Glencoe World History © 2008

Chapter 27: Cold War and Postwar Changes

Web Activity Lesson Plans

The Prague Spring

Introduction

In 1968 Czechoslovakia began a brief period of loosening Communist control. However, the Prague Spring ended swiftly with the Soviet invasion in August 1968. In this activity students will learn about the developments leading up to the invasion by reading the transcript of an important telephone conversation that took place one week before the invasion.

Lesson Description
Students will go to a Web site to read a transcript of an important conversation between Soviet leader Leonid Brezhnev and Czechoslovakia’s Communist Party leader Alexander Dubček on August 13, 1968. After answering four questions about the conversation, students will interpret the intentions of Brezhnev and Dubček. Each student will compile important statements from the conversation and then offer an interpretation of the two leaders' statements.

Instructional Objectives
The learner will analyze transcripts of a telephone conversation between Soviet leader Leonid Brezhnev and Czechoslovakia’s Communist Party leader Alexander Dubček.
The learner will evaluate the significance of various statements in the telephone conversation.

Student Web Activity Answers

1. Brezhnev's main concern is the growing number of attacks on the Soviet Union in the news media of Czechoslovakia.



2. Brezhnev's main accusation is that Dubček is intentionally deceiving him and the Soviet leadership.



3. Cierna nad Tisou and Bratislava were the locations of previous discussions between Dubček and the Soviet leadership at which Dubček agreed to halt the anti-Soviet reformist movement in Czechoslovakia.



4. According to Brezhnev, Dubček promised at Cierna nad Tisou to crack down on the media and to remove certain reformist, or "rightist," officials from their posts within the Czechoslovakia government.



5. Students' examples and explanations will vary. Possible answer: Dubček was clearly stalling for time, and perhaps he would rather blame the media crackdown on the Soviets instead of performing the crackdown himself.