Brezhnev+Foreign+Policy

Soviet leader Leonid Brezhnev undertook an aggreasive foregin policy commonly known as the Brezhnev Doctrine. The doctrine was first introduced during a speech Brezhnev gave to an audience of polish workers justifying his invasion of Czechoslovakia. The main concept behind the doctrine is that all communist countries in the world are part of a "society", a world wide socialist community in which the Soviet Union plays a central role. All the individual interests of these countries are secondary to the main goal of helping the global working class. So things like self-deternimation and independence are acceptable as long as they do not deviate from socialist doctrine (as dictated by the Soviet Union) or they threatnen the interests of the socialist "community" at large (those interests are dictated by the Soviet Union). The doctrine had been used to justify the invasion of Czechoslovakia and Afganistan. It also caused the military aid of the Sadinista government in Nicaragua, Cuba and Vietnam.

The movement commonly known as the Prague Spring were a series of liberalization and relaxations of censorship, travel and the economy led by the socialist leader Alexander Dubeck. The Czech economy was disintergrating and there was a popular demand for massive reforms. Dubeck started to make these reforms in 1968 and wanted to create a sort of "market socialism", similar to the mixed economies of many democracies today though leaning more towards the socialist side. The reforms began on January 5th, but ended abruptly when on August 21st, the Soviet Union invaded Czechoslovakia. Brezhnev claimed that this was due to "anti-socialist" forces within the republic, undermining the interests of the "socialist community". There was no armed resistance to the invasion. The Soviet Union stayed in Czechoslovakia until 1990.
 * Czechoslovakia and the Prague Spring**

In the early 1970es, the Marxist People's Democratic Party (PDPA) overthrew the monarchy in Afghanistan installing an instable communist government. There were a series of coups by both the Mujahidin (later to be known as the Taliban) force and the communist forces. In 1978 the Soviet Union took control of the Afghan capital of Kabul and installed Babrak Karmal. The invasion was justified by the Brezhnev doctrine, since that Afghanistan had had a "revolution" it was now in the Socialist 'community", given the Soviet Union the right to invaded the country if they felt they were deviating from socialist doctrine or threatned the interests of the Communist community. The Mujahidin government and constant rebel forces made Afghanistan a place were communism was unwelcome. Also, Afghanistan is a strategic point in the middle east neccessary to get extract oil from neighboring countries, this was in the Soviet Union's best interestes. In the resulting conflict, one million Afghanies would die. The Soviet Union stayed there from 1978 to 1988.
 * The Invasion of Afganistan**

In the late 1970es, Polish workers undertook waves of massive strikes to protest the political dominance of the Polish Communist Goverment (PZDR). The resulting trade union movement known as the Solidarity Movment was led by Lech Walesa, a trade worker. The movement at the height of it's popularity had roughly 10 millions poles and the blessing of Pope John-Paul the Second who was himself a pole. This gave the Solidarity movement great international support from the Western powers, and kept an eye on Brezhnev to see how the Soviet Union would react. In 1980 the PZDR sat down and hammered out an agreement called the Gdansk agreement, in which the PZDR granted recognition of the worker's right to form free trade unions, but refused the Solidarity movement to become anything more than a trade unionist movement. In 1983 martial law was declared in Poland and Solidarity was outlawed. The movement then went underground and split between the radical Fighting Solidarity, favoring direct confrontation and the moderate Solidarity which favored compromise and negotiation. In the end, it was the moderates who won and established the first post-communist government (after the collapse of the Soviet Union). Many people ask why Brezhnev did not react to Poland like he did to Czechoslovakia and simply invaded Poland. There are many reasons for this. 1. The international community had already paid close attention to the Solidarity movement, and the visit by the Pope gave the movement great international sympathy. 2. The Soviet Union was in the midst of the Afghanistan war and simply could not afford to start another potential explosive invasion.
 * Solidarity movement**

The communist government of Fidel Castro in Cuba received much military aid from the Brezhnev Government, mainly small arms and sometimes medical supplies. Cuba was still fighting off guerrila forces of Cuban exiles attacking the country from the Coast of Miami. In 1979, the FZLN or better known as the Sandinistas Frente overthrew the U.S backed dictator in Somoza in Nicaragua. The request goverment was socialist democratic with free election yet with a nationalized economy. The U.S had waged an embargo against Nicaragua and had sponsored anti-communist guerrillas known as the Contras to fight the Sandinistas government. The Soviet Union support the Sandinistas and sent them military aid in order to quell the guerrillas. The Vietnam war still rage while Brezhnev was in power, and Ho Chi Minh's Viet Cong and NLF received military aid from his goverment.
 * Cuba, Nicaragua and North Vietnam**

First paragraph: http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/mod/1968brezhnev.html [|http://uncpress.unc.edu/chapters/ouimet_rise.html
 * Sources:**

Prague spring: [|http://library.thinkquest.org/C001155/index1.htm

The Afgan war : http://www.infoplease.com/ce6/history/A0802662.html http://nhs.needham.k12.ma.us/cur/Baker_00/2002-p4/baker_p4_12-01_mj_sz/

Solidarity Movement: http://countrystudies.us/poland/81.htm

Nicaragua, Cuba and Vietnam: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brezhnev Marie Jakober. //__A People in Arms.__// 1987. New Star Books, Vancouver, B.C. Canada. Pg. 302-303.