1968 Soviets invade Czechoslovakia:
^top^
Alexander Dubcek, 46, leader
of Czechoslovakia, is forced to abandon his liberal reforms
as 650'000 Warsaw Pact troops invade his nation just before
midnight. Dubcek's efforts to establish "communism with a human
face" had been celebrated across the country, and the brief
period of freedom was known as the "Prague Spring." When the
Soviet invasion came, Prague was not eager to give way, but
scattered student resistance was no match for the Soviet tanks.
Dubcek's reforms were repealed and the leader himself was replaced
with the staunchly pro-Soviet Gustav Husak, 55, who reestablished
an authoritarian Communist regime in the country.
In the face of rising anti-Soviet
protests in Czechoslovakia, Soviet troops (backed by troops
from other Warsaw Pact nations) intervene to crush the protest
and restore subservience to the USSR. The brutal Soviet action
shocked the West and dealt a devastating blow to US-Soviet
relations.
The troubles in Czechoslovakia
began when Alexander Dubcek took over as secretary general of
the nation's Communist Party in January 1968. It was immediately
apparent that Dubcek wanted a major overhaul of Czechoslovakia's
political and economic system — he called his particular
ideology "Socialism with a human face." He called for greater
political freedom, including more participation by noncommunist
parties.
Dubcek also pressed for economic
policies that would ensure less state control and more reliance
on free market economics. Finally, he insisted on greater freedom
from Soviet domination, although he reiterated his nation's
allegiance to the Warsaw Pact, the Soviet bloc's counterpart
to NATO.
Dubcek's policies shocked the
Soviets and leaders in other Eastern European nations. Throughout
early and mid-1968, negotiations took place between Dubcek and
representatives from Russia and other Soviet bloc nations in
an attempt to have the Czechoslovakian leader soften his reforms.
Dubcek refused, and tensions with the Soviet Union steadily
increased. Meanwhile, the sudden atmosphere of freedom that
Dubcek was encouraging took root, and Czech citizens embraced
and celebrated the new tolerance for free exchange of ideas
and open discussion in what came to be known as the "Prague
Spring."
On the night of 20 August 1968,
more than 200'000 Warsaw Pact soldiers crossed into Czechoslovakia
and headed for Prague. In just over a day, the entire country
was occupied; within a week nearly three-quarters of a million
foreign troops were in Czechoslovakia. Anti-Soviet riots broke
out in Prague, but these were viciously crushed and thousands
of Czechs fled the country.
The Soviet action in August 1968
shocked the West. Not since 1956, when Soviet troops intervened
in Hungary, had the Russian government resorted to such force
to bring one of its communist allies into line with its own
policies.
The Czech invasion was particularly damaging
to US-Soviet relations. In June 1967, President Lyndon B. Johnson met
with Soviet Premier Aleksei Kosygin to begin discussions related to a
number of issues, including arms control. It was agreed that Johnson
would visit the Soviet Union in October 1968 to continue the talks. The
Soviet intervention in Czechoslovakia caused Johnson to cancel his visit
abruptly.
— On the night of 20 August 1968,
approximately 200'000 Warsaw Pact troops and 5000 tanks invade Czechoslovakia
to crush the "Prague Spring" — a brief period of liberalization
in the communist country. Czechoslovakians protested the invasion with
public demonstrations and other non-violent tactics, but they were no
match for the Soviet tanks. The liberal reforms of First Secretary Alexander
Dubcek were repealed and "normalization" began under his successor Gustav
Husak.
Pro-Soviet communists seized
control of Czechoslovakia's democratic government in 1948. Soviet
leader Joseph Stalin imposed his will on Czechoslovakia's communist
leaders, and the country was run as a Stalinist state until
1964, when a gradual trend toward liberalization began. However,
modest economic reform was not enough for many Czechoslovakians,
and beginning in 1966 students and intellectuals began to agitate
for changes to education and an end to censorship. First Secretary
Antonín Novotný's problems were made worse by opposition from
Slovakian leaders, among them Alexander Dubcek and Gustav Husak,
who accused the central government of being dominated by Czechs.
In January 1968, Novotný was
replaced as first secretary by Alexander Dubcek, who was unanimously
elected by the Czechoslovakian Central Committee. To secure
his power base, Dubcek appealed to the public to voice support
for his proposed reforms. The response was overwhelming, and
Czech and Slovak reformers took over the communist leadership.
In April, the new leadership
unveiled its "Action Program," promising democratic elections,
greater autonomy for Slovakia, freedom of speech and religion,
the abolition of censorship, an end to restrictions on travel,
and major industrial and agricultural reforms. Dubcek declared
that he was offering "socialism with a human face." The Czechoslovakian
public greeted the reforms joyously, and Czechoslovakia's long
stagnant national culture began to bloom during what became
known as the Prague Spring. In late June, a much-signed petition
called the "Two Thousand Words" was published calling for even
more rapid progress to full democracy. The Soviet Union and
its satellites Poland and East Germany were alarmed by what
appeared to be the imminent collapse of communism in Czechoslovakia.
Soviet leader Leonid Brezhnev
warned Dubcek to halt his reforms, but the Czechoslovakian leader
was buoyed by his popularity and dismissed the veiled threats.
Dubcek declined to attend a special meeting of the Warsaw Pact
powers in July, but on August 2 he agreed to meet with Brezhnev
in the Slovakian town of Cierná. The next day, representatives
of European Europe's communist parties met in the Slovakian
capital of Bratislava, and a communiqué was issued suggesting
that pressure would be eased on Czechoslovakia in exchange for
tighter control over the press.
However, on the night of 20 August nearly
200'000 Soviet, East German, Polish, Hungarian, and Bulgarian troops
invaded Czechoslovakia in the largest deployment of military force in
Europe since the end of World War II. Armed resistance to the invasion
was negligible, but protesters immediately took to the streets, tearing
down streets signs in an effort to confuse the invaders. In Prague, Warsaw
Pact troops moved to seize control of television and radio stations.
At Radio Prague, journalists refused to give up the station and some
20 persons were killed before it was captured. Other stations went underground
and succeeded in broadcasting for several days before their locations
were discovered.
Dubcek and other government leaders
were detained and taken to Moscow. Meanwhile, widespread demonstrations
continued on the street, and more than 100 protesters were shot
to death by Warsaw Pact troops. Many foreign nations, including
China, Yugoslavia, and Rumania, condemned the invasion, but
no major international action was taken. Much of Czechoslovakia's
intellectual and business elite fled en masse to the West.
On 27 August, Dubcek returned to Prague
and announced in an emotional address that he had agreed to curtail his
reforms. Hard-line communists assumed positions in his government, and
Dubcek was forced gradually to dismiss his progressive aides. He became
increasingly isolated from both the public and his government. After
anti-Soviet rioting broke out in April 1969, he was removed as first
secretary and replaced by Gustav Husak, a "realist" who was willing to
work with the Soviets. Dubcek was later expelled from the Communist Party
and made a forest inspector based in Bratislava.
In 1989, as communist governments
collapsed across Eastern Europe, Prague again became the scene
of demonstrations for democratic reform. In December 1989, Gustav
Husak's government conceded to demands for a multiparty parliament.
Husak resigned, and for the first time in nearly two decades
Dubcek returned to politics as chairman of the new parliament,
which subsequently elected playwright and former dissident Václav
Havel as president of Czechoslovakia. Havel had come to fame
during the Prague Spring, and after the Soviet crackdown his
plays were banned and his passport confiscated. |
On
a 20 August: 
1913
First parachuting from an aircraft 
Deaths
