Wojsko Polskie w składzie Zjednoczonych Sił Zbrojnych Układu Warszawskiego w końcowym okresie jego funkcjonowania

Abstract

The Warsaw Pact (UW) was an instrument of the Soviet Union’s military influence on the so-called Eastern Bloc during the confrontation of the East with the West. The purpose of this article is to present the activity of the Polish Armed Forces in the composition of the United Forces of the Warsaw Pact in the 1980s (in the final period of its operation). The most important fact was the lack of operational independence of Poland, which was limited by the Soviet Union. Due to the changing political and economic situation, the Polish authorities saw no point in further participation in the “Allied” organization, which was dissolved on July 1, 1991. The most complete study on the subject is a publication by J. Pałka (2022) which presents the operational participation of the Polish Army in the Warsaw Pact based on the archival sources of the Central Archives of the Military Historical Bureau.