AUGUST - THE MONTH THAT KEEPS ON GIVING

Friday 21st August 2026 is the 58th anniversary of the Soviet led invasion of Czechoslovakia, it’s an anniversary that increasingly passed unnoticed, save perhaps by some people in Prague, although the spectre of Russian intervention in Eastern Europe, remerged following Russias attack on the Ukraine. 

While happily the Soviet Union is history, although Russia on the rise in the east, people have lots of other things to be concerned about.  

It’s been 58 years since Soviet troops and most but not all of their Warsaw Pact allies invaded Czechoslovakia on August 21st 1968. 

The Warsaw Pact invasion crushed the political and economic reforms known as the Prague Spring, led by the country's then new First Secretary of the Communist party Alexander Dubcek.  

The Soviet-led invasion effectively established the Brezhnev Doctrine, which Moscow said allowed the U.S.S.R. to intervene in any country where a Communist government was under threat. 

The Soviet backed occupation of Czechoslovakia lasted until the velvet revolution brought an end to the Communist dictatorship in November 1991 as the Cold War ended. It was always contested - the reformist communists were finally defeated in the mid 1970's ironically just as detente created the Helsinki accords which then inspired Charter 77. 

Even now Russia’s attitude to the invasions still touches raw emotions, evens in the Czech and Slovak republics. While the thirty fifth anniversary of the collapse of the USSR will largely pass unremembered, in both the West and more understandably in Russia, the reasons for Russia’s desire to forget the past are understandable.

It is worth noting that the Brits lost their Empire over a period of thirty years, over fifty years ago, and some of them have still not got over the losing of it hence the periodic exposure of Brit exceptionalism. 

The Russians, by way of contrast lost the core of their Empire in about fortnight, which must still sting a bit, even thirty five years down the line. 

The West tends to remain silent when it came to remembering the anniversary of the collapse of the USSR. Perhaps considering the hubris displayed at the time, the wilful glee the came with the botched dismemberment of the old Soviet state industries and assets, the rise of the oligarchs (some of whom were very close and comfortable with New Labour and quire comfortable with the Conservatives and the rise of President Putins new Russia, the silence is perhaps understandable. 

When it comes to anniversaries August may well be the month that keeps on giving…  

As the 21st of August is also the anniversary of the coup attempt to oust President Gorbachev, which collapsed within a few days, and directly led to the collapse of the Soviet Union…

Sunday 23rd August 2026 will be the 87th anniversary of the Ribbentrop-Molotov Pact signed by Nazi Germany and Soviet Union in 1939, the anniversary has become the European Day of Remembrance for Victims of Totalitarian Regimes. 

It was on that day in 1939 that an agreement between Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union opened the gate to Second World War and all kinds of totalitarian violence: from forced migration through slave labour and war crimes to genocide, including an event unprecedented in world history – the Holocaust. 

The 23rd August should rightly brings back the memory of millions those who fell victim to totalitarian regimes, including the inmates of Nazi concentration camps, death camps, Soviet gulags and Stalinist prisons. This anniversary probably passed unnoticed in the Russian Federation save behind closed doors. 

It is also worth remembering that 37 years ago, on 23 August 1989, some two million people from Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania stood hand in hand - literally - for an event itself lasted for 15 minutes, from Toompea in Tallinn, through Riga, to the Gediminas Tower in Vilnius, they formed a human chain. The consequences have lasted much longer than the original event. 

The 600km + long human chain, known as the Baltic Way, became a powerful symbol of unity and resistance, as it drew the world's attention to the illegal Soviet annexation of the Baltic States following the Molotov-Ribbentrop pact.

The non-aggression pact was signed exactly 50 years earlier, on 23rd August 1939, by Soviet and German foreign ministers Vyacheslav Molotov and Joachim von Ribbentrop. It contained secret protocols, in which the two powers illegally divided the territories of Finland, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, and Romania between them. 

This was one of the key factors that led to the start of World War II in September 1939, with Nazi Germany's attack on Poland, and to the Soviet invasion of the Baltics in June 1940. 

The Baltic Way put immense pressure on the Soviet power to acknowledge the existence of the secret protocols and to declare them null and void - and reminded the West that the Baltic republics had been annexed to the Soviet Union since 1944/45. 

When a few years ago, the Poles held a commemoration of the 75th anniversary of the start of the Second World War, some Western and World leaders gathered, but the Brits did not go, obviously other important things to do and to remember - wonder who the Foreign Secretary was at the time?

Human history is complex, and remembrance is important part, forgetting is also very human and is also part of life, but, remembrance should be a balanced act rather than selective. 

Selectively forgetting the past and erasing our collective history is a more dubious practice ( especially in these islands, in Hungary, in Russia and in the Peoples Republic of China, etc ) but also within these islands, especially when it comes to ‘Brit washing’ the perceptions of and the grim realities of Empire, etc. 

Even in the West, the elite can be decidedly selective about the anniversaries and the history they wish us to remember. Creating a rose tinted view of the past, is neither history nor remembrance, nor is it honest, its manufactured / peddled nostalgia - and that is dubious, dishonest and downright potentially politically dangerous.  

Simply to reimagine these islands past simply to distract people from the mess the Westminster elite have got us into from the carnage of India’s partition, the shambles of Suez, the invasion of Iraq in 2003, the financial collapse of 2008, etc is unacceptable but not quite as unacceptable as blatantly lying through ones teeth and manipulating evidence to justify a war. 

Other more awkward embarrassing anniversaries are ignored or effectively selectively airbrushed from history e.g. the Sykes-Picot-Sazanov agreement, the anniversary of  Amritsar, various bloody Sundays, etc.  

Anniversaries are important to remember as not only can they provide timely reminders of important historical events, they can also remind us how we ended up in this mess and who made those decisions, and what can actually be accomplished when people want change.

PRAGUE 1968

Thursday 21st August 2025 was the 57th  anniversary of the Soviet led invasion of Czechoslovakia, it’s an anniversary that increasingly passed unnoticed,  save perhaps by some people in Prague, although the spectre of Russian intervention inn Eastern Europe, remerged following Russias attack on the Ukraine. 

A Prague street scene in 1968

While the Soviet Union is history, although Russia on the rise in the east, people have lots of other things to be concerned about.  It’s been 57 years since Soviet troops and most but not all of their Warsaw Pact allies invaded Czechoslovakia on August 21st 1968. The Warsaw Pact invasion crushed the political and economic reforms known as the Prague Spring, led by the country's then new First Secretary of the Communist party Alexander Dubcek.  

Leonid Brezhnev and other Soviet hard-liners in Moscow, probably correctly in the light of later events between 1989 and 1991, at least from their narrow perspective, saw the reform movement as a serious threat to the Soviet Union's hold on the Socialist satellite states, they decided to act. In the first hours on the 21st August 1968 Soviet planes began to land unexpectedly at Prague's Ruzyne airport, and shortly Soviet tanks would soon be trundling through Prague's narrow streets.  

Prague 1968

The Soviet-led invasion established the Brezhnev Doctorine, which allowed the U.S.S.R. to intervene in an country where a Communist government was perceived to be under threat. The Soviet backed occupation of Czechoslovakia lasted until the velvert revolution brought an end to the Communist dictatorship in November 1991 as the Cokd War ended. It was always contested - the reformist communists were finally defeated in the mid 1970's just as detent created the Helsinki accords which insoired Charter 77. Russia's attitude to the invasion still touches raw emotions, even in the Czech and Slovak republics. 

Tensions in the relationship between the Czechs and Slovaks (and other nationalities) had re-dated the establishment of the first republic in 1918. The perception (and reality, especially if you ask the Slovaks) was that Prague (and the Czechs) ran the republic touched a raw nerve in different parts of the republic. Ironically the Communist dictatorship which was resisted by dissidents, former reformist communists and ordinary citizens, kept the lid on internal tensions within Czechoslovakia between Czechs and Slovaks. 

The West's focus on Prague, the Czechs and the former Czech dissidents meant that tensions between Prague and Bratislava were mostly, but, not entirely missed. The welcome regular pronouncements about curbing the arms trade and arms exports did not go down well in Slovakia were a significant portion (but not all) of arms production was based. With the dictatorship gone, it took only a few years for the former state to split into the Czech and Slovak republics - both of whom became independent states on January 1st 1993, joining the the EU in May 2004 as they returned to Europe.

Now the Velvet revolutionaries are well into middle age, as are the rest of us who watched the fall of the wall and the communism in Eastern Europe. Now the visible symbols of communism are long gone, the unemployed and the homeless, invisible under communism are back as are the gleaming shopping centres and the well stocked supermarkets are part of normal life rather than the preserves of the communist elite. 

In Prague the Communism museum is increasingly difficult to find, and healthily irrelevant to younger Czechs. A generation or two of Czech and Slovak voters have grown up with democracy and no fear or a personal understanding of the fear of the secret police, the knock on the door in the night, or border guards and informers. They also don't have to worry about any consequences of expressing their opinions in work, education or at leisure and they have also have no limits on their no freedom of movement (beyond costs) within the EU - all of which has to be the ultimate positive. 

Remembrance is important, as is history, forgetting is very human and is part of life. Selectively forgetting the past and erasing our collective history is a more dubious practice ( especially in Hungary, Russia and the Peoples Republic of China, etc ) but also within these islands, especially when it comes to the perceptions of and the realities of Empire, etc. Creating a rose tinted view of the past, is neither history nor remembrance, its manufactured / peddled nostalgia - and that too is both dubious and dangerous. 

UNOBSERVED ANNIVERSARIES

The dog end of August is a time of historic anniversaries, in 2021 they were overshadowed by the drama and tragedy surrounding the collapse of Afghanistan and the fall of Kabul, normally its a time of often ignored or perhaps selectively unobserved anniversaries and missed opportunities. 

The last few days have seen anniversaries for the Soviet invasion of Czechoslovakia (in August 1968) and the collapse of the Soviet Union (in August 1991) pass largely unremembered and unobserved. Saturday 21st August 2022 it was the 53rd  anniversary of the Soviet led invasion of Czechoslovakia, it’s an anniversary that these days increasingly passes largely unnoticed save perhaps by some people in Prague. 

Now that the Soviet Union is history, although the Russian Federation is aggressively on the rise in the east, so people have lots of other things to be worried about.  It’s been 54 years since Soviet troops and most but not all of their Warsaw Pact allies invaded Czechoslovakia on August 21st 1968. The 31st Anniversary of Ukrainian independence ( Wednesday 24th August 2022 ) will be remembered - particularly was it's under threat following the un-provoked attack by the Russian Federation some six months ago.

The Soviet-led invasion effectively established the Brezhnev Doctrine, which Moscow said allowed the U.S.S.R. to intervene in any country where a Communist government was under threat. The Soviet backed occupation of Czechoslovakia lasted until the velvet revolution brought an end to the Communist dictatorship in November 1991 as the Cold War ended. It was always contested - the reformist communists were finally defeated in the mid 1970's just as detente created the Helsinki accords which inspired Charter 77. Russia’s attitude to the invasion still touches raw emotions, evens in the Czech and Slovak republics. 

The thirty first anniversary of the collapse of the USSR largely passed unremembered, both the West and more understandably in Russia, the reasons for Russia’s desire to forget the past are understandable. The Brits lost their Empire over a period of thirty years, over fifty years ago, and some of them have still not got over the losing of it. The Russians lost their Empire in a fortnight, which must still sting a bit, even thirty years down the line. 

The West was silent when it came to remembering the anniversary of the collapse of the USSR. Perhaps considering the hubris displayed at the time, the wilful glee the came with the botched dismemberment of the old Soviet state industries and assets, the rise of the oligarchs (some of whom were very close and comfortable with New Labour and still comfortable with he Conservatives and the rise of President Putins new Russia, the silence is understandable. 

The it comes to anniversaries August may be the month that keeps on giving on the Tuesday 23rd August 2022 is the 83rd anniversary of the 1939 the signing of Nazi Germany’s and the Soviet Union’s pact which effectively guaranteed the start of the second world war. The event is well remembered the Baltic republic and Poland but very rarely anywhere else, especially in the Russian Federation, where history is both important and selectively remembered. 

When the Poles held a commemoration of the 75th anniversary of the start of the Second World War, world leaders gathered, but the Brits did not go, obviously other important things to do and remember ( wonder who the Foreign Secretary was ).

Human history is complex, and remembrance is important, forgetting is also very human and is part of life, but, remembrance should be balanced rather than selective. Selectively forgetting the past and erasing our collective history is a more dubious practice ( especially in these islands, Hungary, Russia and the Peoples Republic of China, etc ) but also within these islands, especially when it comes to ‘Brit washing’ the perceptions of and the grim realities of Empire, etc. 

Even in the West, the elite can be very selective about the anniversaries and the history they wish us to remember. Creating a rose tinted view of the past, is neither history nor remembrance, nor is it honest, its manufactured / peddled nostalgia - and that is dubious, dishonest and potentially dangerous. 

Hence the special urge to remember the first day of the Somme, Passchendaele, the Dunkirk spirit, the Battle of Britain (all are absolutely important to remember, in their correct historical context) - to reimagine these islands past simply to distract people from the mess the Westminster elite have got us into since Suez, the invasion of Iraq in 2003, the financial collapse of 2008, etc is unacceptable but nothing is quite as unacceptable as blatantly lying through ones teeth and manipulating evidence to justify a war. 

Other less reputable awkward embarrassing anniversaries are ignored or effectively selectively airbrushed from history e.g. the Sykes-Picot-Sazanov agreement, the anniversary of  Amritsar, various bloody Sundays, etc.  

For most of the last 21 years successive Westminster governments worked hard to ensure that our service personnel have had a much higher profile, making use of various important anniversaries of previous conflicts, sporting occasions and regularly promoting armed forces day. That emphasis had effectively ceased as the direct involvement of UK service personnel in the cycle of Blair’s wars has finally wound down save for covering the botched evacuation of Kabul.

It is important to remember how we ended up in this mess and who made those decisions. It is equally important that we remember that Westminster (with the honourable exception of the 1945 Labour Government) has often neglected our war veterans after previous war’s ended and faded into memory. We all still need to work to ensure that never again can it be acceptable for any Westminster Government makes the decision that dead heroes are cheaper and less trouble to remember than live ones.

WHEN DO YOU CHOOSE TO FORGET?

Friday 21st August 2020 was the 52nd  anniversary of the Soviet led invasion of Czechoslovakia, it’s an anniversary that these days increasingly passes largely unnoticed save perhaps by some people in Prague. Now that the Soviet Union is history, although Russia on the rise in the east, people have lots of other things to be concerned about.  It’s been 52 years since Soviet troops and most but not all of their Warsaw Pact allies invaded Czechoslovakia on August 21st 1968. 

The Warsaw Pact invasion crushed the political and economic reforms known as the Prague Spring, led by the country's then new First Secretary of the Communist party Alexander Dubcek.  Leonid Brezhnev and other Soviet hard-liners in Moscow, probably correctly in the light of later events between 1989 and 1991, at least from their narrow perspective, saw the reform movement as a serious threat to the Soviet Union's hold on the Socialist satellite states, they decided to act. In the first hours on the 21st August 1968 Soviet planes began to land unexpectedly at Prague's Ruzyne airport, and shortly Soviet tanks would soon be trundling through Prague's narrow streets.  

A Prague Street scene in August 1968

The Soviet-led invasion effectively established the Brezhnev Doctrine, which Moscow said allowed the U.S.S.R. to intervene in any country where a Communist government was under threat. The Soviet backed occupation of Czechoslovakia lasted until the velvet revolution brought an end to the Communist dictatorship in November 1991 as the Cold War ended. It was always contested - the reformist communists were finally defeated in the mid 1970's just as detente created the Helsinki accords which inspired Charter 77. Russia’s attitude to the invasion still touches raw emotions, evens in the Czech and Slovak republics. 

Tensions in the relationship between the Czechs and Slovaks (and other nationalities) had re-dated the establishment of the first republic in 1918. The perception (and reality, especially if you ask the Slovaks) that Prague (and the Czechs) ran the republic touched a raw nerve in different parts of the republic. Ironically the Communist dictatorship which was resisted by dissidents, former reformist communists and ordinary citizens, kept the lid on internal tensions within Czechoslovakia between Czechs and Slovaks. 

The West's focus on Prague, the Czechs and the former Czech dissidents meant that tensions between Prague and Bratislava were mostly, but, not entirely missed. The welcome regular pronouncements about curbing the arms trade and arms exports did not go down well in Slovakia were a significant portion (but not all) of arms production was based. With the dictatorship gone, it took only a few years for the former state to split into the Czech and Slovak republics - both of whom became independent states on January 1st 1993, joining the the EU in May 2004 as they returned to Europe.

Now the Velvet revolutionaries are well into middle age, as are the rest of us who watched the fall of the wall and the communism in Eastern Europe. Now the visible symbols of communism are long gone, the unemployed and the homeless, invisible under communism are back as are the gleaming shopping centres and the well stocked supermarkets are part of normal life rather than the preserves of the communist elite. 

In Prague the Communism museum is increasingly difficult to find, and perhaps healthily irrelevant to younger Czechs. More importantly perhaps a generation of Czech and Slovak voters have grown up with democracy and no fear or a personal understanding of the fear of the secret police, the knock on the door in the night, or border guards and informers. They also don't have to worry about any consequences of expressing their opinions in work, education or at leisure and they have also have no limits on their no freedom of movement (beyond costs) within the EU - all of which has to be the ultimate positive. 

Remembrance is important, as is history, forgetting is very human and is part of life. Selectively forgetting the past and erasing our collective history is a more dubious practice ( especially in Hungary, Russia and the Peoples Republic of China, etc ) but also within these islands, especially when it comes to the perceptions of and the realities of Empire, etc. Creating a rose tinted view of the past, is neither history nor remembrance, its manufactured / peddled nostalgia - and that too is both dubious and dangerous.