1968: The Crisis of the Czechoslovak Socialist Republic (ČSSR)

The communist rule in Czechoslovakia (ČSSR) caused a major economic crisis in the 1960s. In 1968, demands for, first technical and economic, and then also social reforms, led to a general opening, which was soon named the “Prague Spring”. Against the opposition of the old leadership, the new First Secretary of the Czechoslovak Communist Party, Alexander Dubček (1921–1992), promoted a liberalisation called “socialism with a human face”. This atmosphere of awakening and the development of an alternative communist programme coincided with the worldwide “1968 movement”.

The Soviet leadership under Leonid Iljitsch Breschnew (1906–1982) initially only warned Dubček not to go too far. However, the leaders in the GDR, Bulgaria, and Poland feared a spillover into their countries and pushed for a military intervention, which began on 21 August 1968. The Czechoslovak army did not resist, but there were actions of civil disobedience. About 160,000 citizens left the ČSSR, 12,000 of whom sought asylum in Austria. With the term “normalisation”, a return to the old system began.

In Austria people closely followed the development in the ČSSR. The Austrian Broadcasting Corporation (ORF) also contributed to informing the Czechoslovak population and officially broadcast news in the Czech language “for the refugees from the ČSSR”.

A deployment on the border had been planned by the Armed Forces in the case of an intervention in the ČSSR – as with the crisis in Hungary in 1956. The government, however, assumed that there was no military threat to Austria (which was true, but on several occasions there were reconnaissance flights that took place over Austria). Troops were therefore moved north of the Danube, but had to maintain a distance of 30 kilometers from the border; the Weitra garrison was even cleared. This “non-intervention” unsettled in particular the population living near the border and increased doubts about the meaning of national defence. The slogan “six months [of military service] are enough” contributed to the election victory of the SPÖ (Social Democratic Party of Austria) in 1970.

Internationally, the intervention in the ČSSR reinforced the negative image of Soviet “tank communism”; communist parties in the west lost support. However, the crisis of 1968 also encouraged efforts towards a subsequent easing of tension between East and West in Europe. In the ČSSR in 1977 artists and intellectuals initiated a civil rights movement called “Charta 77”; its goals, however, remained unattained for more than ten years. The dictatorship transferred such dissidents into unpopular jobs (such as construction) or forced them to emigrate.

Since the intervention of 1968, Soviet troops remained stationed in the ČSSR (until 1991). Democratisation took place in the wake of the “velvet revolution” of 1989; the “socialist” then became the “federative republic” (ČSFR). In 1993, the Czech Republic and Slovakia separated peacefully; in 2004 both states joined the EU.