The Warsaw Pact
Soviet Military Policy in Eastern Europe
ResearchPublished 1981
Although the USSR may wish to rely more in the 1980s on East European military forces to maintain or increase the level of Soviet-controlled military power in Europe, in fact the USSR will have to rely less on East European military forces. Operational, institutional, and socioeconomic factors for this are discussed. The Polish crisis of 1980-1981 dramatizes the vulnerabilities inherent in the current level of Soviet reliance on East European military forces. Development of "coalition warfare," emphasized by Khrushchev in the 1960s as a "quick fix," has reached the point of diminishing returns. The Soviet leadership must either dedicate more of its own increasingly scarce military resources to Europe or permit a decline in Soviet-controlled military power in the region.
Document Details
- Copyright: RAND Corporation
- Availability: Available
- Year: 1981
- Print Format: Paperback
- Paperback Pages: 46
- Paperback Price: $23.00
- Document Number: P-6583
Citation
RAND Style Manual
Chicago Manual of Style
Johnson, A. Ross, The Warsaw Pact: Soviet Military Policy in Eastern Europe, RAND Corporation, P-6583, 1981. As of September 13, 2024: https://www.rand.org/pubs/papers/P6583.html
Johnson, A. Ross, The Warsaw Pact: Soviet Military Policy in Eastern Europe. Santa Monica, CA: RAND Corporation, 1981. https://www.rand.org/pubs/papers/P6583.html. Also available in print form.
This publication is part of the RAND paper series. The paper series was a product of RAND from 1948 to 2003 that captured speeches, memorials, and derivative research, usually prepared on authors' own time and meant to be the scholarly or scientific contribution of individual authors to their professional fields. Papers were less formal than reports and did not require rigorous peer review.
This document and trademark(s) contained herein are protected by law. This representation of RAND intellectual property is provided for noncommercial use only. Unauthorized posting of this publication online is prohibited; linking directly to this product page is encouraged. Permission is required from RAND to reproduce, or reuse in another form, any of its research documents for commercial purposes. For information on reprint and reuse permissions, please visit www.rand.org/pubs/permissions.
RAND is a nonprofit institution that helps improve policy and decisionmaking through research and analysis. RAND's publications do not necessarily reflect the opinions of its research clients and sponsors.