1. 1968 Czech invasion
How it went down…

2. Warsaw Pact
A military treaty which bound its signatories to come to the aid of each other should any one of them be the victim of foreign aggression (NATO?)
Jamie – what countries were in the Warsaw Pact?
Although it was supposed to be based on equality it became a powerful political tool for the soviet union to harness the powers of a combined military

3. Rejection (insert lame picture)
Czechoslovakia rejected the call for more military integration within the Pact and sought a great role in developing strategy for non members.
Czech with a history of Democracy prior to WW2

4. Prague Spring
Leaders put forward plans to democratize the armed forces
Jack – democratize means?
Various documents stated that Czech should base its defence strategy on its own geopolitical interests and that the threat from the west was overstated.
Alexander Dubcek – reassured S.U that Czech would stick with the Pact – however the damage had been done

5. Leonid Brezhnev
Feared; liberalization, ending of censorship, defection, loss of Czech as an industrial base, spread to Poland and East Germany, the presence of NATO.
Czech never intended to leave the Pact but S.U could not be certain of their actions.
Bratislava Conference – Pact signed unshakeable fidelity to Marx/Leninist, declaring a struggle against bourgeois ideology
Soviet Union expressed its intention to intervene if bourgeois system established

6. INVASION
August 20, 1968 – invasion between ,000 troops in blitzkrieg fashion
108 killed
Meticulously organised – airport seizure
No resistance – “a resolute protest with the requirement that the illegal occupation of Czech be stopped without delay and all armed troops be withdrawn”

7. Bad Boys
Warsaw countries had entered without the Czech consent, denying the soviet claim that they had been invited to preserve socialism
Objections were demonstrated through mass gatherings and passive resistance.
Mitch – where was NATO?
LBJ(not LeBron) was involved in Vietnam and was trying to pursue an arms control treaty with the Soviets

8. effects
Czech military prisoners in own barracks which lead to suspicions among troops and neighbouring countries about the ability of Czech forces
Czech left to wonder about their own “allies”
October 16 – partial withdrawal, sizeable soviet influence remains as “temporary stationing”.
The S.U successfully stopped the liberalization reforms and strengthened the CPCz

9. Cold War Context
In terms of the CW, what effect do you think the invasion had on perceptions of the S.U, the Warsaw pact, and relations with western countries?