Prague Spring

• Why did the Prague Spring happen?


  • Secret police were used to keep control
  • The economy was used to help the USSR which meant there were no consumer goods for the Czech people
  • Students protested in 1966 against the government
• Who was elected as leader of the Czech government and when?

  Alexander Dubcek in 1968
• What reforms did Dubcek introduce in Czechoslovakia in April 1968?

  • Increased standard of living
  • End of press censorship
  • Free elections were considered for the future
  • Freedom to criticise government without punishment
  • Power given to trade unions
  • Freedom to travel abroad
  • Plans to increase trade with the West
• What were the reactions to Dubcek's reforms?


  • The Czech people reacted positively

  The Soviet Union did not like his reforms because:

  • Brezhnev did not want Dubcek's actions to encourage reform in other satellite states
  • The Soviet Union's control over Eastern Europe in the 1960s was not as strong as it had been in the 1940s as Yugoslavia had broken away from the Soviet Union and Romania refused to attend Warsaw Pact meetings
  • Brezhnev need to keep control over Czechoslovakia
• What did the Soviet Union do to respond to the Prague Spring?


  • 20th Aug 1968 - Invaded Czechoslovakia with 500,000 Warsaw Pact troops and ended the Prague Spring
  • Dubcek was arrested, sent to Moscow and ordered to reverse his reforms
  • 1969 - Dubcek was dismissed from office and was replaced by Gustav Husak
  • Czechoslovakia remained firmly under Soviet-approved government for the next 20 years
• How did the Prague Spring affect the USSR?


  It strengthened it
• What was created as a result of the Prague Spring?

  The Brezhnev Doctrine