Let’s Learn about the Cold War: Part 16 – Prague Spring

  • Published
  • By Senior Airman Sean D. Smith
  • Minot Air Force Base Public Affairs
MINOT AIR FORCE BASE, N.D. --  After World War II, Czechoslovakia was under the communist control of the Soviet Union. It was a rule that was characterized by limitations on freedom of speech, freedom of the media and freedom to travel.

In 1968, Alexander Dubcek was elected First Secretary of the Communist Party of Czechoslovakia. He began a program of reforms intended to lift many of the restrictions on Czechoslovakian society.

Dubcek wanted his party's mission to be "...to build an advanced socialist society on sound economic foundations... a socialism that corresponds to the historical democratic traditions of Czechoslovakia."

He wanted to limit the power of the secret police, and begin a transition that would move the country in a more democratic direction. Dubcek made good progress using nonviolent means, and his efforts and reforms because known as the Prague Spring.

But what Dubcek was doing worked a little too well, and the Soviet Union did not approve.

The Warsaw Five: the Soviet Union, Hungary, Poland, East Germany, and Bulgaria saw Dubcek's reforms as a criticism of the communist ideal, and they worried that if Prague Spring succeeded, other Soviet satellite states might try to imitate Czechoslovakia's reforms.

Soviet leadership entered negotiations with Dubcek and the Czechoslovakian government to limit the changes being implemented, but the results of the talks weren't enough to put the USSR's worries to rest.

Less than a year after Dubcek took office, the Warsaw Pact invaded Czechoslovakia. There was some resistance, but no major fighting; fewer than a hundred Czechs and Slovaks were killed. Warsaw Pact forces quickly occupied Czechoslovakia, causing massive emigration, with as many as 300,000 people fleeing the country as a result.

The USSR justified the invasion with the Brezhnev Doctrine, which stated the Soviet Union could step in if a country in the Eastern Bloc showed signs of moving toward a capitalist system.

The occupation was widely denounced around the world, but Czechoslovakia remained under communist rule until the Velvet Revolution in 1989. In the immediate aftermath of the Soviet intervention, most of Dubcek's changes were undone, and his progress erased. A new First Secretary replaced Dubcek, and he purged the Czechoslovakian Communist Party of its liberal members.

In addition to sparking mass emigration, the Soviet invasion had cultural impact around the world. The USSR's image suffered greatly, and public opinion of the Soviet Union's communist hegemony was starting to slide.

While the Prague Spring was taking place, the United States found itself in another proxy war with the USSR in Asia.

Next time: The Vietnam War