Today, the anniversary of the invasion of Warsaw Pact troops into Czechoslovakia on August 21, 1968, is commemorated against the background of the war in Ukraine, and this leads us to search for a historical parallel. Of course, it is difficult to compare even similar historical events, but there are some similarities and differences in terms of their planning and progress.
Both the 1968 operation and the so-called “special military operation” in 2022 were supposed to be characterized by a surprise element, while the organizers conducted military exercises in the immediate vicinity of the state borders. One wonders whether the exercises near the Czechoslovak borders were actually a rehearsal for the 1968 invasion. The invasion of Russian troops into Ukraine was also preceded by large-scale exercises called Union Resolve. They took place on the territory of Russia and Belarus near the border with Ukraine, especially around the Donbas, where pro-Russian separatists have been fighting with the regular Ukrainian army for eight years. The Russians announced the exercise only shortly before it began. Therefore, some observers believed that invading Ukraine would be counterproductive for Moscow in connection with the diplomatic efforts it was making. By the way, something equally reassuring sounded from various experts 55 years ago, during the preparations for the Soviet military operation in Czechoslovakia.
55 years ago, the Soviet-led invasion thwarted #Czechoslovakia’s attempt at liberalization under communist rule. The occupation lasted 20 years and robbed a whole generation of their rights, dreams and freedom. We must #NeverForget. pic.twitter.com/Qq4ccZPyEK
— Zuzana Čaputová (@ZuzanaCaputova) August 21, 2023
However, apart from this similarity, there were also some differences. In Czechoslovakia, the occupiers encountered only passive resistance. It took the invaders almost a year to be able to speak of the beginning of the “normalization” of the situation. In the end, it lasted for 21 years until the Velvet Revolution. The Ukrainians not only did not welcome the interventionists, but they also put up armed resistance.
Another, no less important, difference was and is the attitude of the West. In the case of the Soviet invasion of Czechoslovakia, the West limited itself to formal disapproval. The world was bipolar and respected the division into spheres of influence agreed upon at the end of World War II. Today, the West has been able to unite against aggression by providing Ukraine with not only moral but also material support, including military.
Why am I putting it this way? In fact, I was inspired by Vladimír Jančura’s article with the same title published in the Slovak newspaper Pravda a year ago. I used his findings. The author of the article concludes by stating that former Soviet general Lev Gorelov, who in August 1968 commanded the division that was the first to occupy strategic objects in Prague, opposed the armed intervention of the USSR in Afghanistan in December 1979. And this is an example of how even military strategists come to believe that military force does not have to achieve its goals. Sooner or later, military intervention will backfire on its initiators. This was the case in Czechoslovakia, and we believe that it will be the case in Ukraine as well.
