Soviet Tanks Crush Prague: Czechoslovakia Occupied
Soviet tanks rolled into Prague at midnight on August 20, 1968, ending eight months of political liberalization known as the Prague Spring. Alexander Dubcek had been trying to create "socialism with a human face," loosening censorship, allowing political pluralism, and decentralizing the economy. Moscow saw this as an existential threat. Roughly 200,000 Warsaw Pact troops from the Soviet Union, Poland, Hungary, and Bulgaria occupied the country within hours. Czechoslovak citizens resisted nonviolently: they removed street signs to confuse invaders, surrounded tanks to argue with crews, and ran clandestine radio stations. Seventy-two Czechoslovaks were killed. Dubcek was arrested, flown to Moscow, and forced to sign a capitulation. Soviet troops remained until 1991.
August 20, 1968
58 years ago
Key Figures & Places
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