Warsaw Pact occupation of Czechoslovakia [1968]

If we can trace something that runs through the history of the Czechoslovak Republic and today the Czech Republic as the famous red thread, it is a perfect "forgetting" of the heroes. First Republic Czechoslovakia purposefully forgot about the brave soldiers fighting in the uniforms of Austria-Hungary and praised the "legionnaires", the communists tried to wipe out the memory of the nation with slander and crime foreign soldiers and domestic resistance, by erasing from history and often from life even communist heroes who were not the real Marxists-Leninists and especially Stalinists.

100 years ago, on April 10, 1908, František Kriegel was born in Stanislawów. It has made a remarkable impression on our modern history. The poor Jewish boy from Galicia was the only Czechoslovak top prisoner-politician who said NO! to Brezhnev in the turbulent days of August 1968 and did not sign the Moscow dictatorship and thus saved our Czechoslovak honor. The well-known Czech philosopher Karel Kosík once said that he tried to find a similar act in Czech history: it can only be compared to Jan Hus's actions in Constance.

František Kriegel, a Czechoslovak politician who did not sign the consent to the dictates of Moscow in August 1968, would have lived to be hundreds of years old these days. In the second of the three parts, we will find František Kriegl during the Prague Spring and the invasion of the five armies of the Warsaw Pact. This portrait of František Kriegl was also published in a slightly different form in the exile "Roman" Letters and will be reminded by Letters No. 2/2008, published this month.

František Kriegel, a Czechoslovak politician who did not sign the consent to Moscow's dictates in August 1968, would be 100 years old last Thursday. The final part of the recollections is devoted to the period after 1968, when the then communist regime tried to make František Kriegl's life unpleasant in every possible way. But they couldn't break him. His signature appeared among Charter 77 among the first. This portrait of František Kriegl was also published in a slightly different form in the exile "Roman" Letters and will be reminded by Letters No. 2/2008, published this month.

The dissertation focuses on the general context of the aggressive action of the five armies of the Warsaw Pact Organization towards Czechoslovakia in August 1968. Unlike historiographies of generally favored ideological contradictions, it seeks explanation of the whole event in the basic aspects of promoting the superpower interests of the Soviet Union, especially in the military-strategic field. However, the problem with processing is the lack of primary information sources, which are still subject to the strictest secrecy. In contrast, information is available, including theoretical analyzes of doctrinal issues in the professional press. Above all, however, it is possible to use information on the practical implementation of organizational and conceptual guidelines, which were based on doctrinal and strategic concepts. Due to the close interconnectedness of the armed forces of the Warsaw Pact Organization, the basic outlines of Soviet strategic concepts can also be observed from their application in Czechoslovak conditions. Given the apparent continuity of Soviet foreign and military policy from the 1930s to the 1980s, geopolitical aspects of active Soviet involvement on the international stage could be defined. The Soviet political and military leadership, regardless of the ideological rejection of the terms "geopolitics" or "life interests," was in principle guided by them. The work thus shows the significant interconnectedness of Soviet superpower ambitions, especially with the European, Mediterranean and Middle Eastern space.

The dissertation focuses on the general context of the aggressive action of the five armies of the Warsaw Pact Organization towards Czechoslovakia in August 1968. Unlike historiographies of generally favored ideological contradictions, it seeks explanation of the whole event in the basic aspects of promoting the superpower interests of the Soviet Union, especially in the military-strategic field. However, the problem with processing is the lack of primary information sources, which are still subject to the strictest secrecy. In contrast, information is available, including theoretical analyzes of doctrinal issues in the professional press. Above all, however, it is possible to use information on the practical implementation of organizational and conceptual guidelines, which were based on doctrinal and strategic concepts. Due to the close interconnectedness of the armed forces of the Warsaw Pact Organization, the basic outlines of Soviet strategic concepts can also be observed from their application in Czechoslovak conditions. Given the apparent continuity of Soviet foreign and military policy from the 1930s to the 1980s, geopolitical aspects of active Soviet involvement on the international stage could be defined. The Soviet political and military leadership, regardless of the ideological rejection of the terms "geopolitics" or "life interests," was in principle guided by them. The work thus shows the significant interconnectedness of Soviet superpower ambitions, especially with the European, Mediterranean and Middle Eastern space.

The dissertation focuses on the general context of the aggressive action of the five armies of the Warsaw Pact Organization towards Czechoslovakia in August 1968. Unlike historiographies of generally favored ideological contradictions, it seeks explanation of the whole event in the basic aspects of promoting the superpower interests of the Soviet Union, especially in the military-strategic field. However, the problem with processing is the lack of primary information sources, which are still subject to the strictest secrecy. In contrast, information is available, including theoretical analyzes of doctrinal issues in the professional press. Above all, however, it is possible to use information on the practical implementation of organizational and conceptual guidelines, which were based on doctrinal and strategic concepts. Due to the close interconnectedness of the armed forces of the Warsaw Pact Organization, the basic outlines of Soviet strategic concepts can also be observed from their application in Czechoslovak conditions. Given the apparent continuity of Soviet foreign and military policy from the 1930s to the 1980s, geopolitical aspects of active Soviet involvement on the international stage could be defined. The Soviet political and military leadership, regardless of the ideological rejection of the terms "geopolitics" or "life interests," was in principle guided by them. The work thus shows the significant interconnectedness of Soviet superpower ambitions, especially with the European, Mediterranean and Middle Eastern space.

The dissertation focuses on the general context of the aggressive action of the five armies of the Warsaw Pact Organization towards Czechoslovakia in August 1968. Unlike historiographies of generally favored ideological contradictions, it seeks explanation of the whole event in the basic aspects of promoting the superpower interests of the Soviet Union, especially in the military-strategic field. However, the problem with processing is the lack of primary information sources, which are still subject to the strictest secrecy. In contrast, information is available, including theoretical analyzes of doctrinal issues in the professional press. Above all, however, it is possible to use information on the practical implementation of organizational and conceptual guidelines, which were based on doctrinal and strategic concepts. Due to the close interconnectedness of the armed forces of the Warsaw Pact Organization, the basic outlines of Soviet strategic concepts can also be observed from their application in Czechoslovak conditions. Given the apparent continuity of Soviet foreign and military policy from the 1930s to the 1980s, geopolitical aspects of active Soviet involvement on the international stage could be defined. The Soviet political and military leadership, regardless of the ideological rejection of the terms "geopolitics" or "life interests," was in principle guided by them. The work thus shows the significant interconnectedness of Soviet superpower ambitions, especially with the European, Mediterranean and Middle Eastern space.

The dissertation focuses on the general context of the aggressive action of the five armies of the Warsaw Pact Organization towards Czechoslovakia in August 1968. Unlike historiographies of generally favored ideological contradictions, it seeks explanation of the whole event in the basic aspects of promoting the superpower interests of the Soviet Union, especially in the military-strategic field. However, the problem with processing is the lack of primary information sources, which are still subject to the strictest secrecy. In contrast, information is available, including theoretical analyzes of doctrinal issues in the professional press. Above all, however, it is possible to use information on the practical implementation of organizational and conceptual guidelines, which were based on doctrinal and strategic concepts. Due to the close interconnectedness of the armed forces of the Warsaw Pact Organization, the basic outlines of Soviet strategic concepts can also be observed from their application in Czechoslovak conditions. Given the apparent continuity of Soviet foreign and military policy from the 1930s to the 1980s, geopolitical aspects of active Soviet involvement on the international stage could be defined. The Soviet political and military leadership, regardless of the ideological rejection of the terms "geopolitics" or "life interests," was in principle guided by them. The work thus shows the significant interconnectedness of Soviet superpower ambitions, especially with the European, Mediterranean and Middle Eastern space.

The dissertation focuses on the general context of the aggressive action of the five armies of the Warsaw Pact Organization towards Czechoslovakia in August 1968. Unlike historiographies of generally favored ideological contradictions, it seeks explanation of the whole event in the basic aspects of promoting the superpower interests of the Soviet Union, especially in the military-strategic field. However, the problem with processing is the lack of primary information sources, which are still subject to the strictest secrecy. In contrast, information is available, including theoretical analyzes of doctrinal issues in the professional press. Above all, however, it is possible to use information on the practical implementation of organizational and conceptual guidelines, which were based on doctrinal and strategic concepts. Due to the close interconnectedness of the armed forces of the Warsaw Pact Organization, the basic outlines of Soviet strategic concepts can also be observed from their application in Czechoslovak conditions. Given the apparent continuity of Soviet foreign and military policy from the 1930s to the 1980s, geopolitical aspects of active Soviet involvement on the international stage could be defined. The Soviet political and military leadership, regardless of the ideological rejection of the terms "geopolitics" or "life interests," was in principle guided by them. The work thus shows the significant interconnectedness of Soviet superpower ambitions, especially with the European, Mediterranean and Middle Eastern space.

The dissertation focuses on the general context of the aggressive action of the five armies of the Warsaw Pact Organization towards Czechoslovakia in August 1968. Unlike historiographies of generally favored ideological contradictions, it seeks explanation of the whole event in the basic aspects of promoting the superpower interests of the Soviet Union, especially in the military-strategic field. However, the problem with processing is the lack of primary information sources, which are still subject to the strictest secrecy. In contrast, information is available, including theoretical analyzes of doctrinal issues in the professional press. Above all, however, it is possible to use information on the practical implementation of organizational and conceptual guidelines, which were based on doctrinal and strategic concepts. Due to the close interconnectedness of the armed forces of the Warsaw Pact Organization, the basic outlines of Soviet strategic concepts can also be observed from their application in Czechoslovak conditions. Given the apparent continuity of Soviet foreign and military policy from the 1930s to the 1980s, geopolitical aspects of active Soviet involvement on the international stage could be defined. The Soviet political and military leadership, regardless of the ideological rejection of the terms "geopolitics" or "life interests," was in principle guided by them. The work thus shows the significant interconnectedness of Soviet superpower ambitions, especially with the European, Mediterranean and Middle Eastern space.

The dissertation focuses on the general context of the aggressive action of the five armies of the Warsaw Pact Organization towards Czechoslovakia in August 1968. Unlike historiographies of generally favored ideological contradictions, it seeks explanation of the whole event in the basic aspects of promoting the superpower interests of the Soviet Union, especially in the military-strategic field. However, the problem with processing is the lack of primary information sources, which are still subject to the strictest secrecy. In contrast, information is available, including theoretical analyzes of doctrinal issues in the professional press. Above all, however, it is possible to use information on the practical implementation of organizational and conceptual guidelines, which were based on doctrinal and strategic concepts. Due to the close interconnectedness of the armed forces of the Warsaw Pact Organization, the basic outlines of Soviet strategic concepts can also be observed from their application in Czechoslovak conditions. Given the apparent continuity of Soviet foreign and military policy from the 1930s to the 1980s, geopolitical aspects of active Soviet involvement on the international stage could be defined. The Soviet political and military leadership, regardless of the ideological rejection of the terms "geopolitics" or "life interests," was in principle guided by them. The work thus shows the significant interconnectedness of Soviet superpower ambitions, especially with the European, Mediterranean and Middle Eastern space.

On the night of August 20-21, 1968, Czechoslovakia began to be occupied by the armies of the five Warsaw Pact states, and the decision to intervene was issued by the collective party leadership of the Soviet Union a few days before the invasion. Proponents of a power solution in the Kremlin eventually convinced undecided members of the Politburo, and the military set in motion at their behest.

This year we commemorate the 46th anniversary of the invasion of Czechoslovakia by "brotherly" armies. Numerous articles and books have been written about August 1968 and related events, and countless programs and reports have been made. However, there is one person, a politician, who is worth repeating, even though he was a communist ( and tough one ). He is the ONLY ONE WHO DID NOT SIGN. As one of the few Czechoslovak and Czech politicians in our history, he showed the courage to confront the external threat to the republic. He is undoubtedly a contradictory figure, just as our history is contradictory.