Warsaw Pact troops invaded and occupied Czechoslovakia from August 21, 1968 to December 31, 1968. The Czechoslovakian victims of the occupation were carried on stretchers by the citizens of Prague. About 137 Czechoslovakians were massacred and about 500 were wounded. Some 250,000 troops and 2,000 tanks suddenly rolled across the border into Prague to crush the democratic reforms of the Czechoslovak Communist government, ushering in a bloody occupation that forgot the lessons many Czechs feared.
The liberalizing reforms of the "Prague Spring" were long suppressed by the brutal Soviet Union, which began on August 21, 1968. Approximately 250,000 troops from five Warsaw Pact countries (mostly Soviet, but also including Poland, Hungary, and Bulgaria) violently invaded Czechoslovakia. The capital, Prague, was thrown into chaos, Prague citizens barricaded themselves in streetcars and other vehicles, and Soviet troops delayed the invasion in streets and other areas. Particularly in the week following the invasion, Czechoslovakians expressed civil protest with numerous spontaneous acts of non-violent resistance. They refused all assistance, including food and water supplies. The protesters were brutally beaten and arrested by security forces. They were later executed by secret tribunal. Civilians deliberately gave false instructions to the invading troops, who identified and tracked the vehicles belonging to the secret police. But the protests in response to the invasion lasted only about seven days; on January 16, 1969, students protested by shooting and burning themselves to death in Prague.
The sudden Soviet invasion led to the end of the Czechoslovakian policy and nearly two decades of totalitarian rule in which massive peaceful protests until 1989 ultimately ended communist rule. The Soviet Red Army shattered the hopes of Czechoslovaks for freedom and democracy. We must reject the totalitarian influence that is once again weakening our society.
