Prague Spring

The Prague Spring was a period of <a href="/facts/Liberalization/0xuv5oaN">political liberalization</a> and mass protest in 
the <a href="/facts/Czechoslovak_Socialist_Republic/gJIrAxHu">Czechoslovak Socialist Republic</a>. It began on 5 January 1968, when <a href="/facts/Reformist/yjFMfraA">reformist</a> <a href="/facts/Alexander_Dub%C4%8Dek/Y5rA07g3">Alexander Dubček</a> was elected <a href="/facts/Secretary_(title)/3eFaJDWC">First Secretary</a> of the <a href="/facts/Communist_Party_of_Czechoslovakia/8HyGl9kp">Communist Party of Czechoslovakia</a> (KSČ), and continued until 21 August 1968, when the <a href="/facts/Soviet_Union/m7wWsPto">Soviet Union</a> and three other <a href="/facts/Warsaw_Pact/SLEsUSAS">Warsaw Pact</a> members (<a href="/facts/Bulgaria/Er5pY3YS">Bulgaria</a>, <a href="/facts/Hungary/YRedQLtI">Hungary</a> and <a href="/facts/Poland/eXJ7fd0D">Poland</a>) <a href="/facts/Warsaw_Pact_invasion_of_Czechoslovakia/BeRhWf5T">invaded the country</a> to suppress the reforms.
The Prague Spring reforms were an attempt by Dubček to grant additional rights to the citizens of Czechoslovakia in an act of partial <a href="/facts/Decentralization_of_the_economy/5koMXAUs">decentralization of the economy</a> and <a href="/facts/Democratization/ppbzKnhe">democratization</a>. The freedoms granted included a loosening of restrictions on the <a href="/facts/Freedom_of_the_press/9RLTKfod">media</a>, <a href="/facts/Freedom_of_speech/jYakwGMP">speech</a> and <a href="/facts/Freedom_of_movement/J7c0uovA">travel</a>. After national discussion of dividing the country into a federation of three republics, <a href="/facts/Bohemia/Wbr8gt6l">Bohemia</a>, <a href="/facts/Moravia/35gbBhxa">Moravia</a>–<a href="/facts/Czech_Silesia/MQYynMVK">Silesia</a> and <a href="/facts/Slovakia/gmJwpwM3">Slovakia</a>, Dubček oversaw the decision to split into two, the <a href="/facts/Czech_Socialist_Republic/8TK2L4m5">Czech Socialist Republic</a> and <a href="/facts/Slovak_Socialist_Republic/I9WF9XDe">Slovak Socialist Republic</a>. 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. <a href="/facts/The_New_York_Times/T9marWVX">The New York Times</a> cited reports of 650,000 men equipped with the most modern and sophisticated weapons in the Soviet military catalogue. A massive wave of emigration ensued. Resistance throughout the country included attempted <a href="/facts/Fraternization/pgbsVN3X">fraternization</a>, 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 <a href="/facts/Civilian-based_defense/wG2u2vjf">civilian-based defense</a>; there were sporadic acts of violence and several protest suicides by <a href="/facts/Self-immolation/pvBkM4P7">self-immolation</a> (the most famous being that of <a href="/facts/Jan_Palach/c7E1fIY6">Jan Palach</a>), but no military resistance. Czechoslovakia remained a Soviet <a href="/facts/Satellite_state/09RFx27w">satellite state</a> until 1989 when the <a href="/facts/Velvet_Revolution/UgkGKsMy">Velvet Revolution</a> peacefully ended the communist regime; the last Soviet troops left the country in 1991.
After the invasion, Czechoslovakia entered a period known as <a href="/facts/Normalization_(Czechoslovakia)/zYlD7oF9">normalization</a> (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. <a href="/facts/Gust%C3%A1v_Hus%C3%A1k/pPRKIcwA">Gustáv Husák</a>, who replaced Dubček as First Secretary and also became <a href="/facts/President_of_Czechoslovakia/MbBtJSTe">President</a>, reversed almost all of the reforms. The Prague Spring inspired music and literature including the work of <a href="/facts/V%C3%A1clav_Havel/Wk6f6EAw">Václav Havel</a>, <a href="/facts/Karel_Husa/xK9wMTNw">Karel Husa</a>, <a href="/facts/Karel_Kryl/fm6vbgPY">Karel Kryl</a> and <a href="/facts/Milan_Kundera/o1RRoBHY">Milan Kundera</a>'s novel <a href="/facts/The_Unbearable_Lightness_of_Being/Y9ulhJHQ">The Unbearable Lightness of Being</a>.

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Prague Spring