The conference, held in the seat of the Czech Senate, marks the event's 40th anniversary. If anyone wanted to attack a foreign country, this is a perfect way to do so, Luttwak said, referring to the foreign troops' entry into Czechoslovakia at night on August 20-21. The Soviets used not only ground units but also parachuted Munich agreement from 1938 reaches Prague ...
US and Poland reach tentative deal on missile defence system ... troops inland, Luttwak said, adding that the 1968 events forced NATO to change its strategy. Military planning started to be taken much more seriously, he said. Russian historian Viktor Izonov, too, said the then operation was unexpected by the NATO intelligence service. The occupying troops met with the resistance of Czechoslovak inhabitants.
People built barricades, Izonov said. Czech Foreign Minister Karel Schwarzenberg today praised the support the occupied Czechoslovakia had received from abroad. Schwarzenberg, who had lived in Austria since 1948 and was staying in Vienna when the Warsaw Pact troops entered Czechoslovakia, appreciated the then role of the Austrian radio and television. He said the young generation, born after the 1968 events, has grown up in different conditions. "They no longer fully understand what happened at the time," Schwarzenberg said. The invasion of Czechoslovakia by Warsaw Pact troops, of which the Prague leadership had not been informed beforehand, was codenamed The Danube. It had been planned since April 1968 but the beginnings of the plan date back to February 1968, according to historians. Experts say the occupation could have happened earlier than in August. Already in May 1968, Soviet units gathered at the Czechoslovak-Polish border, supposed to proceed westward, via central and south Bohemia, to Karlovy Vary in Czechoslovakia's westernmost area. The final order was not issued, however, as the Soviets learned that there were ten Czechoslovak tanks near Cesky Tesin, a town situated on the Czech-Polish border. Another opportunity came with the joint exercise of the Warsaw Pact armies, held in south Bohemia in June. The exercising Soviet units then continued moving around Czechoslovakia until August 3, in accordance with Moscow's orders. Prague was unaware of this. In late July 1968, certain units, designed for the invasion, concentrated in the border regions of East Germany, Poland, Ukraine and Hungary, pretending that a military exercise was underway. Their concentration was probably connected with the then negotiations of the Czechoslovak and Soviet political leaders in the east Slovak border village Cierna nad Tisou. After the negotiations, which started on July 29 and lasted four days, and which many consider a crucial moment before the invasion, Moscow waited for a couple of weeks. However, at night on August 20-21, at least 22 Warsaw Pact divisions, supported by more than 500 aircraft, crossed the Czechoslovak borders. More than 100 Warsaw Pact soldiers and about 100 Czechoslovak citizens died as a result of the invasion, and hundreds of civilians were injured. The occupation came in reaction to Moscow's fears that excessive liberalism in Czechoslovakia could lead it out from the Soviet sphere of influence. The previous gradual political thaw intensified after Alexander Dubcek's election as Czechoslovak Communist Party (KSC) head in January 1968. After the invasion, the Soviet troops' presence in Czechoslovakia was "legalised" by an agreement on their temporary stay that the Czechoslovak National Assembly approved in October 1968. The temporary stay lasted 23 years, until after the fall of the communist regime in 1989.
(Ceske Noviny)
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