Explain why Soviet & Warsaw pact forces invaded Czechoslovakia in 1968 (12)

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Explain why Soviet & Warsaw pact forces invaded Czechoslovakia in 1968 (12)

In 1968 Dubcek challenged the communist leadership in Czechoslovakia, and reformed Czechoslovakia’s policies, starting the Prague Spring. This lead to the Soviet and Warsaw pact forces eventually invading Czechoslovakia, due to fears that Czechoslovakia would move away from communism due to legalisation of opposition political groups, less censorship leading to a fear of weakened Soviet rule, and the reform of allowing political criticism.

The most important reason for the Soviet and Warsaw pact forces invading Czechoslovakia in 1968 was due to Dubcek’s reforms that lead to the legalisation of opposition political groups. By allowing opposition groups, the USSR feared that if communism proved to be unpopular despite Dubcek’s reforms there was the possibility that the opposition groups which were legalised would be able to gain the public’s support, and could lead to an implementation of a capitalist rather than communist government in Czechoslovakia. An implementation of a new government would mean that the USSR would lose one of its satellite states, and have its overall influence on surrounding countries reduced, at the same time increasing the USA’s capitalist influence.

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The fears of Soviet influence being reduced was increased by the fact that Dubcek’s reforms lead to less censorship in Czechoslovakia, opening the public to media previously not allowed to be seen.  The USSR feared that this lack of censorship would lead to the public rejecting communism once they had access to media and were able to be influenced by capitalist ideas. The decrease of censorship also meant that communism could be publicly criticised, which would decrease the USSR’s influence in Czechoslovakia.

Another reason for the invasion of Czechoslovakia was the fact that due to lack of censorship, political ...

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