Editing Prague Spring (section)

=== Reactions to the invasion ===
{{see also|Protests of 1968#Czechoslovakia and the Soviet Union}}
[[File:Adunare Piaţa Palatului August 1968.jpg|thumb|Romanian Prime Secretary [[Nicolae Ceaușescu|Nicolae Ceauşescu]] gives a speech critical of the invasion, in front of a crowd in Bucharest, 21 August 1968]]

In Czechoslovakia, especially in the week following the invasion, popular opposition was expressed in numerous spontaneous acts of [[nonviolent resistance]].<ref>Windsor, Philip and Adam Roberts. ''Czechoslovakia 1968: Reform, Repression and Resistance''. Chatto & Windus, London, 1969, pp. 97–143.</ref> Civilians purposely gave wrong directions to invading soldiers, while others identified and followed cars belonging to the [[secret police]].<ref>Keane, John. ''Václav Havel: A Political Tragedy in Six Acts''. Bloomsbury Publishing, 1999, p. 215</ref> On 16 January 1969, student [[Jan Palach]] [[Self-immolation|set himself on fire]] in Prague's [[Wenceslas Square]] to protest against the renewed suppression of free speech.<ref>{{Cite web | title = Jan Palach| url = http://archiv.radio.cz/palach99/eng/aktual3.html| publisher=Radio Prague| access-date =19 February 2008| archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20120206211130/http://archiv.radio.cz/palach99/eng/aktual3.html| archive-date = 6 February 2012 }}</ref>

The generalized resistance caused the Soviet Union to abandon its original plan to oust the First Secretary. Dubček, who had been arrested on the night of 20 August, was taken to Moscow for negotiations. There, under heavy psychological pressure from Soviet politicians, Dubček and all the highest-ranked leaders but [[František Kriegel]] signed the [[Moscow Protocol]]. It was agreed that Dubček would remain in office and a programme of moderate reform would continue.

[[File:Za vashu i nashu svobodu.jpg|thumb|left|Protest banner in Russian reading "[[For your freedom and ours]]"]]

On 25 August citizens of the Soviet Union who did not approve of the invasion [[1968 Red Square demonstration|protested in Red Square]]; seven protesters opened banners with anti-invasion slogans. The demonstrators were brutally beaten and arrested by security forces, and later punished by a secret tribunal; the protest was dubbed "anti-Soviet" and several people were detained in psychiatric hospitals.<ref>Gorbanevskaya (1972)</ref>

A more pronounced effect took place in Romania, where [[Nicolae Ceaușescu]], [[General Secretary of the Romanian Communist Party]], already a staunch opponent of Soviet influences and a self-declared Dubček supporter, gave a public speech in [[Bucharest]] on the day of the invasion, depicting Soviet policies in harsh terms.<ref name="Warsaw"/> Albania withdrew from the [[Warsaw Pact]] in opposition, calling the invasion an act of "[[social imperialism]]". In Finland, a country under some Soviet political influence, the occupation caused a major scandal.<ref name="FINB">Jutikkala, Pirinen (2001)</ref>

Like the [[Italian Communist Party|Italian]] and [[French Communist Party|French]]<ref name="OSA">{{Cite web| last = Devlin| first = Kevin| publisher = [[Blinken Open Society Archives]]| title = Western CPs Condemn Invasion, Hail Prague Spring| url = https://catalog.osaarchivum.org/catalog/osa:08b8f6ba-5995-4e41-9f9c-093e944891d2| access-date = 8 September 2021| archive-date = 8 September 2021| archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20210908084815/https://catalog.osaarchivum.org/catalog/osa:08b8f6ba-5995-4e41-9f9c-093e944891d2| url-status = dead}}</ref> Communist parties, the majority of the [[Communist Party of Finland]] denounced the occupation. Nonetheless, [[President of Finland|Finnish president]] [[Urho Kekkonen]] was the first Western politician to officially visit Czechoslovakia after August 1968; he received the highest Czechoslovak honours from the hands of President [[Ludvík Svoboda]], on 4 October 1969.<ref name="FINB"/> A schism occurred between the East German communist [[Socialist Unity Party of Germany]] and the [[People's Unity Party – Socialist Party|Icelandic Socialist Party]] because of the latter's disapproval of the invasion and occupation of Czechoslovakia, causing relations between Iceland and East Germany to deteriorate.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Ingimundarson |first1=V. |date=6 September 2010 |title=Targeting the Periphery: The Role of Iceland in East German Foreign Policy, 1949-89 |url=https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/713999929 |journal=[[Cold War History (journal)|Cold War History]] |volume=1 |issue=3 |pages=113–140 |doi=10.1080/713999929 |s2cid=153852878 |access-date=14 February 2023|url-access=subscription }}</ref> The [[Portuguese Communist Party|Portuguese communist]] secretary-general [[Álvaro Cunhal]] was one of few political leaders from western Europe to have supported the invasion for being [[counter-revolutionary]],<ref>{{Cite news |title=O Partido Comunista Português e os acontecimentos na Checoslováquia |pages=1–2 |work=[[Avante!]] |url=https://www.marxists.org/portugues/tematica/jornais/avante/pdf/AVT6395.pdf}}</ref><ref>Andrew, Mitrokhin (2005), p. 444</ref> along with the [[Communist Party of Luxembourg|Luxembourg party]]<ref name="OSA"/> and conservative factions of the [[Greek Communist Party|Greek party]].<ref name="OSA"/>

[[File:Helsinki demonstration against the invasion of Czechoslovakia in 1968.jpg|thumb|Helsinki demonstration against the invasion of Czechoslovakia]]

Most countries offered only vocal criticism following the invasion. The night of the invasion, Canada, Denmark, France, Paraguay, the United Kingdom, and the United States requested a meeting of the [[United Nations Security Council]].<ref name = "franck">Franck (1985)</ref> At the meeting, the Czechoslovak ambassador [[Jan Mužík]] denounced the invasion. Soviet ambassador [[Yakov Malik|Jacob Malik]] insisted the Warsaw Pact actions were "fraternal assistance" against "antisocial forces".<ref name = "franck"/>

The British government strongly condemned the Soviet invasion of Czechoslovakia, although it cautiously avoided making any diplomatic moves that may have provoked a Soviet counter-response and a jeopardisation of [[détente]]. The United Kingdom's foreign policy toward the Soviet Union was minimally impacted in the long-term, and quickly reverted to the status quo that existed prior to the Prague Spring following the brief period of intense criticism.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Hughes |first1=Geraint |date=9 August 2006 |title=British policy towards Eastern Europe and the impact of the 'Prague Spring', 1964–68 |url=https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/14682740412331391835 |journal=[[Cold War History (journal)|Cold War History]] |volume=4 |issue=2 |pages=115–139 |doi=10.1080/14682740412331391835 |s2cid=154550864 |access-date=12 February 2023|url-access=subscription }}</ref>

One of the nations that most vehemently condemned the invasion was China, which objected furiously to the so-called "Brezhnev Doctrine" that declared the Soviet Union alone had the right to determine what nations were properly Communist and could invade those Communist nations whose communism did not meet the Kremlin's approval.<ref name="Rea, 1975 p. 22">Rea, (1975) p. 22.</ref> [[Mao Zedong]] saw the Brezhnev Doctrine as the ideological basis for a Soviet invasion of China, and launched a massive propaganda campaign condemning the invasion of Czechoslovakia, despite his own earlier opposition to the Prague Spring.<ref name="Rea, 1975 p. 22"/> Speaking at a banquet at the Romanian embassy in Beijing on 23 August 1968, the Chinese Premier [[Zhou Enlai]] denounced the Soviet Union for "fascist politics, great power chauvinism, national egoism and social imperialism", going on to compare the invasion of Czechoslovakia to the American war in Vietnam and more pointedly to the policies of Adolf Hitler towards Czechoslovakia in 1938–39.<ref name="Rea, 1975 p. 22"/> Zhou ended his speech with a barely veiled call for the people of Czechoslovakia to wage guerrilla war against the Red Army.<ref name="Rea, 1975 p. 22"/>

The next day, several countries suggested a [[United Nations]] resolution condemning the intervention and calling for immediate withdrawal. Eventually, a UN vote was taken with ten members supporting the motion; Algeria, India, and Pakistan abstained; the USSR (with veto power) and Hungary opposed. Canadian delegates immediately introduced another motion asking for a UN representative to travel to Prague and work toward the release of the imprisoned Czechoslovak leaders.<ref name = "franck"/>

By 26 August, a new Czechoslovak representative requested the whole issue be removed from the Security Council's agenda. [[Shirley Temple Black]] visited Prague in August 1968 to prepare for becoming the US Ambassador for reformed Czechoslovakia.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Whitney |first=Craig R. |date=1989-09-11 |title=Prague Journal; Shirley Temple Black Unpacks a Bag of Memories |language=en-US |work=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1989/09/11/world/prague-journal-shirley-temple-black-unpacks-a-bag-of-memories.html |access-date=2023-11-22 |issn=0362-4331 |archive-date=16 August 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170816111648/http://www.nytimes.com/1989/09/11/world/prague-journal-shirley-temple-black-unpacks-a-bag-of-memories.html |url-status=live }}</ref> However, after the 21 August invasion, she became part of a U.S. Embassy-organized convoy of vehicles that evacuated U.S. citizens from the country.<ref>The Real History of the Cold War: A New Look at the Past By Alan Axelrod</ref> In August 1989, she returned to Prague as U.S. Ambassador, three months before the [[Velvet Revolution]] that ended 41 years of Communist rule.<ref>{{Cite web | last = Joseph| first = Lawrence E | title = International; Prague's Spring into Capitalism| url = https://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9C0CEEDF1338F931A35751C1A966958260&sec=&spon=&pagewanted=1 | work=The New York Times| date=2 December 1990| access-date =20 February 2008 }}</ref>

The United States, West Germany and NATO maintained a low-key response to the invasion. After 1968 the U.S. recognized Soviet dominance in Eastern Europe, a development that was in the interests of the United States according to some analysts.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Bracke |first1=Maud |title=Which Socialism, Whose Détente? : West European Communism and the Czechoslovak Crisis of 1968 |date=2007 |publisher=Central European University Press |isbn=978-615-5211-26-3 |pages=323–359 |url=https://books.openedition.org/ceup/1367 |language=en |chapter=Chapter 8. Internationalism and Eurocommunism in the 1970s}}</ref>