The Prague Spring free essay sample

Dubbed tried to reassure Brethren that his changes wouldnt hearten the USSR and that Czechoslovakia wouldnt leave the Warsaw pact. Dubbed promised the people socialism with a human face, and launched a series Of reforms known as the Prague Spring. The reforms aimed to improve standard of living, allow for a greater freedom and democracy, and introduce trade with West Germany. Dubbed tried to reassure Brethren that his changes wouldnt threaten the USSR and that Czechoslovakia wouldnt leave the Warsaw Pact. Brethren was unconvinced.He was worried that Czechoslovakia, which had the strongest industry in the Soviet Bloc, would leave the Warsaw Pact allowing NATO to move in. The reforms, and increased contact with the West, might spread across the satellite states. The Soviet Bloc and the WAP might collapse, and the USSR would no longer have its buffer zone. The other Warsaw Pact countries also objected to the reforms. We will write a custom essay sample on The Prague Spring or any similar topic specifically for you Do Not WasteYour Time HIRE WRITER Only 13.90 / page In August 1968, 500,000 troops from the WAP countries invaded Czechoslovakia. There was only a little violent protest. The Czech remembered what had happened to the rebels in Hungary in 1956.So the Czech responded to the invasion with sit ins, demos etc. However, Russian tanks were attacked with petrol bombs, and one student, Jan Palace, set himself on fire as a protest against Soviet occupation. A new leader replaced Dubbed, called Hausa. He reverted Czechoslovakia to strict communist rule. The invasion temporarily led to worsened East-West relations. It showed the West that the USSR would not permit reform or opposition in the satellite states, but the West werent prepared to intervene and so risk the outbreak of war.Besides, the USA was too busy in Vietnam. The invasion of Czechoslovakia led to the Brethren Doctrine. This stressed that a threat to one communist country was a threat to all, and force would be used wherever necessary to keep the satellite states firmly under Soviet intro. However, the Warsaw Pact did suffer. Romania refused to send troops to invade Czechoslovakia, and took an increasingly independent stance against the USSR. Albania did the same and left the WAP.The Soviet Union had shown by its crushing of the Hungarian in 1 956 that it would not permit any of its satellites to break free from communism or the Warsaw Pact. In 1 968, Czechoslovakia decided it would see how far it could go in becoming free from Soviet control. In 1968 the Czech Communist party chose Alexander Dubbed as the new leader in place of the Stalinist, Novelty. Dubbed was a communist but he wanted a freer, less repressive kind of communism. He called his policies Socialism with a human face. Daubers policies: * Allowing Czech to travel to the West * Ending press censorship so that non-communist papers could be published * The election of a new parliament in which communists would share power with non-communist parties * Freeing of political (anti- communist) prisoners The spring and summer of 1968 saw the Czech media criticizing the communist government and questioning the need for communism altogether. The Soviet Union could not ignore what was going on. Czechoslovakia had a border with the Soviet Union: it was in a key strategic position.Brethren told Dubbed to slow down the pace of change but to the Soviets it seemed Dubbed was losing control. On August 20, 1 968 Soviet tanks and troops, supported by troops from most other Warsaw Pact countries, invaded Czechoslovakia. Only Romania refused to help the invasion. The Czech realized that resistance was pointless. Dubbed was arrested but unlike Nagy in Hungary, was not executed. In January 1 969, a 21 -year-old Czech student, Jan papal, burnt himself to death in Presages main square as a protest and became a national hero.The crushing Of the Prague Spring did not seriously damage East-West relations. Czechoslovakia, like Hungary before it, belonged to the Soviet zone and could not be helped. Brethren developed the Soviet version of the Truman Doctrine. The Brethren Doctrine declared that: * Communist countries had the right to defend fellow communist states from western attempts to make them capita list. * Loyal communist states had to remain in the Warsaw Pact and * Maintain a one-party system with only the Communist Party allowed. * The Brethren Doctrine was a warning to other communist states. Poland would be the next to test it.