Assess the importance of the political and military considerations that led the USSR towards the invasion of Czechoslovakia in August 1968.
The Novotny regime in Czechoslovakia fell in December 1968 due to lack of economic reforms unresolved political problems of the Slovak part of the country, and Novotny's failure to deal with growing friction between the regime and the country's intellectuals and students. Dubcek was appointed the new president, however during the Prague Spring, the reforms that were brought in by the new leadership began to pose many problems. Although, according to several sources, Moscow felt it necessary to introduce some economical reform in Czechoslovakia, one of the most faithful Warsaw allies, the extent to which the Spring went proved too far for the orthodox leaders of the Soviet Union. After trying to put pressure on Dubcek to make him halt back the reforms, USSR came to the final decision - invasion. On August 21st Czechoslovakia was invaded by the Warsaw Pact troops. This essay looks at the situation that developed in Czechoslovakia during the memorable Spring of 1968, and focuses on the factors that finally pushed USSR towards invading one of its allies. Behind the invasion were sets of considerations, political as well as military. I will assess the importance of these considerations in the essay.
In my opinion at this point not even Dubcek imagined where the reforms would lead and how quickly the situation would develop. The new leadership had to face multiple problems, it had to satisfy the demands of the intellectuals, students and other reform-minded groups within Czechoslovakia, while at the same time assure the Soviet Union of loyalty and show awareness of the extent to which the reforms will go. As USSR became more worried about the situation, it was decided to express the concerns in a form of a written warning. Along with Bulgaria, East Germany, Hungary and Poland on 15th July a letter was written addressing the Czechoslovak leadership: "we cannot agree to have hostile forces push your country away from the road of socialism and create a danger of Czechoslovakia being severed from the socialist community." The ideological grounds for intervention were prepared - Czechoslovakia was the concern of the whole socialist camp. The letter also laid emphasis on Party's loss of control of mass media. He also states that June 27th can be identified as one of the major turning points in the Soviet response to Czechoslovak reforms. "From the early days of July throughout the remainder of the month, Moscow mounted a steadily intensified war of nerves against the Dubcek regime, against the backdrop of military moves which implied that the Soviet Union was preparing for an armed intervention should the Czechs persist on their democratization course". The question of potential Czech resistance - in Hungary 1956 a lot of Russian lives were lost. Yet Czechoslovakia was different; there was no traditional enmity towards the Russians, neither the desire to fight. Besides, after Cierna and Bratislava conferences the Russians could invade using the element of surprise. This is where military considerations come in. Seeing as Warsaw Pact maneuvers had been continuously in progress since July, the massive invasion of Czechoslovakia could be conducted successfully. There was the likely effect that the invasion might bring on the other communist parties in the world. China at this point was already out of the question, so the only power that could be concerned was Cuba, and Castro was too dependent on USSR anyhow. There were the communist movements in the West, but none of these were strong enough, or really recognized. Novotny was replaced by Svoboda on March 29th - a new president who supported Dubcek. Another warning came from Moscow, this time not only from Brezhnev, but also from the Soviet Deputy Foreign Minister Semyonov, who stated that unless Dubcek and Svoboda keep, order Russian troops would intervene. On 31st March of Soviet Minister Marshall Grechko, who empowered 35 000 troops in the country to impose martial law if necessary, arrived at the Red Army headquarters in Czechoslovakia, underlining this threat. This brings us to the following factors behind the decision to invade. USSR was put under pressure not only by the strategic position vis-a-vis the West, but also the opinions of the whole communist camp. China strongly criticized USSR for lack of control over the situation, and leaders of Poland and East Germany suggested Soviet Union's intervention, before things got out of hand and reforms spread all around the buffer states, the so called "domino theory". Steele believes that Moscow couldn't afford another defection. T.W. Wolfe believes Kosygin's surprise visit and his desire to assess the current situation suggested that at least some elements of the Soviet leadership were still hopeful that Dubcek could be prevailed upon to assert stricter party control over the reform movement, sparing USSR from intervention. However P.J. Mooney has a different opinion on this. "Kosygin visited Prague to discuss the 'strengthening of the Warsaw Pact', or closer control over Czechoslovakia".
Some common words found in the essay are:
Warsaw Pact, Soviet Union, TW Wolfe, Action Program, Hungary Poland, Germany USSR, Crisis July, April Dubcek, Mooney Dubcek's, Czechoslovakia Brezhnev, warsaw pact, soviet union, action program, west germany, czechoslovak reforms, 2000 words, reforms ussr, hungary 1956, czechoslovak leadership, cierna bratislava conferences, military considerations, warsaw pact troops, warsaw pact maneuvers, warsaw pact allies, relations west germany,
Approximate Word count = 3225
Approximate Pages = 13 (250 words per page double spaced)
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