British policy towards Eastern Europe and the impact of the 'Prague Spring', 1964-68

Cold War History

Volumn 4, Issue 2, 2004, Pages 115-139

  Hughes, Geraint ^a  

^a KING'S COLLEGE LONDON   (United Kingdom)

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EID: 34248056075     PISSN: 14682745     EISSN: 17437962     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1080/14682740412331391835     Document Type: Article

References (158)

1. Richard Crampton, Eastern Europe in the Twentieth Century (London: Routledge 1994), pp.318-19.
2. For the Action Programme', see Jaromir Navratil et al. (eds.), The Prague Spring 1968. A National Security Archive Documents Reader (cited as 1968) 3 (Budapest: Central European University Press, 1998), 10 April 1968, pp.92-5.
3. Secondary accounts of the Czechoslovak crisis include Karen Dawisha, The Kremlin and the Prague Spring (Berkeley Ca.: University of California Press 1984);
4. H. Gordon Skilling, Czechoslovakia's Interrupted Revolution (Princeton NJ: Princeton University Press, 1976);
5. Jiri Valenta, Soviet Intervention in Czechoslovakia. Anatomy of a Decision (Baltimore MA: Johns Hopkins University Press, 1979);
6. and Kieran Williams,'Political Loves' Labours Lost: Negotiations between Prague and Moscow in 1968', Slovo 7/1 (1994), pp.72-87.
7. See, for example, Richard Crockatt, The Fifty Years War. The United States and the Soviet Union in World Politics, 1941-1991 (London: Routledge, 2000), pp.209-10;
8. John Dunbabin, The Cold War: The Great Powers and their Allies (London: Longman 1994), pp.270-79;
9. and Raymond Garthoff, Detente and Confrontation (Washington: Brookings, 2nd edn 1994), pp.123-45.
10. Documents on British Policy Overseas. Series 3. Volume I. Britain and the Soviet Union 1968-1972 (cited here as DBPO), Vol.II. The Conference on Security and Cooperation in Europe (London: HMSO, 1997);
11. Vol.III. Detente in Europe, 1972-76 (London: Frank Cass, 2001).
12. Helene Sjursen, The United States, Western Europe and the Polish Crisis (London: Palgrave, 2003), p.15.
13. See Sean Greenwood, Britain and the Cold War 1945-1991 (London: Macmillan, 2000);
14. and Brian White, Britain, Detente and Changing East-West Relations (Routledge 1992).
15. White, Britain (and) Detente, pp.1-7;
16. OPD(66)44, France and NATO, 1 April 1966, CAB148/27(TNA).
17. Denis Healey, The Time of My Life (Penguin 1989), p.178;
18. Morley to Smith (ND), 6 July 1966, N1152/63, FO371/188510(TNA).
19. For British concerns over German nationalism, see MISC17/4th meeting, 22 Nov. 1964, CAB130/213(TNA);
20. Palliser to MacLehose, 28 April 1967, PREM13/1455 (TNA).
21. Martin Folly, Churchill, Whitehall and the Soviet Union, 1940-45 (London: Macmillan, 2000), pp.120-41.
22. Richard Aldrich, The Hidden Hand. Britain, America and Cold War Secret Intelligence (London: John Murray, 2001), pp.142-59;
23. John Prados, Presidents' Secret Wars (Chicago: Ivan R. Dee, 1996), pp.30-60.
24. Aldrich, Hidden Hand, pp.315-29;
25. John Young, The British Foreign Office and Cold War Fighting in the Early 1950s: PUSC(51)16 and the 1952 'Sore Spots' Memorandum (Leicester University Discussion Papers in Politics, No.195/2, 1995).
26. Csaba Békés, The 1956 Hungarian Revolution and World Politics (Cold War International History Project (CWIHP) Working Paper No.16, 1996), pp.6-7.
27. JIC(56)123(Final)(Revise), Soviet Policy in the Light of the Situation in the Middle East and the Satellites, 6 Dec. 1956, CAB158/26(TNA). JIC(56)97th and 101st meetings, 25 Oct. 1956 and 9 Nov. 1956, CAB159/25(TNA).
28. Crampton, Eastern Europe, pp.283-303.
29. See also Leszek Gluchowski and Edward Nalepa, The Soviet-Polish Confrontation of October 1956 (CWIHP Paper No.17, 1997);
30. Norman Davies, Heart of Europe. A Short History of Poland (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1986), pp.10-13.
31. SC(61)25, United Kingdom Policy towards the Satellites, 27 June 1961
32. emphasis added: and SC(64)1, Policy towards the East European Satellites, 27 Jan. 1964, PLA13/2, FO371/177821(TNA);
33. Joseph Kronsten, 'East-West Trade; Myth and Matter', International Affairs 43/2 (1967), pp.265-81.
34. Jennifer See, An Uneasy Truce: John F. Kennedy and Soviet-American Detente, 1963', Cold War History 2/2 (2002), pp.161-94. Moscow to Foreign Office (FO), No.711, 17 April 1964, NS1072/23, FO371/177670(TNA).
35. Vladimir Tismaneanu, Gheorghiu-Dej i? and the Romanian Workers Party: From De-Sovietization to the Emergence of National S Communism (CWHIP Paper No.37, May 2002);
36. Service, A History of Twentieth Century Russia, pp.379-80.
37. JIC(64)43, The Power Struggle in the Soviet Union and the Problem of Succession, 17 April 1964, CAB158/53(TNA);
38. Geoffrey Hosking, A History of the Soviet Union (London: HarperCollins 1992), pp.358-60.
39. See the minutes of the Conference of Ambassadors on Eastern Europe, 27 April 1966-2 May 1966, N1152/55, FO371/188510(TNA);
40. Smith, East-West Relations, 14 June 1966, N1075/66, FO371/188500(TNA);
41. JIC(64)25(Final), Relations between the Soviet Union and Communist Countries in Eastern Europe, 17 July 1964, CAB158/52(TNA).
42. Memorandum by Trevelyan, 27 Feb. 1964, N1015/21, FO371/177405(TNA).
43. Clutton to Smith, 7 June 1966, N1152/56; 21 June 1966, N1152/63, FO371/188510(TNA).
44. Smith to Clutton, 23 June 1966, N1152/66;
45. Rhodes' comment on Clutton's letter, 7 June 1966, N1152/62;
46. Morley to Smith, N1152/63, FO371/188510(TNA).
47. Davies, Heart of Europe, pp.47-8;
48. Hans Renner, A History of Czechoslovakia since 1945 (Routledge 1989), pp.37-38.
49. Ben Pimlott, Harold Wilson (London: HarperCollins 1993), pp.100, 111-12, 307-8.
50. ESC(O)(67)13; International Strategic Embargo - Review of Policy, 2 March 1967, CAB134/2799(TNA).
51. For the strategic embargo, see Ian Jackson, The Economic Cold War. America, Britain and East-West Trade, 1948-63 (London: Palgrave, 2001).
52. Joseph Korbel, Detente in Europe (Princeton NJ: Princeton University Press, 1972), p.61.
53. Wilson to Stewart, 15 March 1966, CAB164/28(TNA)
54. Stewart to Parrott, 17 March 1966, N1075/3, FO371/188497(TNA).
55. OPD(66)76: East/West Relations; A Declaration, CAB148/28(TNA).
56. Frederic Bozo, La France et l'OTAN (Paris: Masson 1991), pp.79-81;
57. G. Soutou, 'France and the Cold War, 1944-1963', Diplomacy & Statecraft 12/4 (2001), pp.41, 48-9.
58. Wolfram Hanrieder, Germany, America, Europe. Forty Years of German Foreign Policy (New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 1989), pp.177-86, 350-51;
59. D. Bark and D. Gress, A History of West Germany. Volume II (London: Basil Blackwell, 1989), pp.90-112.
60. NSAM No.304, 3 June 1964, Foreign Relations of the United States 1964-1968. Volume XVII, Eastern Europe (Washington, DC: US Government Printing Office, 1996), pp.128-9;
61. Ilya Gaiduk, The Soviet Union and the Vietnam War (Ivan R. Dee, 1996), pp.23-4, 29.
62. Frederic Bozo, 'Detente versus Alliance; France, the United States and the Politics of the Harmel Report (1964-1968)', Contemporary European History 7/3 (1998), pp.343-66.
63. Thomas Wolfe, Soviet Power and Europe, 1945-1970 (Johns Hopkins University Press, 1970), pp.285-7, 315-21;
64. R. Craig Nation, Black Earth, Red Star (Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press, 1992), p.247.
65. Chadwick to Brown, 15 Jan. 1968, FCO28/271(TNA).
66. For the Ceausescu regime, see Denis Deletant, Ceausescu and the Securitate (London: Hurst & Co., 1995), in particular pp.68-102; 166-293.
67. Parrott to Stewart, 2 April 1966, N1075/10, FO371/188497(TNA);
68. M. Myant, Socialism and Democracy in Czechoslovakia 1945-1948 (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1981), pp.200-208.
69. Barker to Brown, 9 Jan. 1968, FCO28/89(TNA);
70. Barker to Hayman, 26 March 1968, FCO28/90(TNA).
71. Renner, Czechoslovakia, pp.41-50;
72. Skilling, Interrupted Revolution, pp.161-79.
73. Williams, 'Love's Labours Lost', pp.76-7;
74. Zdenek Mlynar, Night Frost in Prague, trans. 3 Paul Wilson (London: C. Hurst, 1980), p.76.
75. Transcripts of Dresden and Moscow meetings in 1968, 23 March 1968, 8 May 1968, pp.64-72, 132-43.
76. John C. McGinn, 'The Politics of Collective Inaction. NATO's Response to the Prague Spring', Journal of Cold War Studies 1/3 (1999), pp.111-38;
77. John Duffield, Power Rules. The Evolution of NATO's Conventional Force Posture (Stanford CA: Stanford (University Press, 1995), pp.179-81.
78. Hayman to Barker, 17 April 1968, FCO28/98(TNA);
79. Roberts to Stewart, 13 June 1968, FCO28/90(TNA).
80. Conference of HM Representatives in Eastern Europe, 9th meeting, 10 May 1968, DBPO, pp.42-8.
81. Christopher Andrew and Vasili Mitrokhin, The Mitrokhin Archive. The KGB in Europe and the West (London: Allen Lane 1999), pp.7-8, 333;
82. Day to Palliser, 1 June 1968, PREM13/1993(TNA).
83. McGinn, 'Collective Inaction', pp.130-31, 134.
84. Laskey to Stewart, 4 May 1968, FCO28/30(TNA);
85. Action Programme in 1968, pp.92-5;
86. Cernik's comments to CPCS Praesidium, in 1968, 27 July 1968, pp.281-3.
87. David Miller, The Cold War. A Military History (London: Pimlico, 2001), p.60;
88. Percy Cradock, Know Your Enemy. How the Joint Intelligence Committee Saw the World (London: John Murray, 2002), pp.243-4.
89. Excerpts from the Warsaw meeting and the 'Warsaw Letter' in 1968, 14-15 July 1968, pp.212-38.
90. Tom Bower, The Perfect English Spy. Sir Dick White and the Secret War 1935-90 (Heinemann, 1995), pp.362-3;
91. Cradock, Know Your Enemy, p.249;
92. Tony Geraghty, BRIXMIS (HarperCollins, 1997), pp.159-62.
93. Richard Crossman, The Diaries of a Cabinet Minister. Volume III (Crossman III) (London: Hamish Hamilton/Jonathan Cape, 1977), 18 July 1968, pp.142-5;
94. The Bratislava declaration is in 1968, 3 Aug. 1968, pp.328-329.
95. James to Giffard (ND), 11 Oct. 1968, FCO28/57(TNA);
96. DP219/68, British Defence Policy - The Impact of Recent Events in Czechoslovakia, 23 Sept. 1968, DEFE6/106(TNA).
97. Barker to Stewart, 12 Aug. 1968;
98. Harrison to Stewart, 22 Aug. 1968, FCO28/49 (TNA).
99. Mlynar, Night Frost, pp.157, 173.
100. Telephone conversations between Brezhnev and Dubcek, in 2968, 9 Aug. 1968; 13 Aug. 1968, pp.336-8, 345-56;
101. 'A Letter to Brezhnev: The Czech Hard-liners "Request" for Soviet Intervention, August 1968', CWIHP Bulletin 2 (1992), p.6.
102. Commentary in 1968, p.312.
103. Jiri Valenta, 'From Prague to Kabul. The Soviet Style of Invasion', International Security 5/2 (1980), pp.133-4.
104. For the American response, see the minutes of the 589th meeting of the National Security Council, 20 Aug. 1968, National Security Files (NSF), NSC meetings 1-2 (LBJLIB).
105. MISC(219(69)1st meeting at 10 Downing Street, 21 Aug. 1968, CAB130/134(TNA);
106. FO to UK Delegation to NATO, No.991(Saving), 27 Aug. 1968, FCO28/49(TNA);
107. 'Worldwide sense of shock and outrage at Soviet invasion', and 'Parliament to be recalled Monday', The Times, 22 Aug. 1968.
108. CC(68)38th Cabinet conclusions, 22 Aug. 1968, CAB128/43(TNA);
109. Palliser to Maitland, 5 Sept. 1968, DEFE13/707(TNA);
110. JIC to UKDelNATO, No.474, 24 Sept. 1968, DEFE13/741(TNA).
111. NSC590th meeting, 4 Sept. 1968, NSF, NSC meetings 1-2, LBJLIB;
112. Anatolii Dobrynin, In Confidence (NY: Random House 1995), pp.180-83.
113. Garvey to Giffard, 12 Oct. 1968, FCO28/525(TNA).
114. Dalton to Stewart, 29 Sept. 1968, FCO28/69(TNA);
115. Mark Kramer, 'The Prague Spring and the Soviet Invasion of Czechoslovakia: New Interpretations' in CWIHP Bulletin, 3 (Autumn 1993), pp.2-12;
116. and 'Ukraine and the Soviet-Czechoslovak crisis of 1968 (Part 1): New Evidence from the diary of Petro) Shelest', in CWIHP Bulletin, 10 (1998), pp.234-44.
117. Dawisha, Prague Spring, pp.320-25. Prague to FO, No.562, 25 Aug. 1968, PREM13/1994(TNA).
118. Excerpts from Moscow meeting between Soviet & Czechoslovak leaderships, 23 Aug. 1968;
119. Moscow protocol, 26 Aug. 1968, 1968, pp.465-80.
120. Smith to Hayman, 20 Sept. 1968; comments by Hayman, 20 Sept. 1968, and Greenhill, 23 Sept. 1968;
121. Giffard to Hayman, 27 Sept. 1968, FCO28/69(TNA).
122. JIC(68)54(Final), The Soviet Grip on Eastern Europe, 2 Dec. 1968, CAB158/71(TNA).
123. Text of Soviet-Czechoslovak treaty, 16 Oct. 1968, in 1968, pp.533-6.
124. Conference of HM Representatives in Eastern Europe 4-8 May 1970, 1st and 2nd meetings, 4 May 1970;
125. 7th meeting, 7 May 1970, FCO28/918(TNA);
126. Maitland to Youde, 18 April 1969, DEFE13/741(TNA).
127. Misha Glenny, The Rebirth of History (Penguin, 1993), pp.30-31.
128. See also Timothy Garton Ash, The Uses of Adversity (Cambridge: Granta Books, 1989), pp.55-63, for a portrait of Czechoslovakia under Husak.
129. CC(68)52nd conclusions, 17 Dec. 1968, CAB128/43(TNA);
130. Crossman, III, 17 Dec. 1968, p.289.
131. PC(68)27, Trade with Eastern Europe in Relation to Events in Czechoslovakia, 3 Sept. 1968, FCO28/61(TNA);
132. ESC(68)4th meeting, 8 Sept. 1968, CAB134/2796(TNA).
133. Miller, Cold War, pp.39, 60-61, 322-3;
134. OPD(68)58, The Czechoslovak Crisis and British Defence Policy, 20 Sept. 1968, CAB148/38(TNA);
135. OPD(68)17th meeting, 25 Sept. 1968, CAB148/35(TNA).
136. Burrows to Stewart, 16 Dec. 1968, DEFE13/741(TNA);
137. Lawrence-Wilson to PM, 24 Sept. 1968, PREM13/1996(TNA).
138. Ambassadors' Conference, 4 May 1970, FCO28/918(TNA).
139. Tony Benn, Office Without Power. Diaries 1968-72 (London: Hutchinson, 1988), 12 May 1969, 13 May 1969, 14 May 1969, pp.161-73;
140. Moscow to FCO, No.464, 14 May 1969, PREM13/3429(TNA).
141. Memorandum for Youde, 21 May 1969;
142. Youde to Barrington, 27 May 1969, PREM13/3429(TNA).
143. OPD(68)45, Relations with the Soviet Union and Eastern Europe, 17 June 1968, CAB148/37(TNA).
144. M. Hopkins, '"Worlds Apart": The British Embassy in Moscow and the Search for East-West Understanding', Contemporary British History 14/3 (2000), pp.143-4.
145. Andrew Shennan, De Gaulle (Longman, 1993), pp.124-6;
146. Hanrieder, Germany, America, Europe, pp.191-4;
147. Garthoff, Detente and Confrontation, pp.129-30, 141.
148. Paul Gore-Booth, With Great Truth and Respect(London: Constable, 1974), p.412.
149. Service, Russia, pp.379-80;
150. John Willerton, Patronage and Politics in the USSR (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1992), pp.1-8, 11-13, 15, 19.
151. Andropov to Brezhnev, 6 May 1968, in R. Garthoff and A. Knight (eds.), 'New Evidence on Soviet Intelligence. The KGB's 1967 Annual Report', CWIHP Bulletin10 (1998), pp.211-17;
152. M.E. Sarotte, Dealing with the Devil. East Germany, Detente and Ostpolitik (University of North Carolina Press 2001), pp.4, 51-4.
153. George Brown, 'How we could have stopped the Russians', The Evening Standard, 14 Nov. 1968.
154. Harlan Cleveland, 'NATO after the Invasion', Foreign Affairs 47/2 (1969), pp.251-65;
155. Kramer, 'Prague Spring', p.12;
156. M. Percival, 'Britain's 'Political Romance' with Romania in the 1970s', Contemporary European History 4/1 (1995), pp.67-87.
157. Keith Hamilton, The Last Cold Warriors: Britain, Detente and the CSCE, 1972-1975 (St Antony's College, University of Oxford European Interdependence Research Unit, Discussion Paper EIRU/991, July 1999).
158. Mark Mazower, Dark Continent. Europe's Twentieth Century (Penguin, 1999), pp.368-9.