Czechoslovakia and Prague Spring Flashcards
1
Q
What were the causes for wanting reforms among Czechoslovakians?
A
- Economic
- Struggling to produce goods
- Standard of living dropped
- Government loosened control over businesses which meant they had more control over their prices and wages
- Political
- Dubcek promised change
2
Q
What were some of the proposed reforms?
A
- Abolition of censorship
- Freedom of speech
- Recognition of Slovak identity and customs
- Farms owned out of control of the state
- Creation of worker’s councils
- Freedom of movement
3
Q
Describe the development of the uprising
A
- Alexander Dubcek came to power in 1967
- Proposed ‘socialism with a human face’
- Learnt from Hungarian crisis and made it clear that he had no intention of leaving the Warsaw Pact
- Censorship eased
- This allowed opponents to criticize failings of the government, expose corruptness and ask awkward questions
- ‘Prague Spring’
- Talk of introducing SPD Party as a rival party
4
Q
Describe the developments of the uprising
A
- Soviets were very suspicious
- Brezhnev came under pressure from East German and Polish leaders to do something about it
- Tried slowing Dubcek down by publicly performing training exercises on the border
- Thought of economic sanctions but didn’t because they might have asked the West for help
- Summit conference: Dubcek agreed not to introduce SPD, but wanted other reforms
- 20th August 1968, Soviets moved tanks into Czechoslovakia
- Little resistance
- Socialism with a human faced hadn’t failed, it was just unacceptable by other communist nations
5
Q
What were the outcomes of the uprising?
A
- Dubcek was downgraded
- Soviet archives reveal that the intervention was pushed for as much by other Eastern European leaders as Brezhnev. They feared that their people would also want the reforms Dubcek wanted
6
Q
What was the Brezhnev Doctrine?
A
Brezhnev defined the essentials of communism as:
- one-party state
- remain a member of the Warsaw Pact
