The Prague Spring

A brief period of reform in Czechoslovakia that ended with a Warsaw Pact invasion.

Background

By the 1960s Czechoslovakia's economy was stagnating and many intellectuals and party members wanted reform. In January 1968 Alexander Dubček became first secretary of the Communist Party.

Course of events

The reformers promised what they called socialism with a human face. The Action Programme of April eased censorship, expanded freedom of speech and discussed economic reform. On the night of 20 to 21 August 1968 troops from the Soviet Union and other Warsaw Pact countries invaded.

Legacy

Dubček was removed in 1969, and a period known as normalisation reversed the reforms. The memory of 1968 remained alive, and many of those involved later took part in the Velvet Revolution of 1989.