Posted on 08/13/2018 9:55:21 AM PDT by CondoleezzaProtege
In August 1968 Soviet tanks rolled into communist Czechoslovakia to crush a burgeoning democratic reform movement known as the Prague Spring.
Here is a recap of the shock intervention that reined in the Soviet satellite state, its aspirations for democracy warded off for another 20 years.
"At 11:00 pm, Soviet, Polish, East German, Bulgarian and Hungarian troops crossed the Czechoslovak border," AFP reported early on August 21, picking up Radio Prague's announcement of the overnight invasion.
Tensions had been mounting between then Soviet leader Leonid Brezhnev and the reformist government that had taken over in the Central European state.
In January, Moscow's pointman was replaced by Alexander Dubcek, who became head of the powerful Communist Party. General Ludvik Svoboda became president in March.
Driven by Dubcek, reforms aimed at achieving "Socialism with a human face" were introduced. They included the abolition of censorship, freedom of assembly and association, and cautious economic reforms.
Moscow responded with warnings and an ultimatum.
At 4:59 am Radio Prague announced that the capital and the rest of the country had been occupied.
Moscow and its communist allies poured 200,000 soldiers into Czechoslovakia that day, their numbers rising to 600,000.
The government urged citizens to "remain calm and not to take up arms against the foreign troops."
Many learnt of the invasion of their country only via their radios.
In Prague, the Soviet troops were concentrated around three nerve centres: the headquarters of the Communist Party's Central Committee, Prague Castle and the radio headquarters.
From dawn, hundreds of Prague citizens gathered in front of the radio building which was surrounded by tanks. Soldiers fired bursts of machine-gun fire at the building and nearby houses with people shouting insults at them like "Gestapo", or "Long live Dubcek."
(Excerpt) Read more at economictimes.indiatimes.com ...
David Knight, censored on Alex Jones radio, says the military will take your 1. speech 2. movement and 3. guns.
Czech invasion did just that.
Moscow has problems keeping people in
FDR giving Stalin EVERYTHING he wanted post WWII was a travesty. Truman should have understood that. The Red Army should have been kicked back to the borders. The inevitable spread of Communism should have been crushed right then and there. Imagine no Korean War, rise of China, Cuba nor Vietnam War and all of the “dominoes”.
The American public had enough and wanted the boys home instead of yet another European war.
Lol. In Korea, Douglas MacArthur was kicked back to the 38th parallel by ill equipped Chinese army.
you are correct 1oldpro.
In fact, young Russians fleeing Putin and his stagnated economy make up much of Czech Republic’s current expat population. Not only that, but the events of 1968 continue to cast their shadow, even on the current generation.
“The number of Russians residing and working in the Czech Republic has been steadily growing in recent years. Today Russians are the fourth strongest foreign minority in the country, after Vietnamese, Slovak and Ukrainian nationals. In the last decade their number rose from 23,000 to 37,000.”
From the article: Young Russians in Prague Find that 1968 Russian-Led Invasion Casts Long Shadow
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