You are viewing a free preview of this lesson.
Subscribe to unlock all 10 lessons in this course and every other course on LearningBro.
The Prague Spring of 1968 was an attempt by the Czechoslovak government to reform communism and create "socialism with a human face." Like the Hungarian Uprising twelve years earlier, it was crushed by Soviet military intervention. This lesson explores the causes, events, and significance of the crisis.
Czechoslovakia had been a Soviet satellite state since 1948. By the 1960s, there was growing discontent with communist rule.
| Problem | Detail |
|---|---|
| Economic stagnation | Czechoslovakia had been one of the wealthiest European countries before WWII; under communism, its economy declined |
| Political repression | No free speech, no free press, no political opposition allowed |
| Secret police | The StB (Statni bezpecnost) monitored and persecuted dissidents |
| Cultural restrictions | Censorship of writers, artists, and intellectuals |
| Soviet exploitation | Resources directed toward Soviet interests rather than Czech needs |
| Leader | Antonin Novotny — a hardline Stalinist, deeply unpopular |
In January 1968, Alexander Dubcek replaced Novotny as leader of the Czechoslovak Communist Party. Dubcek was a committed communist but believed that the system needed reform to survive.
| Reform | Detail |
|---|---|
| Relaxed censorship | Free press and freedom of speech introduced |
| Political freedom | Other political parties allowed to operate |
| Economic reform | Greater economic freedom and trade with the West |
| Cultural freedom | Writers, artists, and musicians given creative liberty |
| Travel | Citizens allowed to travel abroad |
| Reduced secret police | Restrictions on the power of the StB |
Dubcek called his vision "socialism with a human face" — he wanted to keep communism but make it more democratic and humane. Crucially, he did not plan to leave the Warsaw Pact.
Exam Tip: Dubcek's reforms were more moderate than Imre Nagy's in Hungary (1956). Dubcek did not want to leave the Warsaw Pact or abandon communism entirely. Despite this, the Soviet Union still intervened. This shows that the USSR was not prepared to tolerate any significant deviation from the Soviet model.
Khrushchev's successor, Leonid Brezhnev, watched Czechoslovakia with growing alarm. Several factors drove the Soviet decision to intervene.
| Reason | Explanation |
|---|---|
| Fear of domino effect | If Czechoslovakia reformed, other satellite states might follow |
| Warsaw Pact unity | A reformed Czechoslovakia might weaken the alliance |
| Pressure from hardliners | East Germany's Ulbricht and Poland's Gomulka demanded action |
| Loss of control | Free press and free speech undermined communist authority |
| Cold War context | The USA was distracted by the Vietnam War and unlikely to intervene |
On the night of 20–21 August 1968, approximately 500,000 Warsaw Pact troops and 2,000 tanks from the Soviet Union, Poland, Hungary, Bulgaria, and East Germany invaded Czechoslovakia.
| Date | Event |
|---|---|
| 20–21 August 1968 | Warsaw Pact forces invade Czechoslovakia |
| August 1968 | Dubcek and other leaders arrested and taken to Moscow |
| August 1968 | Czechs and Slovaks engage in passive resistance — changing street signs, standing in front of tanks, arguing with soldiers |
| August–September 1968 | Dubcek forced to reverse his reforms (the "Moscow Protocol") |
| April 1969 | Dubcek replaced by the hardliner Gustav Husak |
| Statistic | Figure |
|---|---|
| Czechoslovaks killed | Approximately 137 |
| Czechoslovaks wounded | Approximately 500 |
| Refugees | Around 100,000 fled the country |
| Jan Palach | A student who set himself on fire in Wenceslas Square, Prague, on 16 January 1969, in protest at the Soviet occupation. He died three days later and became a symbol of resistance. |
After the invasion, Brezhnev announced what became known as the Brezhnev Doctrine.
"When forces that are hostile to socialism try to turn the development of some socialist country towards capitalism, it becomes not only a problem of the country concerned, but a common problem and concern of all socialist countries."
Exam Tip: The Brezhnev Doctrine is a key concept. It justified Soviet intervention in Czechoslovakia and set the rules for the remainder of the Cold War until Gorbachev abandoned it in the late 1980s. Its abandonment was a major factor in the fall of the Berlin Wall (1989) and the collapse of communism in Eastern Europe.
| Country/Organisation | Response |
|---|---|
| USA | Condemned the invasion verbally but took no action (distracted by Vietnam) |
| Western Europe | Protests and condemnation, but no military response |
| China | Condemned the invasion; Sino-Soviet relations worsened further |
| Romania | Refused to take part in the invasion; Ceausescu condemned it |
| Communist parties in Western Europe | Many condemned the invasion, weakening international communism |
| United Nations | A resolution condemning the invasion was vetoed by the Soviet Union |
| Consequence | Detail |
|---|---|
| Reforms reversed | All of Dubcek's reforms were cancelled; censorship and repression restored |
| Brezhnev Doctrine established | Clear message that deviation from the Soviet model would not be tolerated |
| Western inaction confirmed | Like Hungary in 1956, the West would not risk war to help Eastern Europe |
| Husak's "normalisation" | A period of repression and conformity lasting until 1989 |
| Long-term legacy | The crushing of the Prague Spring sowed the seeds of the Velvet Revolution of 1989, when Czechoslovakia finally achieved the freedoms Dubcek had sought |
The Prague Spring was an attempt to reform communism from within. Despite Dubcek's careful moderation, the Soviet Union crushed the experiment with overwhelming force. The Brezhnev Doctrine ensured that no further reform attempts would be tolerated for another twenty years.
Exam Tip: Compare the Hungarian Uprising (1956) and the Prague Spring (1968) — examiners love this comparison. Consider the similarities (both crushed by Soviet force, both provoked by desire for reform, the West did nothing in both cases) and the differences (Nagy wanted to leave the Warsaw Pact, Dubcek did not; the Hungarian uprising was more violent; the Brezhnev Doctrine came from 1968).
Subscribe to continue reading
Get full access to this lesson and all 10 lessons in this course.