Why Was The Prague Spring Intolerable For The Sovi

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Why was the Prague Spring intolerable for the Soviet Union? Matthew Fields HTY 410 Professor Blanke 4-20-2009 The Prague Spring can be considered one of the most important events during the Cold War. The Prague Spring was a period of political liberalization in Czechoslovakia from January 5th to August 21st, 1968. It began when reformist Slovak Alexander Dubček came to power, and continued until August 21st, when the Soviet Union and members of its Warsaw Pact allies invaded the country to halt liberalizing reforms. The Prague Spring reforms were an attempt by Dubček to grant additional rights to the citizens in an act of partial decentralization of the economy and democratization. The freedoms granted included a loosening of restrictions on the media, speech and travel. Dubček also federalized the country into two separate republics; this was the only change that survived the end of the Prague Spring. The reforms were not received well by the Soviets who, after negotiations, sent thousands of Warsaw Pact troops to occupy the country. While there were many non-violent protests in the country, including the protest-suicide of a student, there was very little military resistance. There is a question that seems to arise from the ashes of this incident: What was so intolerable about these reforms that the Red Army coalition invaded when it did? There are three texts that describe in detail why this came to be. The first text to discuss is Mikhail Gorbachev and Zdeněk Mlynář’s Conversations with Gorbachev: on perestroika, the Prague Spring, and the crossroads of socialism. This book leads a discussion between two very intelligent individuals remarking on the downfall of communism during the latter part of the Twentieth Century. Surprisingly, despite the fact that the Prague Spring is in the title of this book, it is talked about sparingly.
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