The buildup of troops around Czechoslovakia's borders began in early June (around the time Robert Kennedy was assassinated in the United States). There had been other maneuvers in prior years, but this year the troops were more numerous and didn't leave at the end of June. The Soviets had been planning for the possibility of invasion for months before they actually decided to do it. When the "Two Thousand Words" was published at the end of June, it infuriated the Soviets.

By July 29, the Czech leaders were summoned to a meeting (grilling) with the Soviets in Cierna, near the border with the USSR. The Soviets had been hoping that the conservatives would regain control of the Czech government, but in fact the opposite was happening. While the leadership was still made up of both factions, the general population was widely supportive of the reformers, and the Soviet condemnation of the progressives had the result of solidifying support for Dubcek and his team. A general election to be held in September was apt to strengthen the position of the reformers, and the Soviets didn't want to wait for that to happen.

The Warsaw Pact leaders feared that similar changes would be demanded in their countries. They wanted to stop the "revolution" before it really became one. At the meeting in Cierna, Dubcek, Smrkovsky, and old Svoboda valiantly defended their version of socialism in the hostile camp of the Warsaw Pact leaders. The heads of Poland, Hungary, East Germany, Russia, and Bulgaria all signed the "Bratislava Declaration," as did Dubcek. While this agreement appeared to represent a victory for the reformers, it was probably the last straw influencing the decision to invade.

The Soviet press was constantly criticizing the Czech leadership and hoping to influence the citizens to turn against them. This propaganda apparently was more effective on the Soviets themselves than on the Czechs, because the Soviets believed that if they invaded and removed the Czech leadership, the Czechs would support the reinstatement of the old regime. The Soviets miscalculated on several counts, but they had the troops to back their hand--and these troops were poised on the border.

When Soviet, Polish, East German, Hungarian, and Bulgarian troops actually crossed Czechoslovakia's borders, the only warning was the general sense of foreboding that had heightened in recent days. Late at night on August 20, the troops entered the country and the Soviets took over Ruzyne Airport in Prague. The careful planning worked well as it was carried out by those involved in the scheme. The weaknesses in the plan became more evident as resistance was encountered, and this resistance came in many forms. The might of the Soviet military made large-scale armed resistance futile, and the invasion marked the abrupt end of the "Prague spring," but the resistance did cause some consternation for the invaders.

When the airport was invaded, employees and travelers were booted out, but the telegraph operators were overlooked and spent the next few hours sending messages announcing the invasion and calling for help. The invaders quickly lost the element of surprise, and the citizens were outraged. They closed ranks in support of the progressives as never before.

When the word of the invasion reached the Presidium, they issued a proclamation denouncing the invasion and calling on all citizens not to resist, because "defense of our state borders is now impossible." The Soviets had planned an elaborate explanation of their invasion as being at the "request" of the pro-Soviet leaders, who were supposed to be speaking for the whole country. However, teletype operators and Radio Prague also resisted the Soviets and continued to broadcast in support of Dubcek and his team. The Soviets were not able to install a "puppet" party leadership as planned, and the Czechs and the world became aware of the unwelcome nature of the brutal invasion almost as soon as it happened.

It is somewhat astonishing that the NATO forces that were aware of the buildup of troops had not planned for such an invasion. Most of Western Europe and the United States were preoccupied with their internal political crises and probably didn't believe that the Soviets would invade "one of their own" in 1968. France was experiencing political chaos in May and June, and August 21 was when the National Guard was called to "protect" the Democratic National Convention in Chicago. Many tourists in Czechoslovakia, including Shirley Temple Black, were forced to flee when the invasion occurred. The United States learned of the invasion from a news story filed from Prague.

The Soviets had gambled that there would be no significant opposition to their action from the NATO countries. While the United States fought in Vietnam with bombs and troops to prevent Communism from spreading in southeast Asia, the movement toward democracy in Eastern Europe was crushed with no intervention by the West. The Czechs did not wish a bloodbath in their own country as a result of armed resistance to the mighty Soviet armies, and the West also was not willing to risk war with the Soviet Union. In fact, the strongest condemnation of the attack came from Romania (Ceausescu) and Yugoslavia (Tito). These countries were under the Soviet wing just as Czechoslovakia was, and didn't want to suffer the same fate.

Dubcek, Smrkovsky, and others were placed under detention, but the Soviets had not been able to replace the Czech leadership with conservatives. There was virtually no support for the Soviets among the citizens, and the invasion created political chaos. No longer was Czechoslovakia the faithful, if exploited, ally of the Soviet Union. Both radio and even some television broadcasts were able to report and denounce the invasion and organize resistance. An underground network of radio broadcasting, established in anticipation of such an invasion, kept the Czechs informed even when "official" radio was silenced. International wire services were sporadically able to report the progress of the invasion world-wide. The Soviets countered with radio reports of their own. The people in the streets provided the main resistance to the Soviet tanks. The Russian soldiers who manned the tanks were surprised at the hostile reaction they encountered--they had been told they were going to "liberate" the Czechs from hated leaders. Instead, they were subjected to insults, hurled garbage, and sabotage. Some tanks were set on fire, and swastikas were painted on their sides. The tanks fired on the citizens, and many were killed or wounded.

The few local Soviet supporters did not dare speak up, out of fear for their own physical safety. Telegrams of protest against the invasion were sent by groups as diverse as the military commands, unions, artistic groups, and factory workers. At the urging of the resistance radio, the people were using a surprising combination of passive techniques to counter the invaders. Road signs were removed, altered, or turned around to confuse the troops and misdirect the tanks. Food and drink--even water--was denied the invading soldiers in towns and villages. The careful logistical planning by the Soviets was thrown into disarray when they couldn't even tell one street from another.

Dubcek, Cernik, Smrkovsky, and Dr. Frantisek Kriegel had been arrested within hours of the invasion. Dr. Kriegel was a physician of Jewish origin who had been chosen chairman of the National Front in March, and had been part of the progressive team. He had also been the target of verbal anti-semitism by Brezhnev, who had demanded earlier that Kriegel be ousted from top leadership. The four were taken by plane to Russia, beaten and insulted, and held in prison. Whether the Kremlin intended to keep them in prison or execute them is uncertain, but they failed to anticipate the role of General Svoboda, the seventy-three year old President of Czechoslovakia.

Svoboda reacted to the invasion by issuing a proclamation to the Czechs supporting the Action Program of the progressives and urging the citizens to remain calm. The Russians tried to get Svoboda to approve a new "puppet" government of their own choosing, but the old "hero of the Soviet Union" steadfastly refused to even discuss the situation without the arrested Czech leaders at his side. The National Assembly quickly drafted and approved a resolution condemning the invasion even while surrounded by Soviet troops. The Fourteenth Congress of the Communist Party met in secret in Prague, under the noses of the invaders. Almost 1200 of the 1543 delegates elected during the summer slipped into an industrial plant and elected a new Central Committee that was completely in support of the progressives. The Soviets had feared the Congress, planned for September, as this election would have politically "cleaned house" and gotten rid of the remaining Novotnyans. This was one reason they had invaded in late August; they wanted to prevent the September meeting.

In spite of the invasion, Dubcek, Smrkovsky, Cernik, and Kriegel were reelected to the Presidium by the Congress in their absence. This was the legal government of Czechoslovakia operating within Party rules, besieged though they were by outside forces. In the meantime, Svoboda continued to face down the demands of the Soviet representatives. Perhaps he gambled that Moscow did not really want to establish a completely new permanent military government in a country where almost every citizen was outraged at their very presence. He knew the citizens were solidly behind him in defying the orders of the Soviets and could only hope that the Soviets still wanted to avoid widespread slaughter of the Czechs. After some tense negotiating, it was agreed that Svoboda would go to Moscow to deal directly with the Kremlin leadership.

Svoboda's personal courage in the next few days probably saved the lives of the imprisoned Czech leaders. As a "hero of the Soviet Union" due to his wartime service, Svoboda was respected by Brezhnev and Kosygin, and he was warmly welcomed when he arrived in Moscow. Their meeting quickly became a showdown in the confines of the Kremlin, and Svoboda absolutely refused to negotiate anything until the four prisoners were freed and allowed to join him. It was the most intense kind of brinksmanship imaginable. Reportedly the Soviets alluded to their power to destroy Prague; Svoboda went so far as to threaten suicide in the Kremlin. He insisted that the government in Prague was legal in communist terms and demanded the release of his four colleagues.

While Svoboda had been kept ignorant of the most recent events in Czechoslovakia, the Soviets were aware of the chaos caused by the removal of street signs and the general faltering of their plan to restore hard-line political leadership. The awesome demonstration by Svoboda in standing up to the top Soviet leadership is even more incredible when one is reminded that he was seventy-three and had been under incredible stress and almost sleepless for days. Finally, Brezhnev blinked. Early on August 24, the four leaders were brought to the Kremlin. They were exhausted, dirty from lack of showers or a change of clothes, and still suffering from the effects of their mistreatment at the hands of their captors. Only Dubcek, Smrkovsky, and Cernik were allowed to participate in the next round of negotiations, as Kriegel was kept away by Brezhnev's hatred of the "dirty Galician Jew."