Prague Spring Flashcards
When was Dubcek made the First Secretary of the Communist Party?
April 1968
What did Dubcek’s new policy involve ? (April 1968)
End of press censorship. Release political prisoners. Freedom of religion. Trade unions allowed for independence. Elected National Assembly. Limit secret police. Allow political meetings and protests. Encourage a market economy- private industry.
Alexander Dubcek called his system…
‘Socialism with a human face.’
What did the USSR fear?
Czechoslovakia would leave the Warsaw Pact.
They feared that foreign policy would change.
They would leave the buffer zone.
What happened on the 20th August, 1968?
Warsaw Pact troops sword the Prague Airport. 500,000 troops seized the airport during the government meeting and the next day Prague was filled with tanks.
Dubcek told the citizens not to…
Resist the troops.
What did the students do in response?
Students used petrol bombs and argued with the troops.
Buildings were set on fire.
Anti-Soviets broadcasted their views.
The US couldn’t intervene because…
They feared nuclear confrontation.
What were the results of the approach?
Dubcek and the other leaders were arrested.
Gustav Husak was his replacement and enforced communist rule, (April 1969).
Romania refused to send troops and became more independent. Albania left the Warsaw Pact.
Cold War worsened.
Relations with China worsened.
What did the Brezhnev Doctrine involve ?
Defending communism as a one-party system.
All countries have to stay in the Warsaw Pact.
Any attempt to reject communism will be met with force.
Why were the Czech’s unhappy ?
Novotny’s process of de-Stalinisation was too slow.
He was rigid to the Soviet regime.
He forced the Czechs to produce raw materials such as steel.
In 1965 he set up a New Economic Model which produced a surplus of consumer goods few could afford.
He was slow to release political prisoners.
The standard of living was falling.
Couldn’t afford consumer goods, (luxuries).
