Reactions To The Reforms

Question 1

What did Dubcek’s reforms encourage ?

Answer 1

Opponents of communism and led to demands for more radical reforms
Example: June 1968 social democrats began to form a rival party to the communists
Czech news writers encouraged people to take the infuriate and code even more extreme reform such as the leading journalist Ludvik Vulkulic

Question 2

How did the Soviet Union react initially ?

Answer 2

It was suspicious of the changes taking place for several reasons

Question 3

What were the reasons for the soviet unions suspicions of the Prague spring reforms ?

Answer 3

Czechoslovakia was one of the most important country in the Warsaw pact
- centrally placed and strong industry

Question 4

What was Brezhnev worried about ?

Answer 4

• Czechoslovakia might leave the Warsaw pact and join NATO
• This could split the eastern block into and create an even bigger hole in the iron curtain than the one created by West Berlin in the late 1950’s
• It would advance NATO’s frontier by 700KM East so that it now bordered the Soviet Union itself