Soviet invasion of Czechoslovakia

Question 1

What reforms was Alexander Dubcek making in Czechoslovakia ?

Answer 1

As part of the ‘Prague Spring’, from April 1968 Dubcek introduced reforms of less censorship, trade union powers increased/workers rights, more power for regional government, trade with the West was increased and Czechs given greater freedom to travel abroad. The idea of holding multi-party elections in the future was discussed

Question 2

What did Dubcek promise Khrushchev that meant the USSR were initially happy to accept him as leader ?

Answer 2

Dubcek was committed to the Warsaw Pact and support for the Soviet Union

Question 3

What happened to change the USSR’s opinion on Dubcek ?

Answer 3

Brezhnev disapproved of many of the reforms being made by Dubcek. He saw as a threat to Soviet control in Eastern Europe

Question 4

Who replaced Khrushchev as the USSR leader ? And when ?

Answer 4

Brezhnev 1968

Question 5

Describe the events of the soviet invasion ?

Answer 5

On 20th August 1968, 500,000 Warsaw Pact troops invaded Czechoslovakia and ended the ‘Prague Spring’. Although the Czech people could do very little, there was a brave resistance, such as blocking roads or attacking individual tanks.

Question 6

What impact did the Soviet invasion have on Czechoslovakia ?

Answer 6

Dubcek was arrested, sent to Moscow and ordered to reverse his reforms. The in 1969 he was replaced by Gustav Husak. Husak was loyal to Moscow and introduced a clampdown in which over 1,000 Czechs were arrested

Question 7

What was the Brezhnev Doctrine ?

Answer 7

Brezhnev said that the actions of any individual communist country affected all other communist countries. This meant that other communist countries could take action to prevent reforms ( Moscow had power over all communist countries )

Question 8

What was the impact of the Prague Spring on the USA-USSR relations ?

Answer 8

The soviet response to the Prague Spring outraged the Western governments. There was an attempt to pass a formal resolution condemning the invasion in the United Nations but this was voted by the Soviet Union. They saw that the USA might protest this but could do little to stop it in Soviet controlled Eastern Europe