{"id":27,"date":"2024-05-18T01:35:34","date_gmt":"2024-05-18T01:35:34","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/1968yr.com\/?p=27"},"modified":"2024-05-18T16:23:25","modified_gmt":"2024-05-18T16:23:25","slug":"prague-spring","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/1968yr.com\/?p=27","title":{"rendered":"Prague Spring"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<iframe loading=\"lazy\" width=\"560\" height=\"315\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/2ReGASMuPpA?si=c_bsQ7Cn6_gP4_sP\" title=\"YouTube video player\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The&nbsp;<strong>Prague Spring<\/strong>&nbsp;(<a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Czech_language\">Czech<\/a>:&nbsp;<em>Pra\u017esk\u00e9 jaro<\/em>,&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Slovak_language\">Slovak<\/a>:&nbsp;<em>Pra\u017esk\u00e1 jar<\/em>) was a period of&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Liberalization\">political liberalization<\/a>&nbsp;and mass protest in the&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Czechoslovak_Socialist_Republic\">Czechoslovak Socialist Republic<\/a>. It began on 5 January 1968, when&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Reformist\">reformist<\/a>&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Alexander_Dub%C4%8Dek\">Alexander Dub\u010dek<\/a>&nbsp;was elected&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Secretary_(title)\">First Secretary<\/a>&nbsp;of the&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Communist_Party_of_Czechoslovakia\">Communist Party of Czechoslovakia<\/a>&nbsp;(KS\u010c), and continued until 21 August 1968, when the&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Soviet_Union\">Soviet Union<\/a>&nbsp;and most&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Warsaw_Pact\">Warsaw Pact<\/a>&nbsp;members&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Warsaw_Pact_invasion_of_Czechoslovakia\">invaded the country<\/a>&nbsp;to suppress the reforms.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The Prague Spring reforms were a strong attempt by Dub\u010dek to grant additional rights to the citizens of Czechoslovakia in an act of partial&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Decentralization_of_the_economy\">decentralization of the economy<\/a>&nbsp;and&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Democratization\">democratization<\/a>. The freedoms granted included a loosening of restrictions on the&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Freedom_of_the_press\">media<\/a>,&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Freedom_of_speech\">speech<\/a>&nbsp;and&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Freedom_of_movement\">travel<\/a>. After national discussion of dividing the country into a federation of three republics,&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Bohemia\">Bohemia<\/a>,&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Moravia\">Moravia<\/a>&#8211;<a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Czech_Silesia\">Silesia<\/a>&nbsp;and&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Slovakia\">Slovakia<\/a>, Dub\u010dek oversaw the decision to split into two, the&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Czech_Socialist_Republic\">Czech Socialist Republic<\/a>&nbsp;and&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Slovak_Socialist_Republic\">Slovak Socialist Republic<\/a>.<sup><a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Prague_Spring#cite_note-1\">[1]<\/a><\/sup>&nbsp;This dual federation was the only formal change that survived the invasion.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The reforms, especially the decentralization of administrative authority, were not received well by the Soviets, who, after failed negotiations, sent half a million Warsaw Pact troops and tanks to occupy the country.&nbsp;<em><a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/The_New_York_Times\">The New York Times<\/a><\/em>&nbsp;cited reports of 650,000 men equipped with the most modern and sophisticated weapons in the Soviet military catalogue.<sup><a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Prague_Spring#cite_note-2\">[2]<\/a><\/sup>&nbsp;A massive wave of emigration swept the nation. Resistance was mounted throughout the country, involving attempted&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Fraternization\">fraternization<\/a>, sabotage of street signs, defiance of curfews, etc. While the Soviet military had predicted that it would take four days to subdue the country, the resistance held out for almost eight months until diplomatic maneuvers finally circumvented it. It became a high-profile example of&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Civilian-based_defense\">civilian-based defense<\/a>; there were sporadic acts of violence and several protest suicides by&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Self-immolation\">self-immolation<\/a>&nbsp;(the most famous being that of&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Jan_Palach\">Jan Palach<\/a>), but no military resistance. Czechoslovakia remained a Soviet&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Satellite_state\">satellite state<\/a>&nbsp;until 1989 when the&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Velvet_Revolution\">Velvet Revolution<\/a>&nbsp;peacefully ended the communist regime; the last Soviet troops left the country in 1991.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">After the invasion, Czechoslovakia entered a period known as&nbsp;<em><a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Normalization_(Czechoslovakia)\">normalization<\/a><\/em>&nbsp;(Czech:&nbsp;<em>normalizace<\/em>,&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Slovak_language\">Slovak<\/a>:&nbsp;<em>normaliz\u00e1cia<\/em>), in which new leaders attempted to restore the political and economic values that had prevailed before Dub\u010dek gained control of the KS\u010c.&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Gust%C3%A1v_Hus%C3%A1k\">Gust\u00e1v Hus\u00e1k<\/a>, who replaced Dub\u010dek as First Secretary and also became&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/President_of_Czechoslovakia\">President<\/a>, reversed almost all of the reforms. The Prague Spring inspired music and literature including the work of&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/V%C3%A1clav_Havel\">V\u00e1clav Havel<\/a>,&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Karel_Husa\">Karel Husa<\/a>,&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Karel_Kryl\">Karel Kryl<\/a>&nbsp;and&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Milan_Kundera\">Milan Kundera<\/a>&#8216;s novel&nbsp;<em><a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/The_Unbearable_Lightness_of_Being\">The Unbearable Lightness of Being<\/a><\/em>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The&nbsp;Prague Spring&nbsp;(Czech:&nbsp;Pra\u017esk\u00e9 jaro,&nbsp;Slovak:&nbsp;Pra\u017esk\u00e1 jar) was a period of&nbsp;political liberalization&nbsp;and mass protest in the&nbsp;Czechoslovak Socialist Republic. It began on 5 January 1968, when&nbsp;reformist&nbsp;Alexander Dub\u010dek&nbsp;was elected&nbsp;First Secretary&nbsp;of the&nbsp;Communist Party of Czechoslovakia&nbsp;(KS\u010c), and continued until 21 August 1968, when the&nbsp;Soviet Union&nbsp;and most&nbsp;Warsaw Pact&nbsp;members&nbsp;invaded the country&nbsp;to suppress the reforms. The Prague Spring reforms were a strong attempt by Dub\u010dek&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":40,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-27","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized","wpcat-1-id"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/1968yr.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/1968yr.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/1968yr.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/1968yr.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/1968yr.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=27"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/1968yr.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":29,"href":"https:\/\/1968yr.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27\/revisions\/29"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/1968yr.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/40"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/1968yr.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=27"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/1968yr.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=27"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/1968yr.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=27"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}