Editing Eastern Bloc (section)

===Prague Spring and the 1968 invasion of Czechoslovakia===
{{main|Prague Spring|Warsaw Pact invasion of Czechoslovakia}}
A period of political liberalization in [[Czechoslovak Socialist Republic|Czechoslovakia]] called the [[Prague Spring]] took place in 1968. The event was spurred by several events, including economic reforms that addressed an early 1960s economic downturn.<ref>{{cite web| title = Photius.com, (info from CIA world Factbook)| url = http://www.photius.com/countries/slovakia/economy/czechoslovakia_economy_economic_policy_and_~777.html| publisher = Photius Coutsoukis| access-date = 20 January 2008| archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20090116152207/http://www.photius.com/countries/slovakia/economy/czechoslovakia_economy_economic_policy_and_~777.html| archive-date = 16 January 2009| url-status = live}}</ref><ref name="Williams5">{{Harvnb|Williams|1997|p=5}}</ref> The event began on 5 January 1968, when reformist Slovak [[Alexander Dubček]] came to power. In April, Dubček launched an "[[Action Programme (1968)|Action Program]]" of liberalizations, which included increasing freedom of the press, freedom of speech and freedom of movement, along with an economic emphasis on [[consumer goods]], the possibility of a multiparty government and limiting the power of the secret police.<ref>Ello (ed.), Paul (April 1968). Control Committee of the Communist Party of Czechoslovakia, "Action Plan of the Communist Party of Czechoslovakia (Prague, April 1968)" in ''Dubcek's Blueprint for Freedom: His original documents leading to the invasion of Czechoslovakia''. William Kimber & Co. 1968, pp 32, 54</ref><ref>{{cite web|last1=Von Geldern |first1=James |last2=Siegelbaum |first2=Lewis|authorlink2=Lewis Siegelbaum |publisher=Soviethistory.org |title=The Soviet-led Intervention in Czechoslovakia |url=http://soviethistory.org/index.php?action=L2&SubjectID=1968czechoslovakia&Year=1968 |access-date=7 March 2008|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090817200255/http://soviethistory.org/index.php?action=L2&SubjectID=1968czechoslovakia&Year=1968 |archive-date=17 August 2009}}</ref>

Initial reaction within the Eastern Bloc was mixed, with [[People's Republic of Hungary|Hungary]]'s [[János Kádár]] expressing support, while Soviet leader [[Leonid Brezhnev]] and others grew concerned about Dubček's reforms, which they feared might weaken the Eastern Bloc's position during the [[Cold War]].<ref name="trans">{{cite web | title = Document #81: Transcript of Leonid Brezhnev's Telephone Conversation with Alexander Dubček, August 13, 1968 | year = 1998 | url = http://www.gwu.edu/~nsarchiv/nsa/publications/DOC_readers/psread/doc81.htm | website = The Prague Spring '68 | publisher = The Prague Spring Foundation | access-date = 23 January 2008 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20080117232525/http://www.gwu.edu/~nsarchiv/nsa/publications/DOC_readers/psread/doc81.htm | archive-date = 17 January 2008 | url-status = live }}</ref><ref>{{Harvnb|Navrátil|2006|pp=36 & 172–181}}</ref> On 3 August, representatives from the Soviet Union, East Germany, Poland, Hungary, Bulgaria, and Czechoslovakia met in [[Bratislava]] and signed the Bratislava Declaration, which affirmed unshakable fidelity to [[Marxism–Leninism]] and [[proletarian internationalism]] and declared an implacable struggle against "bourgeois" ideology and all "anti-socialist" forces.<ref>{{Harvnb|Navrátil|2006|pp=326–329}}</ref>

[[File:10 Soviet Invasion of Czechoslovakia - Flickr - The Central Intelligence Agency.jpg|thumb|left|Czechoslovak protestors carrying their national flag past a burning Soviet tank in Prague, 1968]]
On the night of 20–21 August 1968, Eastern Bloc armies from five Warsaw Pact countries (the Soviet Union, [[People's Republic of Poland|Poland]], [[German Democratic Republic|East Germany]], [[People's Republic of Hungary|Hungary]] and [[People's Republic of Bulgaria|Bulgaria]]) [[Warsaw Pact invasion of Czechoslovakia|invaded Czechoslovakia]].<ref>{{Citation| last = Ouimet | first = Matthew| title = The Rise and Fall of the Brezhnev Doctrine in Soviet Foreign Policy | publisher=University of North Carolina Press, Chapel Hill and London| year = 2003 |pages = 34–35}}</ref> The invasion comported with the Brezhnev Doctrine, a policy of compelling Eastern Bloc states to subordinate national interests to those of the Bloc as a whole and the exercise of a Soviet right to intervene if an Eastern Bloc country appeared to shift towards capitalism.<ref>{{Harvnb|Grenville|2005|p=780}}</ref><ref>{{Citation | last = Chafetz| first = Glenn | title = Gorbachev, Reform, and the Brezhnev Doctrine: Soviet Policy Toward Eastern Europe, 1985–1990| date =  1993| publisher=Praeger Publishers| isbn = 978-0-275-94484-1 |page= 10}}</ref> The invasion was followed by a wave of emigration, including an estimated 70,000 Czechoslovaks initially fleeing, with the total eventually reaching 300,000.<ref>{{cite web| last = Čulík| first = Jan| title = Den, kdy tanky zlikvidovaly české sny Pražského jara| url = http://www.britskelisty.cz/9808/19980821h.html| publisher = Britské Listy| access-date = 23 January 2008| archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20070928050554/http://www.britskelisty.cz/9808/19980821h.html| archive-date = 28 September 2007| url-status = dead}}</ref>

In April 1969, Dubček was replaced as first secretary by [[Gustáv Husák]] and a period of "[[Normalization (Czechoslovakia)|normalization]]" began.<ref name="Williams">{{Harvnb|Williams|1997|p=xi}}</ref> Husák reversed Dubček's reforms, purged the party of liberal members, dismissed opponents from public office, reinstated the power of the police authorities, sought to [[Command economy|re-centralize]] the economy and re-instated the disallowance of political commentary in mainstream media and by persons not considered to have "full political trust".<ref name="Interpolitics">{{Harvnb|Goertz|1995|pp=154–157}}</ref><ref name="KieranPress">{{Harvnb|Williams|1997|p=164}}</ref>