Prague Spring

•People didn’t have many freedoms

•People could only vote communist

•They were not allowed to criticise the government

•Bad living standards

•Poor quality housing and a lack of things like fridges and cookers

•Alexander Dubcek wanted reforms “socialism with a human face” so he made some reforms

•The reforms were:    Less press censorship  Allowing opposition groups  Allowing some criticism of government  "market socialism"

•Dubcek wanted to remain allies with the USSR and didn’t want to damage relations

•Young people and writers liked the reforms but older people didn’t

•The soviets were horrified

•Brezhnev tried to get him to stop but he wouldn’t

•Brezhnev feared others would follow and damage the soviets power

•Created the Brezhnev Doctrine, Soviets were allowed to invade any country (in the eastern bloc) that threatened the security of the USSR

•Invaded and stopped the ‘Prague spring’

•Dubcek was forced to sign the ‘Moscow protocol’