August 20, 1968 · Europe Theater
August 20, 1968
Alexander Dubček's reform program — 'socialism with a human face' — abolished censorship, allowed political pluralism, and threatened to introduce market elements into the Czechoslovak economy. On the night of August 20–21, 1968, 500,000 Warsaw Pact troops and 6,300 tanks from five countries invaded Czechoslovakia. Dubček was arrested, flown to Moscow, forced to sign the Moscow Protocol, and eventually replaced. The reforms were reversed one by one under the policy of 'normalization.'
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