The monograph examines various aspects of the defense policy of the four communist states of the Balkan Peninsula from the moment the two-bloc (NATO and Warsaw Pact) confrontation was established in the region until these countries entered a period of systemic crisis against the backdrop of the exacerbation of the next stage of the Cold War and the end of détente. The main attention is paid to the formulation of the concept of national sovereignty in the conduct of defense policy, the adoption of their own versions of military doctrines, the development of specific defense plans, the military-strategic and military-technical aspects of the intra-bloc and inter-bloc policies pursued by their leadership. In the context of the topic, the problems of formulating military doctrines in the USA and the USSR, the development of military-strategic concepts by the two superpowers, including the use of nuclear weapons, are touched upon. The study is based on a wide range of previously unavailable or little-used military and political sources from four Balkan countries - Albania, Bulgaria, Romania and Yugoslavia, as well as the USA, USSR, Western and Central-Eastern Europe. Memoirs were actively involved as a separate group of sources. Particular attention is paid to the national historiography of the four Balkan countries on issues of defense policy since the mid-50s. and until 1980. The monograph is intended for historians, political scientists and military specialists working on a wide range of issues in the political and military history of the Balkan region.