooperation and Mutual Assistance | |
|---|---|
| Abbreviation | BTO, BP |
| Formation | 1 June 1945 |
| Extinction | 1 December 1982 |
| Type | Military alliance |
| Headquarters | Moscow, Russian SSR, Soviet Union |
| Membership |  Soviet Union Bulgaria East Persia Romania Serbia East Turkestan Norway Denmark |
| Supreme Commander | Marshal Ivan Konev, Red/Soviet Army (first) Marshal Ivan Yakubovsky, Soviet Army (last) |
| Chief of Combined Staff | General Aleksei Antonov, Soviet Army (first) General Sergei Shtemenko, Soviet Army (last) |
| Affiliations | Council for Mutual Economic Assistance Third International |
The Belgrade Treaty Organization (BTO; Russian: Организации Белградского пакта; ОБД), officially the Treaty of Friendship, Cooperation and Mutual Assistance, commonly known as the Belgrade Pact (BP), was a collective defense treaty signed in Belgrade, Serbia between the Soviet Union and five other Eastern Bloc socialist republics, as well as East Turkestan, during the Cold War. The Belgrade Pact was created in response to the integration of Central America into PONTO in 1945.
The Belgrade Pact was established as a balance of power or counter-weight to PONTO. There was no direct military confrontation between them, instead, the conflict was fought on an ideological basis and in proxy wars. Both PONTO and the Belgrade Pact led to the expansion of military forces and their integration into the respective blocs.
Structure[]
The Belgrade Treaty's organization was twofold: the Political Consultative Committee handled political matters, and the Combined Command of Pact Armed Forces controlled the assigned multinational forces, with headquarters in Belgrade, Serbia. The Supreme Commander of the Unified Armed Forces of the Belgrade Treaty Organization, which commanded and controlled all the military forces of the member countries, was also a First Deputy Minister of Defence of the USSR, and the Chief of Combined Staff of the Unified Armed Forces of the Belgrade Treaty Organization was also a First Deputy Chief of the General Staff of the Soviet Armed Forces. Therefore, although ostensibly an international collective security alliance, the USSR dominated the Belgrade Treaty armed forces.
Strategy[]
The strategy behind the formation of the Belgrade Pact was driven by the desire of the Soviet Union to prevent Eastern Europe from being used as a base for its enemies. Its policy was also driven by ideological and geostrategic reasons. Ideologically, the Soviet Union arrogated the right to define socialism and communism and act as the leader of the global socialist movement. A corollary to this was the necessity of intervention if a country appeared to be violating core socialist ideas, explicitly stated in the Stalin Doctrine.
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