Opposition in Czechoslovakia to Soviet Control -Prage Spring

• 1. At the end of WW2, the Soviet established a pro-Soviet government under Klement Gottwald
• 2. There was no freedom of speech and the government carried out purges between 1949 and 1954
• 3. Economic and political problems led to student demonstrations in 1966
• 4. In 1968, Alexander Dubcek became leader
• 5. Dubcek believed the government should offer ’socialism with a human face‘
• 6. Dubcek started offering reforms like relaxed censorship, increased powers for trade unions, and increased trade with the West. This became known as the 'Prague Spring'
• 8. When Dubcek invited Causescu of Romania and Tito of Yugoslavia to Prague, Brezhnev ordered an invasion
• 9. On 20 August 1968, 500,000 Warsaw Pact troops invaded Czechoslovakia and ended the ’Prague Spring‘
• 10. Dubcek was arrested and sent to Moscow
• 7. The Soviet leader, Brezhnev, became concerned and ordered Warsaw Pact troops to carry out manoeuvres in Czechoslovakia