Research Catalog

Title

Prague spring : Warsaw Pact invasion, 1968 / Phil Carradice.

Author

Carradice, Phil

Publication

Barnsley : Pen & Sword Military, 2019.

Items in the Library & Off-site

Details

Description

128 pages, 8 unnumbered pages of plates : illustrations (some color), maps; 24 cm.

Summary

Cold War nadir: January 1968 and in Czechoslovakia the new Communist Party leader Alexander Dubcek has made it clear that this is the opportunity to loosen the Soviet stranglehold on the country. As the Prague winter slowly eases into a Prague spring, it really does seem as if Dubcek has judged it right. Reforms in oppressive censorship laws, improved housing, a lessening of totalitarian oppression, Dubcek promises and delivers on it all. The new regime in Czechoslovakia does seek to destroy communism but it does want to choose its own political destiny. And then, on the night of 20/21 August the Prague Spring is crushed by the Warsaw Pact invasion: 200,000 Communist troops, mostly Soviet but also Polish and East German, flood the country. The resulting protests and rallies against the invasion, mostly by young people, are violent and bloody. Hundreds die in clashes; self-immolation, in public and before the eyes of the world, brings home the horror and the depth of feeling in the Czech people. It is the end of the Prague Spring, the reformation of Czechoslovakia having ended in ruins. But despite the brutal crushing of Czech hopes and dreams, the events of 1968 lay the foundations for future change. It will take another two decades but it is, ultimately, where the unraveling of the Communist bloc begins.

Series Statement

Cold War 1945-1991

Uniform Title

Cold War 1945-1991 (Pen & Sword Military (Firm))

Alternative Title

Prague spring 1968 : Warsaw Pact invasion

Subject

• Intervention in Czechoslovakia (1968)
• 1968-1989
• Politics and government
• Czechoslovakia > History > Intervention, 1968
• Czechoslovakia > Politics and government > 1968-1989
• Czechoslovakia > History > 1968-1989
• Czechoslovakia

Genre/Form

History.

Bibliography (note)

• Includes bibliographical references and index.

Call Number

JFE 19-11274

ISBN

• 9781526757005
• 1526757001

OCLC

1104016516

Author

Carradice, Phil, author.

Title

Prague spring : Warsaw Pact invasion, 1968 / Phil Carradice.

Publisher

Barnsley : Pen & Sword Military, 2019.

Type of Content

text

still image

cartographic image

Type of Medium

unmediated

Type of Carrier

volume

Series

Cold War 1945-1991

Cold War 1945-1991 (Pen & Sword Military (Firm))

Bibliography

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Chronological Term

1968-1989

Cover Title

Prague spring 1968 : Warsaw Pact invasion

Research Call Number

JFE 19-11274