Exercise Zapad-81 () was the largest military exercise ever to be carried out by the

Soviet Union The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR), commonly known as the Soviet Union, was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 until Dissolution of the Soviet ...

, according to

NATO The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO ; , OTAN), also called the North Atlantic Alliance, is an intergovernmental organization, intergovernmental Transnationalism, transnational military alliance of 32 Member states of NATO, member s ...

and US sources. It was conducted from 4 September 1981 and lasted approximately eight days, it involved between 100,000 and 150,000 troops. It was a joint operation including elements from all Soviet service branches and introduced several new systems such as the RSD-10 medium-range strategic missile (known often to the West as the SS-20 Saber) and the Project 1143 aircraft carrier ''Kiev''.

History

The exercise was first and foremost a show of force. Propaganda tapes were made of the large scale offensives concluding in a large victory parade. Apart from being a show of force to the NATO countries, the exercise was a large-scale demonstration of military capability in Poland. After failed reforms, communism in the People's Republic of Poland during the seventies was in a state of crisis and civil unrest (

Solidarność Solidarity (, ), full name Independent Self-Governing Trade Union "Solidarity" ( , abbreviated ''NSZZ „Solidarność”''), is a Polish trade union founded in August 1980 at the Gdańsk Shipyard, Lenin Shipyard in Gdańsk, Polish People's Rep ...

). Exercise Zapad included amphibious landings in Poland near

Gdańsk Gdańsk is a city on the Baltic Sea, Baltic coast of northern Poland, and the capital of the Pomeranian Voivodeship. With a population of 486,492, Data for territorial unit 2261000. it is Poland's sixth-largest city and principal seaport. Gdań ...

, reminding Poles that the Soviet Union could resort to military force if it was deemed necessary for the preservation of communist power. The exercise was criticised by the US for violating the

Helsinki Final Act The Helsinki Final Act, also known as Helsinki Accords or Helsinki Declaration, was the document signed at the closing meeting of the third phase of the Conference on Security and Co-operation in Europe (CSCE) held in Helsinki, Finland, betwee ...

of notification of military exercises.

References

External links

Photos of the Zapad-81 drills, VisualRian

Historical film footage of the Zapad-81 exercise
() {{Brezhnev era 1981 in the Soviet Union Poland–Soviet Union relations Soviet military exercises Zapad military exercises September 1981 in Europe 1981 in military history

History

See also

References

External links