HIST 456

  1. Alexander Dubcek - Slovak
    • -leader of Slovak communist party, challenged Novotny - the old crusty Stalinist - in Oct '67 for governing power.
    • -of Slovakian descent
    • -deeply devoted to socialism, spent 13 yrs in USSR w/ his socialist family as a youth
    • -Brezhnev could not stop ousting of Novotny, basically stood back and allowed overthrow - - Central Czech Communist party voted him into power - he became leader of party plenum on Jan. 5 1968
  2. "Socialism with a human face"
    • Dubcek's plan to reform communist party, which backfired and caused Prague Uprising in '68.
    • -basic idea = a communist state based on popular legitimacy and VALID elections ... with main concern being on the people of the country, and not the dictatorship's desires.
    • - this type of rule would include being accountable to a National Assembly, transparency of govt activities, and freedom of the press and expression.
    • - also, included an end to censorship and honesty about past communist brutalities
  3. “Operation Danube”,
    August 20-21, 1968
    • The invasion of Prague by Soviet tanks, after Dubcek refused to back down on his liberal, democratic policies that he wished to fuse with socialism.
    • - 400,000 soviet troops invaded, and Dubcek ordered all military to remain in barracks, offered NO RESISTANCE
    • -Dubcek escaped death, but was booted from communist party and expelled into rural isolation
    • - Czechoslovakia became one of the most repressive countries in the bloc afterwards
Author
knowak3
ID
74561
Card Set
HIST 456
Description
flash cards including terms, important personalities for final exam
Updated