As a direct response, the Warsaw Pact was formed on May 14, 1955. One of the first motions passed was the rearming of East Germany as a communist state under the leadership of Walter Ulbricht.

Everyone will go back. The Warsaw Pact countries are, as they say, a “minimum task” - if an empire is formed. And then it will happen,” Budanov said. The Warsaw Pact is a treaty of ...