To what extent did the Prague spring weaken Moscow(TM)s hold over Czechoslovakia, and Eastern Europe?

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To what extent did the Prague spring weaken Moscow’s hold over Czechoslovakia, and Eastern Europe?        

Abstract

        The effects of the Prague Spring shook the very foundations of the Soviet Union. In this essay I plan to find out to what extent this social phenomenon loosened the USSR’s vice like grip over the Eastern Bloc. I will begin with a brief introduction on how the Soviet Union managed to gain its hold on Eastern Europe. Following this I will speak of the pre- Dubček era in Czechoslovakia and contrast it with the days of the Prague spring, and how the Prague Spring came into being. Products of the intellectual revolution such as Czech literature, media, and social structure will also be discussed in this essay.

        The aforementioned factors will be consolidated later on in order to surmise the overall effect of the Prague Spring on Czechoslovakia, and how it influenced other East European States like Poland to defy the USSR. I will consider different types of historians’ viewpoints e.g. the revisionist John Gaddis. Each aspect of the Prague Spring and the events surrounding it will be taken and placed under intense scrutiny in order to produce an optimum conclusion.

Introduction

        World War I had supposedly been the war to end all wars, however that was not to be. World War II followed a mere twenty years later only to be follow by the Cold War, which was ignited as the dying embers of the battle preceding were being stamped out.

        Both sides Soviet and American began to assert their authority worldwide, each in their own way. In the beginning it was subtle. Europe was in an economic slump and soon would not be able to feed its people. America used the Marshall Plan as a ploy to gain favour in the area. This would prevent Europe from succumbing to the lure of Communism. The USSR had other plans, however, and converted many East European states using the meeting at Yalta to help facilitate this process in order to make himself appear diplomatic. The irony of the situation could not be more explicit. Most countries were gaining independence by this time. India had gained independence (1947), and China had overthrown the Japanese. Eastern Europe, however, was being cut off from its western counterpart. Nine months after the meeting at Potsdam Stalin put up his iron curtain, and Easter Europe became the Eastern Bloc.

Using various means of suppression (notably physical force) the Soviet Union managed to maintain its vice like grip over the region for almost fifty years. Soviet control did not go unchallenged however. In 1956 the Hungarian Uprising took place, which was eventually put down when Russian tanks were sent in. The Russians reported that thousands of Hungarians had died. However, these figures are said to have been tampered with by the Kremlin. The Russians were forced to liberalise their rule over Hungary when János Kádár came to power in 1956 after having deposed three leaders in a space one year. It would take another thirteen years before another revolt against Soviet rule would take place.

        The Czech uprising was a much a more sophisticated insurgency. It was not simply a violent revolt, a physical expression of anger. It allowed Czechoslovakia to find a sense of identity. The Czech people did not have to listen to the monotonous socialist rhetoric and propaganda that had come before. New literature and philosophical ideas were born, for instance, Milan Kundera’s timeless novel “The Joke”, and a multitude of polemics and thoughts on the social phenomena. The meaning of free speech was fully pronounced.

Czechoslovakia was a mere 40 years old at this time. At twenty it had been occupied by Germany, and now it had been swallowed by the USSR. There had been no real time for culture to develop. Czechoslovakia was originally supposed to have been a large piece of the bulwark against a future German uprising, Bolshevism, and a home for the Slav peoples. Its conception was supposed to have simmered down the chaos of the great ‘melting pot’, however, this was not the case.

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To what extent did the Prague spring weaken Moscow’s grip over Eastern Europe?

“Incongruence between Communism and Czech disposition has a history which reveals long and genuine striving for socialism as a socially just form of democracy in conflict with Communism as a system of autocratic organization and, eventually, government”1        

The effects of the war on the USSR were devastating having lost over 10.7 million men (approx. 6.4% of its population). Soviet troops, after having liberated Eastern Europe from Nazi occupation, remained in the area. In February 1945 the allied leaders, Roosevelt, Churchill, and Stalin met at Yalta. Stalin suggested that Eastern Europe be under a ‘Soviet sphere of influence’. This meant (technically speaking) that the states of Eastern Europe would become subsidiaries of the USSR. However, Stalin maintained that he wanted this primarily to protect Soviet interests. According to Stalin it would help prevent a future German insurgency.

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Roosevelt was unhappy, however, Churchill convinced the American president to let the matter be as there was still the matter of Greece at hand. This was the point where a certain animus began to build between America and the USSR. The meeting at Potsdam in July further strained relations when Roosevelt died and Harry Truman took his place. Truman and his administration took a harder line against Stalin explicating their contempt for communism, and their awareness of Stalin’s underlying motives. This lead to the conception of the Truman doctrine, which in turn caused the USSR to react in a rather ...

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