Út a katonai intervencióhoz. A prágai tavasz és a magyar pártvezetés
Heading towards the Military Intervention: The Prague Spring and the Hungarian Party Leadership

Summary/Abstract: The study presents János Kádár and the Hungarian political leadership’s slow process in changing policy towards the Prague Spring with examining it from January 1968 – the beginning of the Prague Spring – up to August, that is the military intervention of the Warsaw Pact member states’ troops, the occupation of Czechoslovakia: citing Hungarian, Czechoslovak, Polish and Russian sources that contribute the formation of a complex image on the personal standpoint of János Kádár. In addition to the political thread, the military affairs were getting more significant from June 1968. The study unfolds the Hungarian participation in the Šumava military exercise, including its evaluation. It reveals the Hungarian preparations of the military intervention, as well as the Soviet requests and the Hungarian responses. Finally, the study summarizes the facts of the Hungarian military participation. Relying on so far unknown sources, the study reconstructs the recorded negotiations during the two key meetings between Kádár and Dubček (13 July; 17 August), which are indispensable for the understanding the divergence of the two politicians.

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