page_title: Foreign interventions by the Soviet Union
section_title: Invasion of Czechoslovakia (1968)
hierarchical_section_title: Foreign interventions by the Soviet Union / Cold War / Invasion of Czechoslovakia (1968)
caption_attribution_description: Català: Durant la invasió soviètica de Txecoslovàquia, uns txecoslovacs amb la seva bandera nacional al costat d'un tanc cremant a Praga. Foto de "CIA Analysis of the Warsaw Pact Forces: The Importance of Clandestine Reporting" Per obtenir més informació, visiteu la pàgina Historical Collections de la CIA (www.cia.gov/library/publications/historical-collection-pu...) English: During the Soviet invasion of Czechoslovakia, Czechoslovaks carry their national flag past a burning tank in Prague. Photo from "CIA Analysis of the Warsaw Pact Forces: The Importance of Clandestine Reporting" For more information, visit the CIA's Historical Collections page (www.cia.gov/library/publications/historical-collection-pu...) Slovenčina: Horiaci sovietsky tank v uliciach Prahy
context_page_description: Over the course of its history, the Soviet Union intervened in foreign countries on numerous occasions.
context_section_description: A period of political liberalization took place in 1968 in Eastern Bloc country Czechoslovakia called the Prague Spring.  The event was spurred by several events, including economic reforms that addressed an early 1960s economic downturn.  In April, Czechoslovakian leader Alexander Dubček launched an "Action Program" of liberalizations, which included increasing freedom of the press, freedom of speech and freedom of movement, along with an economic emphasis on consumer goods, the possibility of a multiparty government and limiting the power of the secret police. Initial reaction within the Eastern Bloc was mixed, with Hungary's János Kádár expressing support, while Soviet leader Leonid Brezhnev and others grew concerned about Dubček's reforms, which they feared might weaken the Eastern Bloc's position during the Cold War.  On 3 August, representatives from the Soviet Union, East Germany, Poland, Hungary, Bulgaria, and Czechoslovakia met in Bratislava and signed the Bratislava Declaration, which declaration affirmed unshakable fidelity to Marxism-Leninism and proletarian internationalism and declared an implacable struggle against "bourgeois" ideology and all "anti-socialist" forces.
  On the night of 20–21 August 1968, Eastern Bloc armies from four Warsaw Pact countries – the Soviet Union, Bulgaria, Poland and Hungary – invaded Czechoslovakia.  The invasion comported with the Brezhnev Doctrine, a policy of compelling Eastern Bloc states to subordinate national interests to those of the Bloc as a whole and the exercise of a Soviet right to intervene if an Eastern Bloc country appeared to shift towards capitalism. The invasion was followed by a wave of emigration, including an estimated 70,000 Czechs initially fleeing, with the total eventually reaching 300,000. In April 1969, Dubček was replaced as first secretary by Gustáv Husák, and a period of "normalization" began. Husák reversed Dubček's reforms, purged the party of liberal members, dismissed opponents from public office, reinstated the power of the police authorities, sought to re-centralize the economy and re-instated the disallowance of political commentary in mainstream media and by persons not considered to have "full political trust". The international image of the Soviet Union suffered considerably, especially among Western student movements inspired by the "New Left" and non-Aligned Movement states. Mao Zedong's People's Republic of China, for example, condemned both the Soviets and the Americans as imperialists.
caption: Czechoslovaks carry their national flag past a burning Soviet tank in Prague.
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