Czechoslovakia, 1968
- Had a democratic tradition
- In 1968 Alexander Dubcek became Secretary
- Gained freedom of press, assembly worship and right to strike "Socialism with a human face"
- This move threatened to spread to neighbouring Romania
- Troops from several satellite states moved in
- Dubcek arrested and relieved by Husak who followed the Russian line
Summary
On August 20, 1968, the Soviet Union led Warsaw Pact troops in an invasion ofCzechoslovakia to crack down on reformist trends in Prague. Although the Soviet Union’s action successfully halted the pace of reform in Czechoslovakia, it had unintended consequences for the unity of the communist bloc. Before the Second World War, the nation of Czechoslovakia had been a strong democracy in Central Europe, but beginning in the mid 1930s it faced challenges from both the West and the East. In 1938, the leadership in Great Britain andFrance conceded the German right to takeover the Sudetenland in the Munich Agreement, but the Czech government condemned this German occupation of its western-most territory as a betrayal. In 1948, Czech attempts to join the U.S.-sponsored Marshall Plan to aid postwar rebuilding were thwarted by Soviet takeover and the installation of a new communist government in Prague. For the next twenty years, Czechoslovakia remained a stable state within the Soviet sphere of influence; unlike in Hungary or Poland, even the rise of de-Stalinization after 1953 did not lead to liberalization by the fundamentally conservative Czech government.