Gabby Ortiz
The Brezhnev Doctrine's limitations as Soviets react to the "Prague Spring"
- After the Hungarian tragedy, Soviets again intervened in Czechoslovakia
- In 1968, the Communist Party leader, Alexander Dubcek launched a "democratic socialist revolution"
- Dubcek planned to amend the constitution and bring back a sense of greater personal freedom and political democracy
- Dubcek supported a liberal movement known as the "Prague Spring"
- The Prague Spring was a period of political liberalization
- He promised his fellow citizens "socialism with a human face"
- Czech's move towards liberal communism stimulated fear in the Soviet Union because ideas could lead to the unraveling of Soviet control in Eastern Europe
- Interference by the Soviet Army, aided by the east German, Bulgarian, and Polish units brought an end to the Prague Spring
- Leonid Iiylich Brezhnev justified the invasion of Czechoslovakia by the Doctrine of Limited Sovereignty (Brezhnev Doctrine)
- The Brezhnev Doctrine reserved the right to invade any socialist country that was deemed to be threatened by internal or external elements "hostile to socialism"
- The destruction of the reform movement served to reassertion Soviet control over its satellite nations in Eastern Europe and led to tightened controls within the Soviet Union