In This Month: May

East v West
Eight communist countries from Central and Eastern Europe signed the Warsaw Pact on the 14th May 1955, pledging that they would defend each other in case of attack. The agreement, which was signed at a conference in Warsaw (pictured), was created to counter the North Atlantic Treaty, which was signed on 4th April 1949.

These two agreements didn't result in armed conflict, but led to the Cold War – a 35-year era of competition and tension between the US and the USSR and their allies. In 1991, the Warsaw Pact was declared 'non-existent' because most of the communist governments had lost power.