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Prague Spring

The Prague Spring (Czech: Pražské jaro, Slovak: Pražská jar) was a period of political liberalization and mass protest in the Czechoslovak Socialist Republic. It began on 5 January 1968, when reformist Alexander Dubček was elected First Secretary of the Communist Party of Czechoslovakia (KSČ), and continued until 21 August 1968, when the Soviet Union and most Warsaw Pact members invaded the country to suppress the reforms.

This article is about the 1968 reform movement in Czechoslovakia. For the music festival, see Prague Spring International Music Festival.

Date

5 January – 21 August 1968 (7 months, 2 weeks and 2 days)

Czechoslovakia

People and Government of Czechoslovakia
Warsaw Pact

Normalization in Czechoslovakia

The Prague Spring reforms were a strong attempt by Dubček to grant additional rights to the citizens of Czechoslovakia in an act of partial decentralization of the economy and democratization. The freedoms granted included a loosening of restrictions on the media, speech and travel. After national discussion of dividing the country into a federation of three republics, Bohemia, Moravia-Silesia and Slovakia, Dubček oversaw the decision to split into two, the Czech Socialist Republic and Slovak Socialist Republic.[1] This dual federation was the only formal change that survived the invasion.


The reforms, especially the decentralization of administrative authority, were not received well by the Soviets, who, after failed negotiations, sent half a million Warsaw Pact troops and tanks to occupy the country. The New York Times cited reports of 650,000 men equipped with the most modern and sophisticated weapons in the Soviet military catalogue.[2] A massive wave of emigration swept the nation. Resistance was mounted throughout the country, involving attempted fraternization, sabotage of street signs, defiance of curfews, etc. While the Soviet military had predicted that it would take four days to subdue the country, the resistance held out for almost eight months until diplomatic maneuvers finally circumvented it. It became a high-profile example of civilian-based defense; there were sporadic acts of violence and several protest suicides by self-immolation (the most famous being that of Jan Palach), but no military resistance. Czechoslovakia remained a Soviet satellite state until 1989 when the Velvet Revolution peacefully ended the communist regime; the last Soviet troops left the country in 1991.


After the invasion, Czechoslovakia entered a period known as normalization (Czech: normalizace, Slovak: normalizácia), in which new leaders attempted to restore the political and economic values that had prevailed before Dubček gained control of the KSČ. Gustáv Husák, who replaced Dubček as First Secretary and also became President, reversed almost all of the reforms. The Prague Spring inspired music and literature including the work of Václav Havel, Karel Husa, Karel Kryl and Milan Kundera's novel The Unbearable Lightness of Being.

Hungarian Revolution of 1956

Croatian Spring

Velvet Revolution

April 9 tragedy

Lennon Wall

Aspaturian, Vernon; Valenta, Jiri; Burke, David P. (1980). . Indiana Univ Pr. ISBN 978-0-253-20248-2.

Eurocommunism Between East and West

Bischof, Günter; Karner, Stefan; Ruggenthaler, Peter, eds. (2010). The Prague Spring and the Warsaw Pact Invasion of Czechoslovakia in 1968. Lexington Books.  978-0-7391-4304-9.

ISBN

Chafetz, Glenn (1993). Gorbachev, Reform, and the Brezhnev Doctrine: Soviet Policy Toward Eastern Europe, 1985–1990. Praeger Publishers.  978-0-275-94484-1.

ISBN

Christopher, Andrew; Mitrokhin Vasili (2005). . Basic Books. ISBN 978-0-465-00311-2. Retrieved 9 October 2009.

The World Was Going Our Way: The KGB and the Battle for the Third World

Cook, Bernard (2001). Europe Since 1945: An Encyclopedia. Routledge.  978-0-8153-1336-6.

ISBN

Despalatović, Elinor. . Penn State Press. ISBN 978-0-271-01979-6. Retrieved 9 October 2009.

Neighbors at War: Anthropological Perspectives on Yugoslav Ethnicity

; Hochman, Jiří (1993). Hope Dies Last: The Autobiography of Alexander Dubcek. Kodansha International. ISBN 978-1-56836-000-3.

Dubček, Alexander

Ello, Paul, ed. (1968). "Control Committee of the Communist Party of Czechoslovakia, 'Action Plan of the Communist Party of Czechoslovakia (Prague, April 1968)'". Dubcek's Blueprint for Freedom: His original documents leading to the invasion of Czechoslovakia. William Kimber & Co.  978-0-7183-0231-3.

ISBN

Fowkes, Ben (2000). . Longman. ISBN 978-0-582-32693-4. Retrieved 9 October 2009.

Eastern Europe 1945–1969: From Stalinism to Stagnation

Franck, Thomas M. (1985). . Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-0-19-503587-2.

Nation Against Nation: What Happened to the UN Dream and What the U.S. Can Do About It

Goertz, Gary (1995). Contexts of International Politics. Cambridge University Press.  978-0-521-46972-2.

ISBN

; Mlynař, Zdeněk (2003). Conversations with Gorbachev: On Perestroika, the Prague Spring, and the Crossroads of Socialism. Columbia University Press. ISBN 978-0-231-11865-1.

Gorbachev, Mikhail

Gorbanevskaya, Natalia (1972). . Holt, Rinehart and Winston. ISBN 978-0-03-085990-8.

Red Square at Noon

Grenville, J.A.S. (2005). A History of the World From the 20th to the 21st Century. Routledge.  978-0-415-28955-9.

ISBN

Hermann, Konstantin (2008). Sachsen und der "Prager Frühling". Beucha: Sax-Verlag.  978-0-415-28955-9.

ISBN

Judt, Tony (2005). . Penguin Press. ISBN 978-1-59420-065-6.

Postwar: A History of Europe Since 1945

Jutikkala, Eino; Pirinen, Kauko (2001). Dějiny Finska [History of Finland] (in Czech). Lidové noviny.  978-80-7106-406-0.

ISBN

Kundera, Milan (1999). . HarperCollins. ISBN 978-0-06-093213-8.

The Unbearable Lightness of Being

Kusin, Vladimir (2002). The Intellectual Origins of the Prague Spring: The Development of Reformist Ideas in Czechoslovakia 1956–1967. Cambridge University Press.  978-0-521-52652-4.

ISBN

(1986). Under a Cruel Star: A life in Prague 1941–1968. New York: Holmes & Meier. ISBN 978-0-8419-1377-6.

Margolius-Kovály, Heda

Morrison, Scott; Cherry, Don (2006). . Key Porter Books. ISBN 978-1-55263-984-9.

Hockey Night in Canada: By The Numbers: From 00 to 99

Navazelskis, Ina (1990). . Chelsea House Publications. ISBN 978-1-55546-831-6.

Alexander Dubcek

Navrátil, Jaromír (2006). The Prague Spring 1968: A National Security Archive Document Reader (National Security Archive Cold War Readers). Central European University Press.  978-963-7326-67-7.

ISBN

Ouimet, Matthew (2003). The Rise and Fall of the Brezhnev Doctrine in Soviet Foreign Policy. Chapel Hill and London: University of North Carolina Press.

Rea, Kenneth (September 1975). "Peking and the Brezhnev Doctrine". Asian Affairs. 3 (1).

Skilling, Gordon H. (1976). Czechoslovakia's Interrupted Revolution. Princeton: Princeton University Press.  978-0-691-64418-9.

ISBN

Stoneman, Anna J. (2015). (PDF). The History Teacher. 49 (1): 103–125. Archived from the original (PDF) on 24 January 2021. Retrieved 28 May 2020.

"Socialism with a human face: the leadership and legacy of the Prague Spring"

(1983). The Liberators. London: New English Library, Sevenoaks. ISBN 978-0-450-05546-1.

Suvorov, Viktor

Tismaneanu, Vladimir (2011). Promises of 1968: Crisis, Illusion, and Utopia. Budapest: Central European University Press.  978-615-5053-04-7.

ISBN

Williams, Kieran (1997). The Prague Spring and its Aftermath: Czechoslovak Politics, 1968–1970. Cambridge University Press.  978-0-521-58803-4.

ISBN

Žantovský, Michael (2014). Havel: A Life. . ISBN 978-0-85789-852-4.

Atlantic Books

at marxists.org

Czechoslovakia in 1968 Archive

Czechoslovakia 1968 Documentary about the events

– The Prague Spring 1968

Think Quest

– A Chronology of Events Leading to the 1968 Invasion

Radio Free Europe

– More information on the Prague Spring

Prague Life

Archived 19 October 2011 at the Wayback Machine – slideshow by The First Post

The Prague Spring, 40 Years On

– A list of victims from the Warsaw Pact Invasion with cause of death

Victims of the Invasion

, the Communist Party's account of Prague Spring.

Lessons Drawn from the Crisis Development in the Party and Society After the 13th Congress of the Communist Party of Czechoslovakia

on YouTube

Praha 1968 footage