Soviet Intervention

• On the 20 August 1968 


  500,000 Warsaw pact troops invaded Czechoslovakia, ending the Prague Spring

  (Czech people could do little against such a powerful army so there was minimal opposition to the invasion)
• Invading forces had been told they were 'restoring order' and so were shocked by the hostility of the people.

  Country under strict communist rule.
• The Brezhnev Doctrine 


  Western European countries saw the Soviet intervention as an aggressive attempt to dominate another Eastern European country

  • 26 September 1968 - Soviets justified

  Brezhnev said the actions of any individual communist country affect all

  • It was their duty to take steps to stop these actions (can't make communist countries more liberal)