The Prague Spring: Socialism With a Human Face
In 1968, Czechoslovakia dared to liberalize and the tanks of its Warsaw Pact allies rolled in to crush the experiment.
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Under Alexander Dubcek, Czechoslovakia launched a program of political and economic liberalization, relaxing censorship and opening debate within a socialist framework.
The 'Prague Spring' inspired hope across the Eastern Bloc, but alarmed the Kremlin, which feared the unraveling of its control.
In August, troops from five Warsaw Pact nations invaded, occupied the country, and forced a return to hardline rule.
"A few months of freedom bloomed behind the Iron Curtain then 200,000 troops arrived to shut it down."
The Soviet-led invasion ended the reform movement, reinforced the Brezhnev Doctrine that Moscow would not tolerate challenge within its bloc, and deepened the cynicism of dissidents who later led 1989's Velvet Revolution.
The Full Story
Reform From Within
Dubcek's vision was not to abandon socialism but to humanize it. The loosening of censorship unleashed a brief explosion of free expression.
The Invasion
Operation Danube brought overwhelming force. Citizens built barricades and staged quiet resistance, but the regime was compelled to reverse course.
The Brezhnev Doctrine
The intervention asserted that the Soviet Union would use force to preserve socialism in its sphere a principle that held until 1989.