Following the fall of the Iron Curtain Soviet troops started to leave Europe. Czechoslovakia, as it then still was, was happy that the ‘temporary deployment’ of Soviet troops was coming to an end.

This article looks at the intent behind the occupation, and the events leading up to the Soviet’s departure.

Deployment or occupation?

On 5 January 1968, Alexandre Dubček became first secretary of the Czechoslovak Communist Party¹. He started a programme of reforms dubbed the Prague Spring¹. He granted the press freedom of expression, and rehabilitated victims of political purges¹. He wanted to offer what he called “socialism with a human face,”¹ to the delighted Czechoslovaks. They wanted more change and faster but Dubček insisted on a steady pace of reform¹.

The Soviet Union and other Warsaw Pact countries considered them counter-revolutionary². They wrote to Dubček on 15 July warning him that they felt it their duty to protect Czechoslovakia from these ideas².

On the evening of 20 August, 250 000³ Soviet-led armed forces invaded Czechoslovakia² from the south, east and north³.

The Soviets called this a “temporary deployment” of Soviet troops⁴. This must be one of history’s greatest understatements.

Pulling out

On 26 February 1990, Czechoslovak President Vaclav Havel and Soviet President Mikhail Gorbachev agreed the total withdrawal of Soviet troops from Czechoslovakia⁴.

Soldiers, many of whom were frail, underfed and unhappy⁵, started pulling out on the same day at 14:40⁴.

Repatriating 75 000 troops and equipment was no mean feat. Convoys left twice a day until the Soviets stripped 83 garrisons and countless military zones of anything of value⁴. They took bathroom fittings, light switches and even the doors⁵.

Czechoslovak railwaymen worked overtime for free to run seven additional trains per day⁶. In total the Soviets repatriated^{4 7}:

• 75 000 troops, and their families.
• 2 505 BMP armoured carriers
• 1 220 T-62 tanks.
• 77 combat aircraft.
• 146 helicopters.

Despite promises to leave the sites ‘ecologically pure’, the clean up of these locations still continues⁴.

References

1. Prague Spring; Britannica.com; 2018-03-07[↩][↩][↩][↩][↩]
2. Czechoslovak history; Britannica.com; 2016-03-07[↩][↩][↩]
3. A Look Back … The Prague Spring & the Soviet Invasion of Czechoslovakia; Central Intelligence Agency; 2013-04-30[↩][↩]
4. 26 Feb 1990: Soviet troops begin pulling out of Czechoslovakia, decades after a ‘temporary deployment’; Czech Radio; 2020-02-26[↩][↩][↩][↩][↩][↩]
5. Soviet Troops Begin Czech Pullout; All to Leave by ’91; Los Angeles Times; 1990-02-27[↩][↩]
6. The Pull—out of Soviet Troops from Czechoslovakia; Jiří Šedivý; Perspectives Winter 1993/1994[↩]
7. Soviet Troop Withdrawal from Czechoslovakia Begins; Associated Press; 1990-02-26[↩]

Remember: links were correct at time of publication.