Prague Spring, The (1968)

In August 1968, tanks from the Soviet Union, Bulgaria, Poland and Hungary crossed the border into Czechoslovakia to crush what was known as “the Prague Spring”.

Czech society had been becoming more liberal under the reforms of Czech premier Alexander Dubček, with people wearing jeans and listening to pop music.

For a few glorious months, the country’s strict censorship rules were relaxed, and in cinema, art and music there was an unprecedented spell of creativity and expression.

In cinema, Czech new wave directors such as Jiří Menzel, Miloš Forman and Véra Chytilovå charmed the world, and in music a latent explosion of Beatlemania was afforded brief legitimacy as hundreds of young bands indebted to the Fabs were finally given room to breathe.

And so the alarmed Russians put a stop to it and restored strict Communism.

Amidst massive protests, 2,000 Soviet tanks and more than 600,000 troops rolled into Prague, and hundreds of people (including the government) were arrested. The invasion made clear that the Soviet system was unwilling and unable to change, and reform would not be tolerated.

By the morning of 21 August, Czechoslovakia was occupied.

A period of ‘normalisation’ then ensued, during which a new leadership curbed the press and prohibited the formation of any other political parties.

Civilians purposely gave wrong directions to invading soldiers, while others identified and followed cars belonging to the secret police. On 16 January 1969, student Jan Palach set himself on fire in Prague’s Wenceslas Square to protest against the renewed suppression of free speech.

Overall, the civilian population could offer little more than a few scuffles as resistance, and most were left to hold sad vigils in Wenceslas Square.

Dubček was deposed the following April.

Most countries offered only vocal criticism following the invasion. On the night of the invasion, Canada, Denmark, France, Paraguay, the United Kingdom, and the United States requested a meeting of the United Nations Security Council, where the Czechoslovak ambassador, Jan Mužík, denounced the invasion.

Soviet ambassador Jacob Malik insisted the Warsaw Pact actions were “fraternal assistance” against “antisocial forces”.