1964 – Brezhnev becomes leader of the USSR
Cuban missile crisis and Berlin crisis viewed as failures on Khrushchev
Brezhnev wanted to reassert Soviet Union as communist world leader
Crisis in Czechoslovakia – 1968
Ota Silaka – proposed reforms to the planned centralised economic
system throughout the 60s
1968 – Dubcek became leader
Charismatic, advocate for political reform – “socialism with a human face”
Began to replace key officials with those who wanted reform
Eliminated press censorship
Domino effect across Soviet Union – “Poland awaits its own Dubcek”
Introduced the action program – basic freedoms and free movement
Shift in economic priorities – consumer goods
Final straw – open boarders the west – Trade deals with west Germany
Soviet invasion
Prague spring was a threat to the whole soviet bloc
Warsaw forces invaded 20th of August, following failure to pressure
Dubcek into removing reforms
Re-established soviet control – reforms would not be successful
Lack of US interreference
Brezhnev Doctrine – 1968
Gave power to intervene wherever communism was under threat
Sino-Soviet Split
Cuban missile crisis and Berlin crisis viewed as failures on Khrushchev
Brezhnev wanted to reassert Soviet Union as communist world leader
Crisis in Czechoslovakia – 1968
Ota Silaka – proposed reforms to the planned centralised economic
system throughout the 60s
1968 – Dubcek became leader
Charismatic, advocate for political reform – “socialism with a human face”
Began to replace key officials with those who wanted reform
Eliminated press censorship
Domino effect across Soviet Union – “Poland awaits its own Dubcek”
Introduced the action program – basic freedoms and free movement
Shift in economic priorities – consumer goods
Final straw – open boarders the west – Trade deals with west Germany
Soviet invasion
Prague spring was a threat to the whole soviet bloc
Warsaw forces invaded 20th of August, following failure to pressure
Dubcek into removing reforms
Re-established soviet control – reforms would not be successful
Lack of US interreference
Brezhnev Doctrine – 1968
Gave power to intervene wherever communism was under threat
Sino-Soviet Split
