21 August 1968

Wednesday

1968-08-21

Events

 * During the night between 20 and 21 August Czechoslovakia is invaded by four countries of the Warsaw Pact, namely the Soviet Union, Bulgaria, Hungary and Poland. 250,000 Warsaw Pact troops and 2,000 tanks entered the country. Over 100 Czech civilians were killed and hundreds more injured. The invasion was a crackdown on liberalisation reforms which had begun in the country under the leadership of Alexander Dubcek at the beginning of the year, culminating in the 'Prague Spring' period. See BBC News On This Day