Fifty years ago, Soviet troops and their Warsaw Pact allies invaded Czechoslovakia to bring an end to that country's brief period of political liberalization, called the Prague Spring. About 500,000 troops were involved in the invasion and occupation, during which 137 Czechs and Slovaks died and some 500 were wounded. The invasion ended the political and economic reforms led by Alexander Dubcek and reasserted dominant Soviet and Communist authority in Czechoslovakia. It also helped establish the Brezhnev Doctrine, which Moscow said allowed the U.S.S.R. to intervene in any country where a Communist government was under threat. (Photos from the Czech Press Agency archives)
August 21, 1968: The Soviet-Led Invasion Of Czechoslovakia
Fifty years ago, Soviet troops and their Warsaw Pact allies invaded Czechoslovakia to bring an end to that country's brief period of political liberalization, called the Prague Spring. About 500,000 troops were involved in the invasion and occupation, during which 137 Czechs and Slovaks died and some 500 were wounded. The invasion ended the political and economic reforms led by Alexander Dubcek and reasserted dominant Soviet and Communist authority in Czechoslovakia. It also helped establish the Brezhnev Doctrine, which Moscow said allowed the U.S.S.R. to intervene in any country where a Communist government was under threat. (Photos from the Czech Press Agency archives)
1
Soviet tanks are surrounded by crowds of Czechs protesting against the invasion on Prague's Wenceslas Square on August 21, 1968.
2
Soviet soldiers try to extinguish a burning tank set on fire by protesters near the Czechoslovak Radio headquarters in Prague.
3
Invading Soviet tanks with white markings deploy near the Communist Party headquarters in Prague.
4
A Czechoslovak woman talks to Soviet soldiers on a tank as she protests against the invasion in Prague.