The Soviet Army and Czech Society 1968-1991

The book deals with various aspects of the more than twenty-year presence of the Soviet army in Czechoslovakia between 1968 and 1991. It traces the circumstances of its establishment in the country, immediately deriving from the invasion of Warsaw Pact troops in August 1968, its active interference in political developments in the early phase of the so-called normalization, and the all-round support it received from the normalization regime. He notes the flip side of this support, when the constant favouring of Soviet interests, often to the detriment of local inhabitants and the environment, went hand in hand with the Czechoslovak state's resignation to the rule of law and the exercise of effective administration over its own territory. It looks at the often problematic coexistence between Soviet garrisons and local residents who did not find the necessary support at the central level in the given situation. In this context, it also draws attention to the contradictory logics that framed their coexistence: official policy of cooperation on the one hand and counterintelligence protection of Soviet military installations on the other. The author records the traces that the presence of the Soviet army left in the collective memory, and also examines the circumstances of its departure from the country in 1990 and 1991, which began immediately with the change of political regime. He presents the long-term presence of the Soviet army as a deeply political and politicized issue, which from the beginning was the subject of power disputes, then propaganda and targeted manipulation. The study draws on an extensive source base of national and local provenance.