What alliance was formed by the Soviet Union and its Eastern European allies in response to NATO?

The Warsaw Pact was the military alliance established by the Soviet Union and its Eastern European allies in 1955, specifically as a response to the formation of NATO in 1949. This alliance was a crucial component of the Cold War, symbolizing the division of Europe into Eastern and Western blocs. The Pact included countries such as Poland, East Germany, Czechoslovakia, Hungary, Romania, Bulgaria, and Albania, all of which were under Soviet influence.

The formation of the Warsaw Pact was intended to create a unified military command structure among its member states and provide a collective defense framework, similar to NATO's. This was particularly significant during the Cold War, as it represented the military alignment of the communist states against the perceived threat from the capitalist West. The Warsaw Pact lasted until the political changes in Eastern Europe in the late 1980s and early 1990s, which ultimately contributed to its dissolution in 1991.

Other options such as the Commonwealth of Nations, European Union, and SEATO do not relate to the specific military-political context of NATO and the responses of Eastern bloc countries in the Cold War era. The Commonwealth of Nations focuses on former British colonies; the European Union is primarily an economic and political union of European