The Prague Spring and the Warsaw Pact Invasion of Czechoslovakia in 1968

On August 20, 1968, tens of thousands of Soviet and East European ground and air forces moved into Czechoslovakia and occupied the country in an attempt to end the “Prague Spring” reforms and restore an orthodox Communist regime. The leader of the Soviet Communist Party, Leonid Brezhnev, was initially reluctant to use military force and tried to pressure his counterpart in Czechoslovakia, Alexander Dubcek, to crack down. But during the summer of 1968, after several months of careful deliberations, the Soviet Politburo finally decided that military force was the only option left. A large invading force of Soviet, Polish, Hungarian, and Bulgarian troops received final orders to move into Czechoslovakia; within 24 hours they had established complete military control of Czechoslovakia, bringing an end to hopes for “socialism with a human face.” Dubcek and most of the other Czechoslovak reformers were temporarily restored to power, but their role from late August 1968 through Apri...

Author: Bischof Günter, Karner Stefan, Ruggenthaler Peter

ISBN: 9780739143049

Year of publication: 2010

Genre: History, Politics

Number of pages: 695

Reading time: 11 h. 35 min.

Formats: FB2, EPUB, PDF

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