NEW PHP ORAL HISTORY COLLECTION:

Dear Madam, dear Sir,
INSIGHTS INTO SOVIET-CZECHOSLOVAK MILITARY PLANNING IN THE COLD WARThe interviews with 15 Czechoslovak generals of the cold war era throw new light on Czechoslovakia’s role in Soviet military planning prior to 1968, when its army was assigned to bear the brunt of any confrontation with NATO because of the absence from its territory of Soviet or other Warsaw Pact troops. Conversely, the stationing of Soviet forces there after 1968, amid doubts about the reliability of the Czechoslovak army in the event of war, reduced the country’s strategic exceptionalism and with it also the importance of the information that could be supplied by its highest ranking officers. The interviews offer fascinating reading. Most of the generals were willing to speak openly about the secret operational plans. Some of their testimonies provide the most authoritative and illuminating views that we have on the 1964 war plan discovered and first published by the PHP, prompting an animated discussion about its significance on the PHP website. Other intriguing topics are the deployment of Soviet nuclear warheads on Czechoslovak territory before 1968 and the severity of the economic strain that membership in the Warsaw Pact imposed upon Czechoslovakia, forcing it to maintain a military establishment entirely out of proportion with the country’s resources. Please read the original transcripts in Czech as well as topical selections in both English and Czech as well as introductory remarks by Czech cold war historian Karel Sieber, who conducted the interviews, and PHP coordinator Vojtech Mastny at www.isn.ethz.ch/php/collections/coll_ceska.htm. We invite your feedback on the interviews. Please send your comments and reflections to

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