Today In History: Prague Spring

On the night of August 20, 1968 the Soviet Union and other Warsaw Pact nations began invading Czechoslovakia to crush the "Prague Spring" liberalization drive of Czechoslovak Communist Party leader Alexander Dubcek.

Soviet-led forces, including Bulgarian, Hungarian, Polish, and East German soldiers, crossed the border into Czechoslovakia to crush what the official media called the danger of counterrevolution and Czechoslovakia's withdrawal from the Warsaw Pact.

Dubcek and his followers were ousted, and all reforms of the Dubcek era were wiped out within 13 months.