Today…. Overview & focus on the long term causes

1. Today…. Overview & focus on the long term causes

2. BACKGROUND You already know that in 1956, Hungary tried to break away from Soviet control. The Hungarian Uprising was brutally crushed when the Soviet Union invaded Hungary. The satellite states were warned not to try anything similar! Nevertheless, in 1968, something similar happened in Czechoslovakia. The Czech prime minister, Dubcek, tried to carry out several reforms (changes). This period of change in Czechoslovakia was known as the Prague Spring. (Prague is the capital of Czechoslovakia, and ‘spring’ because during this time it was as if the nation was being reborn.) The Prague Spring resulted in the Soviet Union invading Czechoslovakia in 1968 and replacing Dubcek with a tougher communist prime minister. No surprises there, then!

3. Piecing together a summary of the Prague Spring 1968 • You have 5 boxes of text which form a summary of the Prague Spring, but they are in the wrong order, and they don’t have any subheadings. What you need to do is…. • Work out which box of text goes with which subheading…… • A Opposition to Soviet control grows in Czechoslovakia • B Dubcek launches his ‘Prague Spring’ reforms • C The Soviet response to the Prague Spring • D The Soviet Invasion • E The consequences • Perhaps write the correct letter, A-E, on the back of each box of text? • 2. Stick the summary in your book in the order A-E shown above. Above each box, write the subheading which describes it (see A-E above). • 3. At the top of your work, write this main title: The Prague Spring 1968: a summary and overview

4. The Prague Spring 1968: a summary and overview

7. Why did the Czechs risk trying to break away from Soviet control? There are two reasons why the Czechs thought they could successfully break away from Soviet control………de-Stalinisation and détente. What do you remember about De-Stalinisation? What was détente? Stalin? What a loser! Détente means ‘thaw’. What do you know about how there was a thaw (how relations improved) after the Cuban Missiles Crisis of 1962?

8. What were de-Stalinisation and détente? • Way back in 1956, Khrushchev made a ‘secret speech’ to the Communist Party. In this speech, he denounced (criticised) Stalin, who had died in 1953. • Stalin’s government had been cruel and repressive. Anyone who had opposed him had been arrested, and the secret police were everywhere. Khrushchev wanted to distance himself from Stalin. • Following the secret speech, statues of Stalin were torn down, cities were renamed and the secret police became less active. More consumer goods were produced. This whole process was calledde-Stalinisation. This policy was popular in the USSR. It was popular in the West too, since the people of the USSR seemed to be gaining more freedom. • Khrushchev wanted to replace the old policy of confrontation with the new policy of peaceful co-existence with the West. This led to a reduction in Cold War tensions, which became known as the ‘thaw’, or détente. Détente was boosted by the Cuban Missiles Crisis (1962) – both the USA and USSR realised how close to nuclear war they’d come!

9. What did de-Stalinisation and détente have to do with the Prague Spring in 1968? • De-Stalinisation also led the satellite states to expect changes (reforms). They tried to demand changes, like in Hungary in 1956 and Czechoslovakia in 1968. However, these satellite states misunderstood Khrushchev’s intentions. He could not allow reforms in the satellite states because reforms could result in the end of communism in Eastern Europe and a destruction of the buffer against the West. So, any revolts in the satellite states (eg. Hungary in 1956, the Prague Spring in 1968) were ruthlessly repressed by the USSR. This led to temporary blips in the ‘thaw’. • So, although the Cuban Missiles Crisis (1962) had led to détente/the thaw by frightening everyone, détente was temporarily endangered by the Soviet invasion of Czechoslovakia in 1968.

10. STARTER We won’t leave the Warsaw Pact…. promise! ‘SOCIALISM WITH A HUMAN FACE’ 4 1 2 I feel a doctrine coming on….. HUSAK DUBCEK 3 5 NOVOTNY + 500,000 TROOPS BREZHNEV

11. De-Stalinisation anddétente(relaxation of tension) • What caused….. • De-Stalinisation? • Détente? • What did Khrushchev mean by his ‘policy of peaceful co-existence’? • How did all 3 have a part to play in causing the Prague Spring 1968? • What impact did the Soviet invasion of Czechoslovakia have on détente?

12. HOMEWORK • Revise for an a,b,c set of exam questions next Tuesday 18th. You need to revise the following topics: • The Berlin Crisis 1961 • The Cuban Missiles Crisis • The Prague Spring/Soviet invasion of Czechoslovakia • You will have 35 mins during Tuesday’s lesson to answer the questions.

13. Today and next lesson …. The Prague Spring 1968

14. Title: Why was there growing opposition to Soviet control in Czechoslovakia in the 1960s? • Use the small handout to make some notes on the reasons why there was growing opposition to Soviet control in Czechoslovakia in the ‘60s….. • The idea is that you should make notes which add to the summary you’ve just stuck in your book. • You should make notes on… • Why many Czechs did not like Novotny • Problems with the Czech economy • That’ll do!

15. Why didn’t the Czech people like Prime Minister Novotny? What problems were there with the Czech economy? Antonin Novotny had been the Czech leader since 1957. He was unpopular because he was a hard-line communist who always did what the Soviet Union said to do. He refused to introduce any reforms. Despite de-Stalinisation, Novotny took ages to release political prisoners in Czechoslovakia who had been imprisoned during Stalin’s time in power. The Czech economy was doing particularly badly in the 1960s. There was a fall in the standard of living and severe inflation (prices rises). In 1962-63, national income fell. Comecon forced Czech industry to produce steel, which they then took off Czechoslovakia. Comecon also stopped Czech industry from producing any consumer goods.

16. Stick your Prague Spring flower diagram in your book. It shows the Prague Reforms introduced by Dubcek in 1968. Above it, write the title What were the Prague Spring reforms of 1968? • Now read through the textbook pages 68 and 69. • Focus on what the textbook says (on pages 68-9) about why the Soviet Union was suspicious of the changes taking place in Czechoslovakia in 1968 (ie. the Prague Spring reforms). From the text, pick out 4 words which you think sum up why the USSR was suspicious. For example, one of your words could be ‘industry’. Write your four words down. • Now write the title: Why did the Soviet Union invade Czechoslovakia? Beneath this title, write a paragraph about why the Soviet Union was so suspicious of the Prague Spring reforms that they decided to invade Czecholslovakia. Try to use your four words in your paragraph, and try it with the textbook closed! • Finished? Complete the exam Q shown in task 2 on page 68.Write out the Q first. Remember that you only need a couple of sentences for this type of exam question.

17. 2 Below are 3 reasons why the Soviet Union invaded Czechoslovakia in 1968. Can you (a) explain them, and (b) put them in order of importance? REVIEW W D Warsaw Pact C Eastern/Soviet Bloc Dubcek 1 Can you describe 3 reforms Dubcek announced as part of the Prague Spring, using these first letters as clues? West Germany

18. Title: What were the key features and consequences of the Soviet invasion? • Read the text on page 70. Note down 3 acts of resistance (ie. 3 things the Czechs did to fight back against the invasion). You should choose ones which are not already in your sort-and-stick-summary from last lesson. You should make a note of the fact that the Czech army did not provide any resistance. • 2. Read through the ‘consequences’ section of your sort-and-stick-summary from last lesson. Using page 72, add 3 new facts about the consequences which are not already mentioned in your summary.

19. REVIEW– part b ‘briefly explain the key features of…..’ questions (6 marks) Briefly explain the key features of the Soviet invasion of Czechoslovakia, 1968. 1 2 3 Briefly explain the key features of the Prague Spring in Czechoslovakia. 1 2 3