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Unlock This CourseCzechoslovakia had been under Communist rule since 1948. By the 1960s many people were unhappy. The economy was doing badly, the secret police were feared, and newspapers could print only what the party allowed. The hard-line leader, Antonín Novotný, was blamed, and on 5 January 1968 the party replaced him with Alexander Dubček.
Dubček was a loyal Communist, but he believed Communism would only survive if people actually liked living under it. He called his aim 'socialism with a human face'. In April 1968 he set out his reforms in the Action Programme:
This burst of freedom in the spring and summer of 1968 became known as the Prague Spring. Dubček knew the risk he was taking. He promised that Czechoslovakia would stay in the Warsaw Pact and Comecon, and that the Communist Party would stay in charge.
Key terms:
Leonid Brezhnev had led the Soviet Union since Khrushchev's fall in 1964. Dubček's promises did not calm him.
With censorship lifted, the press attacked the Communist past and people began to ask for rival political parties. In June 1968 the writer Ludvík Vaculík published 'Two Thousand Words', which called on ordinary people to push the reforms further. To Brezhnev it looked as if the party was losing control.
Czechoslovakia had borders with both West Germany and the Soviet Union, so losing it would leave a gap in the Warsaw Pact's defences. The leaders of East Germany and Poland, Walter Ulbricht and Władysław Gomułka, feared their own people would demand the same freedoms and pressed Brezhnev to act.
Brezhnev tried pressure first. Warsaw Pact troops held exercises inside Czechoslovakia in the summer. In July five Warsaw Pact governments sent a letter warning Dubček that his reforms threatened them all. At a meeting at Čierna nad Tisou at the end of July, Dubček again promised loyalty, but he did not undo his reforms. In August he welcomed President Tito of Yugoslavia and Nicolae Ceauşescu of Romania, two Communist leaders who refused to take orders from Moscow, to Prague. Brezhnev decided to use force.
On the night of 20-21 August 1968, hundreds of thousands of Warsaw Pact soldiers crossed the border, with thousands of tanks. Most were Soviet. Others came from Poland, Hungary and Bulgaria. Romania refused to take part.
The Czechoslovak government told its army and people not to fight back, so there was no battle. Instead people stood in front of tanks, argued with the soldiers, and took down road signs to confuse them. Secret radio stations kept broadcasting. Even so, more than 100 Czechoslovaks were killed. Dubček was arrested and flown to Moscow, where he was made to sign an agreement to end the reforms.
Dubček was allowed to stay on for a few months. In January 1969, while he was still in office, a student, Jan Palach, died after setting fire to himself in Prague as a protest. In April 1969 Dubček was replaced by Gustáv Husák, who was loyal to Moscow. Under 'normalisation', censorship came back, reformers lost their jobs and were thrown out of the party, and Soviet troops stayed in the country. Compare this with Hungary in 1956: there was far less bloodshed, and Dubček had never tried to leave the Warsaw Pact, yet the result was the same.
In November 1968 Brezhnev explained the invasion in a speech to Polish Communists. He said that when a Communist country was in danger of turning away from Communism, it was a problem for all Communist countries, not just that one. In other words, the Soviet Union and its allies claimed the right to send in troops. This became known as the Brezhnev Doctrine.
Soviet control was tightened. Every government in the Warsaw Pact now knew that real reform would bring tanks, and hard-line leaders like Ulbricht and Gomułka felt safer.
The USA and its allies condemned the invasion, and President Johnson called off a planned summit meeting with the Soviet leaders. The Soviet Union used its veto at the United Nations. But the West sent no help. The USA was busy fighting in Vietnam and would not risk war over a country inside the Soviet bloc. Arms talks between the superpowers went ahead in 1969.
The invasion split Communists. Romania and Yugoslavia condemned it, and Albania left the Warsaw Pact in September 1968. China criticised it too, fearing the Doctrine might one day be used against China. The large Communist parties of Italy and France also spoke out against Moscow.
Don't say Dubček wanted to end Communism or leave the Warsaw Pact: he promised to keep both. Don't say the Czechoslovak army fought the invaders: resistance was almost all non-violent. And don't describe the Brezhnev Doctrine as a cause of the invasion. It was announced afterwards to justify it, so it belongs under impact.
'The main effect of the Soviet invasion of Czechoslovakia (1968) was to strengthen Soviet control over Eastern Europe.'
How far do you agree? Explain your answer. [16 marks]
You may use the following in your answer:
You must also use information of your own.
I largely agree. The invasion also affected superpower relations and divided the Communist world, but its deepest and most lasting effect was to tighten Moscow's grip on Eastern Europe.
The invasion strengthened Soviet control because it ended the most serious attempt at reform inside the Soviet bloc. Dubček was forced to sign away his reforms in Moscow, and in April 1969 he was replaced by Gustáv Husák, who brought back censorship under 'normalisation', while Soviet troops stayed in the country. Brezhnev then turned this one invasion into a rule. In November 1968 he said that a threat to Communism in one country was a problem for all Communist countries. This Brezhnev Doctrine warned every Warsaw Pact government that reform would bring tanks, so leaders stayed obedient and hard-liners such as Ulbricht felt secure.
However, the invasion also affected relations with the USA. The USA condemned it and President Johnson called off a planned summit meeting with the Soviet leaders. Yet this effect was small and short. The Soviet Union simply used its veto at the United Nations. The USA was fighting in Vietnam and sent no help, just as it had sent none to Hungary in 1956, and arms talks between the superpowers went ahead in 1969. In fact, by doing nothing the USA showed that it accepted Eastern Europe as a Soviet matter, which itself made Soviet control stronger.
A third effect was that the invasion weakened Soviet leadership of world Communism. Romania refused to send troops and condemned the invasion, as did Yugoslavia, and Albania left the Warsaw Pact in September 1968. China criticised the Doctrine, and the Communist parties of Italy and France spoke out against Moscow. So the Soviet Union lost respect among Communists even as it gained obedience.
Overall, I agree to a large extent. Judged by how much changed and for how long, stronger control was the main effect. The quarrel with the USA did not last, and the critics in the Communist world were mostly countries and parties that Moscow did not control anyway. Inside the Warsaw Pact, though, the Brezhnev Doctrine set the limits for every government for years to come.
What lifts this to the top level: it covers three effects, one of them not in the bullets, argues both for and against the statement, and reaches a judgement using a clear test (how much changed and for how long).
An answer that uses only the Brezhnev Doctrine and the American reaction cannot reach the top level, so plan a third effect before you write. The split in the Communist world works well here. Notice too how the model answer turns the second bullet round: the weak American reaction ends up supporting the statement.