The decision on the part of the Soviet Union to invade Czechoslovakia came about because of a combination of forces and crises. The invasion followed what has come to be known as the Prague Spring, a period of liberalization of policies in Poland, which came at a time when the Soviets were faced with problems in Romania. Efforts at liberalization by the Dubcek regime in Czechoslovakia raised fears in the Soviet leaders that this would be only the beginning of widespread demands for changes of the same sort in other East European countries. In addition, there were changes taking place in Czechoslovakia in terms of self defense and foreign policy which threatened the membership of that country in the Warsaw Pact, and the Soviets could not abide any potential defection from the apparent unity of the Eastern bloc.
The crisis in Czechoslovakia covered a period of about eight months in 1968, a period involving what Valenta (1991) calls "profound and revolutionary changes" (Valenta, 1991, 11). What was taking place was a peaceful revolution that was a result of the de-Stalinization process taking place throughout the Eastern bloc in varying degrees. The Soviets were opposed to the reforms they saw taking place in Czechoslovakia and the other countries noted above. A degree of democratization was the hallmark of the changes in Czechoslovakia, and this process was taking place for several years prior to the onset of the crisis, without this fact being noticed by analysts in the West and in the East. The power conflict taking place in the Communist Party in Czechoslovakia in 1967 was misunderstood. It would lead to the overthrow of First Secretary Antonin Novotny in January 1968 and to the election of Dubcek. The Soviets at the time might have averted the problem by supporting Novotny as he asked, but the Soviet leadership thought that Novotny's position was untenable and that his successor would not be that different in terms of na...