The Warsaw Pact (formally, the Treaty of Friendship, Co-operation, and Mutual Assistance, sometimes, informally WarPac, akin in format to NATO)[1] was a collective defense treaty among eight communist states of Central and Eastern Europe in existence during the Cold War, led by the USSR. The Warsaw Pact was the military complement to the Council for Mutual Economic Assistance (CoMEcon), the regional economic organization for the communist states of Central and Eastern Europe. The Warsaw Pact was in part a Soviet military reaction to the integration of West Germany[2] into NATO in 1955 per the Paris Pacts of 1954,[3][4][5] but was primarily motivated by Soviet desires to maintain control over military forces in Central and Eastern Europe;[6] in turn (according to the Warsaw Pact's preamble) meant to maintain peace in Europe, guided by the objective points and principles of the Charter of the United Nations (1945).