What were the effects of the Warsaw pact?

Answer 1

I would really describe the Warsaw Pact as an effect of NATO. It gave further justification to Moscow to dictate terms to its satellite states in Eastern Europe and essentially rule over everything east of the Iron Curtain. If anybody opposed them, for instance the Czechs or the Hungarians, Soviets could demand Pact action and make the effort seem more international and once again more justified.

What about the people in these countries? What was the affect on them?

I say that if one country was attacked by another that Moscow would have the power to strike against the attacking country in an act of mutual assistance. Perhaps this would cause another war. In this case, the people of these waring states would have to fight against each other. This would mean loss of population and wealth needed for the war. But that is all hypothetical. There were no wars because why? No country in their right mind would attack any of the seven countries excluding the USSR under the Warsaw Pact for fear of being attacked by one of the world's superpowers at that time: the USSR itself.