Central & Eastern: Compare and contrast the impact of opposition to Soviet control in two countries between 1968 and 1989 (Czechoslovakia and Hungary) Flashcards
Intro/thesis
-The Hungarian uprising ended with the arrest of Imre Nagy and the installation of Janos Kadar, a loyal Soviet communist, as the nation’s leader.
-The Prague Spring was a peaceful but unsuccessful attempt to liberalize and reform socialism in Czechoslovakia. It was suppressed by a Soviet invasion in August 1968.
-Most significant impact on Hungary:
-Most significant impact on Czechoslovakia:
Paragraphs
-Impact on relations with the Soviet Union
-Impact on domestic policies
-Economic impacts
USSR relations- examples
Hungary:
-It took a week of fighting before Soviet troops were able to suppress resistance, with more than 2,500 Hungarians dying.
Czechoslovakia:
-In August of 1968, around 200,000 Warsaw Pact troops rolled across the borders into Czechoslovakia. The government in Prague, led by Alexander Dubcek, decided not to resist the invasion, so Czechoslovak armed forces were ordered to remain in their barracks.
-There was little fighting and fewer than 80 people were killed.
-Brezhnev doctrine
USSR relations- explanation and historiography
Hungary:
-Although the Soviet Union did not suffer severe international consequences for the crackdown on the Hungarian Uprising, the event did have important effects on the Eastern Bloc and Soviet internal affairs. Most importantly, the rebellion in Hungary exposed the weaknesses of Eastern European communism, as this uprising was driven largely by the low standard of living and the government’s failure to provide for the people.
Czechoslovakia:
-The Prague Spring was a large reason for the Brezhnev Doctrine, which stated that the Soviet Union would intervene to enforce its own interpretation of socialism whenever it felt threatened. This severely limited reforms in Soviet-bloc countries in the ensuing decades.
Tony Judt: The crushing of the Prague Spring destroyed the idea that Communism was reformable. The events of the Prague Spring deterred radicals or reformers from every again looking to the ruling party to carry out their aspirations. He describes Communism in Eastern Europe as a ‘rotting carcass’ that staggered on, but had died in August of 1968. (The Prague Spring killed the soul of communism and the illusion that communism was reformable and a mistake that could be corrected.)
Impact on domestic politics- examples
Hungary:
-Nagy was replaced by Kádár as the new national leader. After the Hungarian Rising, Kádár was more prepared to conform to Soviet ideals; he ended any ideas of a multi-party regime or of leaving the Warsaw Pact. He also oversaw the brutal repression of Nagy and his supporters, most of whom were tried and executed in 1957-58.
-During the mid-1960s, Kádár’s government brought more freedoms. He gradually lifted Rákosi’s more harsh measures against free speech, relaxed censorship of foreign books and films, and implemented more opportunities in higher education.
Czechoslovakia:
-After Dubeck was replaced by Husak, a communist more loyal to Soviet policies, the period between 1969 and 1971 brought ‘normalization’. Essentially, this was a winding back of the reforms by the Dubcek government. Police powers and censorship were reinstalled, travel restrictions reimposed, and the maximum period of detention without trial was extended.
Impact on domestic policies- explanation
Czechoslovakia:
-The new government had been undemocratically imposed from Moscow and was clearly dependent on the continued Soviet military presence and therefore could not attain popular legitimacy. In these unpromising circumstances, Husak had to consolidate his rule and achieve some form of social contract with the people.
Economic impacts- examples
Hungary:
-During the mid-1960s, Kádár’s government began to implement what became known as ‘goulash communism’: an economic policy that combined centralized socialism with free-market principles. He also succeeded in making Hungary less economically dependent on the Soviet Union.
Czechoslovakia:
-The period of ‘normalization’ brought a return to centralized economic control.
-The state (post-1968) proved able to provide basic economic security; full employment, free universal health care, subsidised holidays, and pensions were guaranteed. Workers’ wages were lower than their western counterparts’ but the average Czechoslovak could afford a modest supply of consumer goods and by the late 1980s, Czechoslovakia ranked second in the world in the number of country cottages per capita; as much as 80% of families had access to these second homes.
Economic impacts- explanation
Hungary:
-This reduced economic dependence on the Soviet Union, combined with other social changes, improved Hungary’s standards of living significantly and made Kádár more popular with his own people.
Czechoslovakia:
-Although it is the case that for many, the lesson of 1968 was that rebellion was futile, the change in leadership did bring some economic benefits and improvements in quality of life.
