Thread: The hot summer of 1968. Film about Czechoslovakia.

As far as I understand, they wanted to do a bit of social democracy, and then the USSR comes in with tanks and heavy weaponry... Don't see that this is much more justifiable than the Vietnam war which was going on during the same period, for example.

However, I am not here to complain about Russia's history so I'll leave it at saying that according to my limited understanding of what happened there, I do not agree with the USSRs actions....

Perhaps I should watch the film to inform myself a bit!

I completely agree with the idea of making a Russian film about it. No doubt there have already been Czech films made about this event.

Edit: Oh, I thought it was a drama film! Did not realise it was a documentary. And you mean for us to watch it at the vesti.ru site, right? Some people might need subtitles. I am not sure how much I am going to understand. I'll try at some point soon though.

Originally Posted by Hanna

As far as I understand, they wanted to do a bit of social democracy, and then the USSR comes in with tanks and heavy weaponry... Don't see that this is much more justifiable than the Vietnam war which was going on during the same period,

It seems to me like "apples and oranges" to compare this with the Vietnam war -- not because one was more or less "justifiable" than the other, but because the Vietnam war involved at least three different "imperialist powers" intruding into Vietnam. (First the French, who colonized what was then "Indochina"; then the Chinese, who at first simply supported the anti-French rebellion, but then became increasingly militant about establishing Communism in Vietnam and turning the country into a PRC satellite; finally the Americans, who at first simply supported the anti-communists, but then plunged into a full-scale war, using Vietnam as a "proxy" in a larger fight against "Global Communism.")

But the events of the 1968 "Prague Spring" and its subsequent repression were basically an episode in the history of Czechoslovakia's occupation by a single imperialist power -- i.e., the USSR, from the end of WWII to the end of the Soviet Union.

Again, this has nothing to do with moral justifiability; it just makes the situations... well, different.

Originally Posted by Hanna

As far as I understand, they wanted to do a bit of social democracy, and then the USSR comes in with tanks and heavy weaponry... Don't see that this is much more justifiable than the Vietnam war which was going on during the same period, for example.

However, I am not here to complain about Russia's history so I'll leave it at saying that according to my limited understanding of what happened there, I do not agree with the USSRs actions....

Perhaps I should watch the film to inform myself a bit!

I completely agree with the idea of making a Russian film about it. No doubt there have already been Czech films made about this event.

Edit: Oh, I thought it was a drama film! Did not realise it was a documentary. And you mean for us to watch it at the vesti.ru site, right? Some people might need subtitles. I am not sure how much I am going to understand. I'll try at some point soon though.

Yes, I mean for you to watch it at vesti.ru site.
The USSR did not mind some reforms, but it could not let CZechoslovakia leave the Warsaw Pact and join the NATO. The US worked much that time in order to bring the pro-American forces to power in Czechoslovakia, so both superpowers were involved.
I did not understand what Throbert meant.

Originally Posted by Marcus

Yes, I mean for you to watch it at vesti.ru site.
The USSR did not mind some reforms, but it could not let CZechoslovakia leave the Warsaw Pact and join the NATO. The US worked much that time in order to bring the pro-American forces to power in Czechoslovakia, so both superpowers were involved.
I did not understand what Throbert meant.

Heh, apart from the Checzs themselves would've been way better off joining the "pro-American forces" (scale of living, etc.), the Americans didn't ever then use tanks to persuade a European country to join them.