The Prague Spring was a brief period of liberalization in Czechoslovakia in 1968 when Alexander Dubček took power. He attempted to reform the Communist state and institute "socialism with a human face".[1] Alarmed at this course of events, the Soviet Union, along with four other Warsaw Pact countries, sent tanks into Prague on August 21 of that year to end the Prague Spring, killing dozens. The Soviet Union falsely claimed that Czechoslovakia had requested military assistance.[2]