Prague spring Flashcards
Causes of the reforms
Secret police use control people
Czech economy was run for the benefit of the Soviet union
there was no freedom of speech everything was censored
Purges of politicians military leaders Catholics Jews and people with connection to the west
the leader was a Stalinist leader and was very strict
The reforms
Leader was replaced by Dubcek Soviets trusted him to make government more popular was committed to the Warsaw Pact
censorship was relaxed
trade with the west increased
Czech people were given more freedom to travel
multiparty elections were discussed
Publics reaction
Happy
Brezhnev’s reaction
Disproved
felt threatened
Dubcek was arrested
USSR troops sentence to perform military drills
Brezhnev doctrine
USSR have the right to invade any country in the eastern block the acted against the Soviet Union
Events
To counter back the relaxation of control and the fear of a further revolution Ussr sent in troups of soldiers from Warsaw Pact to perform drills and to show power of the Czechs
Dubcek invited other radical leaders for political talks in Czechoslovakia
Brezhnev Feared a complete collapse and sent in 500,000 troops from Warsaw Pact countries to Czech
Czechs weren’t strong enough to field mass resistance but did attack tanks with petrol bombs and only around 200 died
Dubcek Arrested,the government officials replaced by stricter Communist
Consequences on US and Western Europe
Brezhnev made deal with US that they were not intervene in the Vietnam if US ignored Czechoslovakia
Other countries such as France further away from good relations with ussr
Consequences on the USSR
Brezhnev doctrine gave an increase power over Europe
Consequence of communism around the world
Communist states made new alliances and moved away from USSR
Consequence in Czechoslovakia
Satellite states feared reforming however some eventually left
