Streets of Prague as the resistance faces Soviet tanks. Photo by Bohumil Dobrovolsky.
The counter-revolutionary invasion of Prague in August 1968 followed a brief thaw in the Soviet domination of the Czech Republic.
Dubček had rehabilitated political opponents, abolished restrictions on travel, erased press censorship, and encouraged freedom of expression; he later remembered being inspired by the French Revolution’s calls for "Liberté, Égalité, and Fraternité."
Unable to tolerate the new-found lack of fear among the populace, Brezhnev sent in the tanks, and thousands of troops attempted to occupy the city. An emboldened resistence held out for another eight months.
Waving a Czech flag in front of Soviet tanks. Photo by Libor Hajsky.
The crushing of freedom before the cameras and the eyes of the world, provided a clear example of what the so-called "democracies" with "freedom of speech" should not do. Perhaps Nixon, J. Edgar Hoover, and John Mitchell didn't get the memo. At least Nixon had to resign and Mitchell got 19 months in Federal Prison.
sources:
"The Day the Soviets Arrived to Crush the Prague Spring, in Rarely Seen Photos" by Peter Comby, in The New Yorker, 2018-08-26 LINK
"The Strong Man: John Mitchell and the Secrets of Watergate" by James Rosen, Doubleday, 2008. LINK
"Myths and Mysteries from J. Edgar Hoover’s Personal Files," by Larry Holzwarth, History Collection (webpage). LINK
"Invasion Prag 68", Josef Koudelka. Schirmer/Mosel, 2008.
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