Hello, I'm Mr. Marchant and thank you for joining me for today's history lesson.

My job today is to help guide you through our history resources in the lesson.

And I'm gonna be working to make sure that by the end of our time together, you can securely meet our lesson objective.

Welcome to today's lesson, which is part of our unit on the transformation of the Cold War where we've been asking ourselves why did tensions ease by 1972? By the end of today's lesson, you'll be able to explain the reactions of countries in the east and west to events in Czechoslovakia from 1968 to 1969.

There are two keywords which will help us navigate our way through today's lesson.

Those are Warsaw Pact and barricade.

The Warsaw Pact was a military alliance of Eastern European countries led by the Soviet Union during the Cold War.

And a barricade is something that is quickly put across a road or entrance to prevent people from going past.

Today's lesson will be split into three parts, and we'll begin by thinking about communist reactions to the Prague Spring.

After gaining power in January 1968, Alexander Dubcek, the communist leader of Czechoslovakia, introduced a range of reforms to address the many problems the country faced.

Dubcek's reforms helped to liberalise the country and became known as the Prague Spring.

Czechoslovakia was one of several communist countries, which were part of the Warsaw Pact.

Other members included Albania, Bulgaria, East Germany, Hungary, Poland, Romania, and the USSR.

All of the members of the Warsaw Pact were communist countries, and with the obvious exception of the USSR, was Soviet satellite states.

So thinking about what we've just heard, which military alliance was Czechoslovakia part of, alongside several other communist states? Pause the video here and press play when you're ready to see the right answer.

Okay, well done to everybody who said the correct answer was Warsaw Pact.

Czechoslovakia, alongside several other communist countries located in Eastern Europe, was part of the Warsaw Pact, a military alliance led by the Soviet Union.

The Prague Spring was generally popular with ordinary people in Czechoslovakia.

The Prague Spring also received support internationally from some other communist leaders.

However, for most communist states, especially those in the Warsaw Pact, Dubcek's reforms generated major concerns.

Dubcek's reforms caused alarm in other Warsaw Pact countries.

Communist leaders, such as Walter Ulbricht, the leader of East Germany, and Wladyslaw Gomulka, the leader of Poland, were concerned that the new ideas emerging in Czechoslovakia might lead to calls for reform in their own countries.

And they put pressure on the Soviet leader, Leonid Brezhnev, to take action against Czechoslovakia.

However, not all communist leaders were opposed to Dubcek's reforms. Nicolae Ceausescu, who had recently become leader of Romania, visited Prague during 1968 and declared his support for Dubcek.

Josip Tito, the leader of Yugoslavia, also made it clear that he supported Dubcek in 1968.

So let's reflect on what we've just heard.

We have a statement on the screen that reads all communist leaders outside of Czechoslovakia opposed the Prague Spring.

Is that statement true or false? Pause the video here and press play when you're ready to see the right answer.

Okay, well done to everybody who said that that statement was false, but we need to be able to justify our response.

So two justifications have appeared on the screen.

The first says that the leaders of Romania and Yugoslavia declared their support for Dubcek's reforms. And the second says that the leaders of Poland and East Germany declared their support for Dubcek's reforms. So which one of those two justifications is correct? Pause the video here and press play when you're ready to see the right answer.

Okay, well done to everybody who said that the correct justification was A, the leaders of Romania and Yugoslavia, Nicolae Ceausescu, and Josip Tito declared their support for Dubcek's reforms. However, the leaders of East Germany and of Poland, as well as other Warsaw Pact states raised their concerns about these reforms in Czechoslovakia, which they worried might lead to pressure for change in their own countries.

In the USSR, Brezhnev was concerned that the Prague Spring could be an indication of plans for Czechoslovakia to leave the Warsaw Pact.

Indeed, the alliance was already suffering from disunity.

In 1968, both Albania and Romania were refusing to attend Warsaw Pact meetings, despite being members.

The prospect of Czechoslovakia leaving was even more concerning for the USSR.

Czechoslovakia had the most developed industry of any Warsaw Pact member state.

Furthermore, Czechoslovakia occupied a central location in Eastern Europe.

Poland, and East Germany bordered it to the north, whilst Hungary bordered it to the South, and it also shared a border with the Soviet Union itself.

Brezhnev was worried that Czechoslovakia might not just leave the Warsaw Pact, but potentially might even join the West's military alliance, the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation, or NATO.

If this happened, the Warsaw Pact would be split in two with East Germany and Poland separated in the north from Hungary, Romania, and Bulgaria to the south.

Furthermore, if Czechoslovakia were to leave the Warsaw Pact and join NATO, this would mean that the Soviet Union itself would share a border with a NATO member.

State Brezhnev could not allow this to happen.

On the 3rd of August, Dubcek met with Brezhnev and other Warsaw Pact leaders and attempted to reassure them by declaring his commitment to communism.

However, the following week, Dubcek hosted a visit by Tito, the Yugoslavian leader.

While Tito was a communist, Yugoslavia was not a member of the Warsaw Pact, and Tito was regarded with great suspicion by the Soviet Union.

Thus Soviet fears that Czechoslovakia would leave the Warsaw Pact remained high.

So I want you to discuss the following with a partner.

Why was Czechoslovakia such an important member of the Warsaw Pact? You should aim to identify at least two reasons as part of your discussion.

So pause the video here and press play when you're ready to reflect on your responses.

Okay, well done for all of the effort you put into your discussion.

So you may have identified some of the following reasons that show Czechoslovakia was an important member of the Warsaw Pact.

That Czechoslovakia was located centrally in the Warsaw Pact and shared borders with the USSR, and that Czechoslovakia had the most developed industry of all members of the Warsaw Pact.

So we're now in a good position to put all of our knowledge about communist reactions to the Prague Spring into practise.

We have views from Alex and Sam.

They disagree with one another about communist reactions to the Prague Spring.

Alex says that most communist countries in Eastern Europe supported the Prague Spring, whereas Sam says that many members at a Warsaw Pact were opposed to the Prague Spring.

So whose view is more accurate, Alex's or Sam's? You should provide additional information to support your answer.

So pause the video here and press play when you're ready to reflect on your response.

Okay, well done for all of your hard work on that task.

So I asked you whose view was more accurate, Alex's or Sam's? And your answer may have included Sam's view that many members of the Warsaw Pact opposed the Prague Spring is more accurate than Alex's view.

Although some communist countries, like Yugoslavia, which was not a member of the Warsaw Pact, and Romania supported Dubcek's reforms in Czechoslovakia, many more countries like Poland, East Germany and the USSR were worried that the Prague Spring could lead to challenges in their own country and threaten the Warsaw Pact.

So really well done if your own response looked something similar to that model, which we've just seen.

And so now we're ready to move on to the second part of our lesson for today where we're going to think about the invasion of Czechoslovakia.

In August 1968, Czechoslovakia was invaded.

Despite being a member of the organisation itself, the invaders were fellow members of the Warsaw Pact led by the USSR.

On the 20th of August 1968, the USSR, along with troops from other Warsaw Pact nations, such as East Germany, Poland, Hungary, and Bulgaria launched a military invasion of Czechoslovakia to crush the Prague Spring movement.

The invading forces consisted of approximately 500,000 soldiers, along with tanks, artillery, and aircraft.

The invasion was not opposed by the Czechoslovakian army who were ordered to remain in their barracks.

Nevertheless, many ordinary people across Czechoslovakia did resist the invading forces.

In the capital city of Prague, people constructed makeshift barricades using cars, furniture, and other materials to block the advance of the invading army.

Students tore down street signs to confuse the invaders and tanks were attacked with petrol bombs.

Approximately 100 Czech people are thought to have been killed during the invasion.

Much of the resistance to the Soviet invasion was peaceful however.

For example, outside the Radio Prague building, unarmed civilians, including women and children, stood in front of tanks with arms raised in defiance, refusing to let the invaders pass.

So let's reflect on what we've just heard.

Where did the 500,000 troops who invaded Czechoslovakia come from? Was it NATO countries, the Soviet Union or Warsaw Pact countries? Pause the video here and press play when you're ready to see the right answer.

Okay, well done to everybody who said the correct answer was C.

The 500,000 troops who invaded Czechoslovakia came from across the Warsaw Pact.

Most of these were from the Soviet Union, but many other troops were sent by countries like East Germany, Poland, Hungary, and Bulgaria.

Ultimately, the Soviet Union took control of Czechoslovakia quickly, but protests against the invasion continued for several months.

In January 1969, in a shocking act to protest against the continued Soviet occupation of his country, a 20-year-old university student called Jan Palach set himself on fire in Wenceslas Square in Prague.

Palach's funeral was attended by hundreds of thousands of people.

In April 1969, Dubcek was arrested and sent to Moscow where he was forced to step down as leader of Czechoslovakia and was replaced by Gustav Husak, a hardline communist loyal to the Soviet Union.

Husak led a determined attempt to reestablish strict communist control over Czechoslovakian society in a process referred to as normalisation.

Husak arrested thousands of people who had supported Dubcek's reforms, and reintroduced strict censorship of the media.

Czechoslovakia remained under strict communist rule for the next 20 years.

So I want you to discuss the following with a partner.

How did ordinary Czech people attempt to resist the Soviet invasion of Czechoslovakia? Pause the video here and press play when you're ready to reflect on your discussion.

Okay, well done for all of your efforts during that discussion.

Some of your responses may have included that ordinary Czech people constructed barricades, that they stood in front of tanks, removed street signs, and threw petrol bombs at the invaders.

And let's try another question.

What happened to Alexander Dubcek? Was it that he was killed whilst fighting the invading army, that he was captured and executed, he was arrested and forced to step down, or he escaped and fled to France? Pause the video here and press play when you're ready to see the right answer.

Okay, well done to everybody who said that the correct answer was C, Dubcek was arrested and forced to step down as leader of Czechoslovakia.

So we're now in a good position to put all of our knowledge about the invasion of Czechoslovakia into practise.

Starting with the earliest, I want you to sort the events in the table into chronological order.

You need to use the numbers one to five to indicate your answers with one being the earliest.

So pause the video here and press play when you're ready to check your answers.

Okay, well done for all of your effort on that task.

So I asked you to sort the events in our table into chronological order, and your answers should have looked as follows.

The first of our events was that the Warsaw Pact leaders put pressure on Brezhnev to take action in response to Dubcek's reforms. This was followed by Dubcek hosting a visit from Tito, the leader of Yugoslavia, which was not a member of the Warsaw Pact.

At the end of August 1968, 500,000 troops invaded Czechoslovakia.

These troops came from across the Warsaw Pact.

Fourthly, barricades were built by ordinary people on the streets of Prague, but the Czechoslovakian military did not act.

And the fifth and final event, which you should have identified was that Dubcek was replaced as leader by Gustav Husak.

So really well done if you identified that chronological order correctly.

And so now we're ready to move on to the third and final part of our lesson for today where we are going to think about Western reactions to events in Czechoslovakia in 1968 and 1969.

There was outrage in the West at the invasion of Czechoslovakia.

The USA and its allies criticised the actions of the USSR and other Warsaw Pact members.

The Soviet invasion of she Slovakia increased tensions between east and west.

Western governments and publics criticised the USSR for attacking an independent state, which had not made any threats against it.

Even in Finland, which had traditionally avoided opposing Soviet policies because it bordered the USSR, there were large-scale public protests in support of Czechoslovakia.

Meanwhile, the communist parties in France and Italy were so outraged by Soviet aggression in Czechoslovakia that they declared themselves formally independent of the Soviet Communist Party, reducing the USSR'S political influence in both of those countries.

An attempt was also made to condemn the USSR's actions at the UN, but the Soviets were able to block this move.

Nevertheless, the significance that the Soviet-led invasion for the West was ultimately limited.

The USA and its allies refused to send military aid to support resistance in Czechoslovakia.

The USA was already fighting a costly war in Vietnam and was not interested in being drawn into another difficult conflict in the Soviet sphere of influence.

American interest was also distracted by a presidential election that year.

In any case, President Lyndon B.

Johnson had an unspoken understanding with the USSR not to intervene in Czechoslovakia, provided that the Soviets did not intervene in Vietnam.

Thus, the West criticised the invasion of Czechoslovakia, but did not take practical steps to try and resist it.

So we have a statement on the screen that reads, "Outside of the USA, there was little anger in the West at the invasion of Czechoslovakia." Is that statement true or false? Pause the video here and press play when you're ready to see the right answer.

Okay, well done to everybody who said that that statement was false, but we need to be able to justify our answer.

So two justifications have appeared on the screen.

The first says that the communist parties in France and Italy broke off their links to the Soviet Communist Party.

And the second says that NATO began to prepare its military forces to attack the Warsaw Pact.

So which one of those two justifications is correct? Pause the video here and press play when you're ready to see the right answer.

Okay, well done to everybody who said that the correct justification was A.

We can tell that there was anger in many parts of the West, not just in the USA at the invasion of Czechoslovakia because the communist parties in France and Italy both broke off their links to the Soviet Communist Party.

And let's think about another statement.

This time our statement reads, "The Soviet invasion of Czechoslovakia led to a long-term increase in tension between the USA and the USSR." Is that statement true or false? Pause the video here and press play when you're ready to see the right answer.

Okay, well done to everybody who said that that statement was false.

But we need to be able to justify our response.

So two justifications have appeared on the screen.

The first says that the Soviet invasion of Czechoslovakia reduced tensions between the USA and the USSR.

And the second says that the Soviet invasion of Czechoslovakia led to a short-term increase in tensions between the USA and the USSR.

So which one of those two justifications is correct? Pause the video here and press play when you're ready to see the right answer.

Okay, well done to everybody who said that the correct justification was B, the Soviet invasion of Czechoslovakia led to a short-term increase in tensions between the USA and the USSR.

And let's try one final check for understanding to make sure our knowledge is really secure.

I want you to discuss the following with a partner.

Why did the USA not intervene to support Czechoslovakia during the Soviet invasion? As part of your discussion, you should aim to identify at least two reasons.

So pause the video here and press play when you're ready to reflect on your responses.

Okay, well done if some of the things that you discussed included that the USA was in the middle of a presidential election, so it was distracted, that the USA was involved in the Vietnam War, so it had other priorities to deal with, and that there was an unspoken agreement that the USA would not intervene in Czechoslovakia if the Soviet Union did not intervene in Vietnam.

And so now we're in a good position to put all of our knowledge about Western reactions to events in Czechoslovakia into practise.

We have a view from Laura who says, "The invasion of Czechoslovakia created a serious risk of nuclear war." But how accurate is Laura's view? You should explain your answer considering the reaction of Western powers to the invasion of Czechoslovakia.

So pause the video here and press play when you're ready to reflect on your response.

Okay, well done for all of your effort on that task.

So I asked you how accurate was Laura's view? And I asked you to explain your answer.

So your response may have included, "Laura's view of the risks generated by the invasion of Czechoslovakia is not accurate.

The invasion created tension between East and West as countries like the USA perceived it as an aggressive move by the USSR and other Warsaw packed member states.

However, there was no risk of nuclear war as the USA and its allies were unwilling to provide military support to Czechoslovakia.

The US was already fighting a war in Vietnam, and President Johnson had an understanding with the USSR not to interfere if the Soviets stayed out to Vietnam.

Instead, western countries limited themselves to criticising the invasion, so whilst tensions did increase, these were not sufficient enough to risk nuclear war." So really well done if your own response looked something like that model there.

And that means we've now reached the end of today's lesson, which puts us in a good position to summarise our learning about international responses to the Prague Spring.

We've seen that the USSR and most other Warsaw Pact members were opposed to Dubcek's reforms during the Prague Spring.

Brezhnev worried that the Prague Spring was the beginning of Czechoslovak preparation to leave the Warsaw Pact.

500,000 troops from Warsaw Pact countries invaded Czechoslovakia.

After the invasion, the Prague Spring reforms were overturned and Dubcek was removed from power and replaced by Gustav Husak.

And the invasion was criticised in the West, but the US and its allies refused to provide military support to Czechoslovakia.

So really well done for all your hard work during today's lesson.

It's been a pleasure to help guide you through our resources today, and I look forward to seeing you again in future as we think further about the transformation of the Cold War and continue to ask ourselves why did tensions ease by 1972?.