Europe 1955: Warsaw Pact

After the death of Stalin in 1953, a thaw in relations between East and West allowed for the end of the occupations of Germany and Austria. However when West Germany was accepted into NATO, the Soviets retaliated by forming their own alliance: the Warsaw Pact.

Main Events

1 Nov 1954 Toussaint Rouge

Between midnight and 2 am on the morning of 1 November 1954—the Catholic festival of All Saints’ Day—the National Liberation Front (FLN) made 30 individual attacks against police and military targets around French Algeria. The attacks would be called Toussaint Rouge, or “Red All Saints’ Day”, and prompt François Mitterrand, then French Minister of the Interior, to despatch two companies of the Compagnies Républicaines de Sécurité and three companies of paratroopers to Algeria. Over the next year, the number of soldiers in Algeria would increase from 56,000 to 83,000 as the Algerian War began. in wikipedia

9 May 1955 West Germany joins NATO

West Germany joins NATO in wikipedia

14 May 1955 Warsaw Pact

The Soviet Union, Albania, Bulgaria, Czechoslovakia, East Germany, Hungary, Poland and Romania signed the Treaty of Friendship, Co-operation, and Mutual Assistance—later known as the Warsaw Pact—in Warsaw, Poland. The pact was created in reaction to the integration of West Germany into NATO. in wikipedia

27 Jul 1955 Austrian State Treaty

Allied occupation of Austria ends in wikipedia

21 Sep 1955 Soviet occupation of East Germany ends

Soviet occupation of East Germany ends in wikipedia