Czechoslovakia and the Prague Spring, 1968 Flashcards
When was Khrushchev ousted from the USSR? (drive out or expel someone from a position or place)
October 1964
Who took over the USSR after Khrushchev?
Brezhnev
Who replaced the old Stalinist leader in Czechoslovakia and when?
Dubcek, in 1967
What famous policy did Dubcek propose?
‘Socialism with a human face’
What reforms were a part of this policy?
- Less censorship
- More freedom of speech
- Reduction in the activities of the secret police
What were Dubcek’s political beliefs?
- He was a committed communist
- However, he believed that communism didn’t have to be as restrictive as it had been before he came to power
- He’d learned the lessons of the Hungarian uprising
- He reassured Brezhnev (leader of the USSR) that he had no plans to pull out of the Warsaw Pact or Comecon
What was the Prague Spring? (lots of new ideas were appearing/springing up)
A period in Czechoslovakia where as censorship ceased, :
- Opponents of communism were able to criticise the failings of communist rule
- Corruption was exposed
- People asked awkward questions about events in the country’s recent past
- There was even talk of allowing another political party, the Social Democratic Party, to be set up as a rival to the Communist Party!
What tactics did the USSR use to try to slow Czechoslovakia down?
- Soviet, Polish and East German troops performed public training exercises right on the Czech border to intimidate them!
- Thought about imposing economic sanctions e.g. cancelling wheat exports to Czechoslovakia but then thought that the Czechs might ask for help from the West
What happened in the summit conference in July?
- USSR held a summit conference with the Czechs
- Dubcek agreed to not allow a new SDP
- However, he insisted on keeping most of his reforms
- Tension seemed to ease…
20th August 1968
- Astonishingly, Soviet tanks moved into Czechoslovakia
- Little violent resistance
- Dubcek was removed from power
- His experiment in socialism with a human face has not failed; it has simply proved unacceptable to the other communist countries
What were the outcomes of this crisis in Czechoslovakia?
- Dubcek wasn’t executed - he was gradually downgraded
- He was expelled from the communist party altogether
- Photographs showing him as leader were ‘censored’
What was the Brezhnev Doctrine?
It contained the essentials of communism:
- One-party system
- To remain a member of the Warsaw Pact
