Czartoryski, Adam Jerzy, and Alexander; Gielgud Adam. (1968). Memoirs, Prince Adam Czartoryski and His Correspondence with Alexander I, with Documents Relative to the Prince’s Negotiations with Pitt, Fox, and Brougham, and an Account of his Conversations with Lord Palmerston and Other English Statesmen in London in 1832. Orono, ME: Academic International.
CZECHOSLOVAK CORPS See CIVIL WAR OF 1917-1922.
Late in the evening of August 20, 1968, Czechoslovakia was invaded by five of its Warsaw-Pact allies: the Soviet Union, East Germany, Poland, Hungary, and Bulgaria. The invasion force, which eventually totaled around half a million soldiers, 6,300 tanks, and 800 airplanes, targeted its entry from the north, northwest, and south to quickly neutralize the outnumbered Czechoslovak army. The immediate objective of the invasion was to prevent any resistance to the seizure of power by collaborators in the Czechoslovak Communist Party (KSC), who had signaled their agreement with Soviet disapproval of First Secretary Alexander Dubcek’s reform program and leadership style. Although it caused the deaths of around 100 civilians and is often credited with putting an end to the “Prague Spring,” the invasion failed in many political and logistical respects, and its larger aims were met only months later by other means.
The possibility of military intervention in Czechoslovakia had been entertained in the Brezhnev Politburo from at least as early as March 1968, only weeks after Dubcek had risen (with Soviet blessing) to the top of the KSC. At first, the majority of Soviet leaders preferred to pressure Dubcek into reimposing censorship over the mass media, silencing critical intellectuals, and removing the bolder reformers within the party. His repeated promises to restore control temporarily prevailed over the demands of Polish, East German, and Bulgarian leaders for Soviet-led military action. The Politburo was also restrained by its lack of personal contacts with, and trust in, other Czech and Slovak functionaries, to whom power would have to be entrusted.
By mid-July 1968, Soviet patience with Dubcek had been exhausted, and alternative leaders had
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A Czech youth displays a bloodstained flag to Soviet troops sprawled atop a passing tank in Prague, August 21, 1968. © BETTMANN/ CORBIS been identified. Under the cover of war games in and around Czechoslovakia, twenty divisions moved into striking position. After the failure of several last attempts to persuade Dubcek to take the initiative in reversing his reforms, the Politburo concluded on August 17 that military intervention was unavoidable. The Czech and Slovak collaborators, however, botched their bid to seize power, and the invading armies’ overextended supply lines broke down, forcing soldiers to beg for food and water from a hostile populace engaging in highly effective, nonviolent resistance. In Moscow, the Soviet powers decided to bring Dubcek and his closest colleagues to the Kremlin. After three days of talks, a secret protocol was signed that committed the KSC leadership to the restoration of censorship and a purge of the party apparatus and government ministries. Dubcek remained at the helm of the KSC until April 1969, when Moscow-fueled intrigue led to his replacement by the more amenable Gust?v Hus?k. See also: BREZHNEV DOCTRINE; CZECHOSLOVAKIA, RELATIONS WITH
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Dawisha, Karen. (1984). The Kremlin and the Prague Spring. Berkeley, CA: University of California Press. Kramer, Mark. (1992-1993). “New Sources on the 1968 Soviet Invasion of Czechoslovakia.” Cold War International History Project Bulletin, 2-3. Williams, Kieran. (1997). The Prague Spring and its Aftermath: Czechoslovak Politics, 1968-1970. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press.
Both the Soviet Union and Czechoslovakia were born from the collapse of European empires at the
close of World War I. While the USSR rose directly from the rubble of the Russian Empire, the Paris Peace Conference crafted Czechoslovakia from Aus-tro-Hungarian lands. From the outset, the Czech lands (Bohemia and Moravia) and Slovakia had as many differences as similarities, and tensions between the two halves of the state would resurface throughout its lifetime and eventually contribute to its demise in 1992.
Under the leadership of President Tomas G. Masaryk, Czechoslovakia was spared many of the problems of the interwar period. Its higher levels of industrialization helped it weather the financial crises of the 1920s better than its more agrarian neighbors. Czechoslovakia also remained a democracy, ruled by the “Petka”-the five leading political parties. Democracy ended only when Czechoslovakia was seized by Nazi Germany, first through the Munich Agreement of 1938, and later through direct occupation of Bohemia and Moravia in 1939. A separate Slovak state was established under Nazi protection in 1939. Ultimately, Soviet troops liberated Czechoslovakia in 1945.
Following World War II, Stalin moved to first install satellite regimes throughout Eastern Europe and then mold them to emulate Soviet structures. Unlike other future members of the Warsaw Pact, however, Czechoslovakia’s communists were homegrown, not installed by Moscow. A Communist Party of Czechoslovakia (CPCz) had been established in 1921 and had a much broader support base than the Soviet party. Communists served in the first post-war government of President Eduard Benes, taking a plurality (38 percent) of the vote in May 1946. They controlled key ministries, including the Interior, Education, Information, and Agriculture. They also acceded to Soviet pressure to not participate in the Marshall Plan reconstruction program. The CPCz seized power in February 1948, when non-Communist cabinet members resigned, hoping to force new elections. A handful of other parties competed in the May 1948 election, but the Communists were in charge. Benes resigned the presidency in June and was replaced by Communist Klement Gottwald.
Gottwald and CPCz First Secretary Rudolf Slan-sky then began a program of restructuring Czechoslovakia in the Soviet image. Noncommunist organizations were banned, economic planning was introduced, agriculture was collectivized, and media and educational institutions were subjected to ideological controls. Again emulating Stalin, the Czechoslovak communists used terror and purges to consolidate their rule. Even Slansky succumbed to the purges; he was replaced by Antonin Novotny. Following Gottwald’s death in 1953, Antonin Za-potocky became president.
The other major communist death of 1953, Stalin’s, had little effect on Czechoslovakia. Like hard-line communist leaders in East Germany, officials in Prague did not embrace Nikita Khrushchev’s efforts at liberalization and pluralism. They kept tight control over the Czechoslovak citizenry for the next fifteen years, using the secret police as necessary to enforce their rule. Public protest was minimal, in part due to the relative success-by communist standards-of Czechoslovakia’s economy.
In January 1968 the CPCz removed Novotny and replaced him with Alexander Dubcek, who finally brought destalinization to Czechoslovakia. The CPCz now allowed broader political discussion, eased censorship, and tried to address Slovak complaints of discrimination. This new approach, called “socialism with a human face” led to a resurgence in the country’s social, political, and economic life-an era that came to be called the Prague Spring. Soon popular demands exceeded the Party’s willingness to reform. The CPCz’s “Action Plan” was countered by “2,000 Words,” an opposition list of grievances and demands.
The Kremlin kept a close eye on all developments in Czechoslovakia. Khrushchev had dispatched tanks to Budapest in 1956 when Hungarian Communists took reform too far. His successor, Leonid Brezhnev, was even less inclined to allow for experimentation. By summer, Moscow worried that Dubcek had lost control. Moscow declared its right to intervene in its sphere of influence by promulgating the Brezhnev Doctrine. On August 21, 1968, Warsaw Pact troops invaded to restore order. Dubcek was summoned to Moscow but not immediately fired.
In 1969 “socialism with a human face” was replaced with a new policy: normalization. Gustav Husak became the CPCz first secretary in April 1969, and Dubcek was dispatched to the forests of Slovakia to chop wood. Husak took orders from Moscow, turning Czechoslovakia into one of the Soviet Union’s staunchest allies. The Party purged itself of reformist elements, alternative organizations shut down, and censorship was reimposed. In October 1969, Moscow and Prague issued a joint statement, announcing that their economies would be coordinated for the next six years.
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The populace fell in line, quietly accepting the reversal of the Prague Spring. The communist leaders tried to temper the political hard-line by maintaining a high standard of living and plentiful consumer goods. As the shock of
