Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Map
- Acknowledgements
- Abbreviations
- Glossary
- Politicians, officials and personalities
- Introduction
- 1 The evolution of British Cold War policy, 1945–1964
- 2 The UK and East-West relations, 1964–1965
- 3 The Wilson government and the Vietnam War, 1965–1968
- 4 British strategy and defence policy, 1964–1968
- 5 Détente, trade and espionage, 1966–1968
- 6 The ‘Prague Spring’ and its aftermath, 1968–1970
- Conclusion
- Bibliography
- Index
6 - The ‘Prague Spring’ and its aftermath, 1968–1970
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 12 September 2012
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Map
- Acknowledgements
- Abbreviations
- Glossary
- Politicians, officials and personalities
- Introduction
- 1 The evolution of British Cold War policy, 1945–1964
- 2 The UK and East-West relations, 1964–1965
- 3 The Wilson government and the Vietnam War, 1965–1968
- 4 British strategy and defence policy, 1964–1968
- 5 Détente, trade and espionage, 1966–1968
- 6 The ‘Prague Spring’ and its aftermath, 1968–1970
- Conclusion
- Bibliography
- Index
Summary
Five years after the ‘white heat’ speech at Scarborough, the Labour government had failed to revive the British economy. If its second, and comprehensive, election victory in March 1966 was the high point of the Wilson government's term in office, then the months following the devaluation crisis were arguably its nadir. The pound remained fragile, the economy was in recession and Wilson's tense relationship with his leading ministers deteriorated as a result of his paranoid conviction that his colleagues were plotting to oust him. Other Western states also had their own political crises to resolve. On the continent there was a series of protests and disturbances which were compared to the revolutionary upheavals of 1848. De Gaulle was almost toppled by student riots in Paris in May 1968, while similar outbursts of radical activity fuelled the emergence of far-left terrorism in West Germany and Italy during the subsequent decade. In January 1968 the Johnson administration was shaken by the seizure of an American SIGINT ship, the USS Pueblo, by the North Korean navy. The Tet offensive in South Vietnam at the end of the month added further pressure to a beleaguered administration, making a mockery of its claims that the USA was winning in Vietnam. On 31 March Johnson announced that he would not seek reelection. Increased anti-war agitation, widespread racial violence and the assassinations of Martin Luther King and Robert Kennedy contributed to the impression that the USA was in a state of crisis.
- Type
- Chapter
- Information
- Harold Wilson's Cold WarThe Labour Government and East-West Politics, 1964–1970, pp. 139 - 163Publisher: Boydell & BrewerPrint publication year: 2009