Prague Spring (redirected from Soviet invasion of Czechoslovakia)

Prague Spring: see Prague and Czechoslovakia.

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Prague Spring

(1968) Brief period of liberalization in Czechoslovakia under Alexander Dubcek. In April 1968 he instituted agricultural and industrial reforms, a revised constitution to guarantee civil rights, autonomy for Slovakia, and democratization of the government and the Communist Party. By June, many Czechs were calling for more rapid progress toward real democracy. Although Dubcek believed he could control the situation, the Soviet Union and the Warsaw Pact countries, alarmed by the threat of a social-democratic Czechoslovakia, invaded the country in August, deposed Dubcek, and gradually restored control by reinstalling hard-line communists as leaders.