The Warsaw Pact invasion of Czechoslovakia is a seminal twentieth century event. It has principally been studied by Western academics from a Soviet perspective. It is one of the purposes of this dissertation to re-dress that imbalance and look at the crisis from the perspective of the Czechoslovak political elite at the apex of the political system: the Presidium of the Communist Party of Czechoslovakia. It is another purpose of this dissertation to test Irving Janis’s ‘Groupthink’ hypothesis at the group domain of analysis. Although a much-cited neologism, few have used this approach when analysing historical events. The Presidium’s decision-making will be contextualised by an in-depth consideration of the information environment the political elite derived its knowledge from. Did the military elite and Diplomatic Corps provide accurate information the Presidium could make rational use of to ward off the impending invasion during 1968 or were these information sources ambivalent to, or even neglectful of the building threat? Whether this was true or not, did Czechoslovak elite fealty to both communism ideologically and the USSR as a fraternal ally, create what Janis has identified as group ‘concurrence seeking’, thus perpetrating the phenomenon of ‘Groupthink’, wherein the group’s information searching and decision-making capacities were compromised? Many notable contributions to the historiography of 1968 have been made by contributors resident in the west before the collapse of the bi-polar division of continental Europe in 1989. Since then archival restrictions have lessened and researchers are now able to gain access to key personnel involved in the events. This author has accessed archival sources: principally a continuous run of Presidium meeting stenographs from April to August 1968. The author has also used documents generated by governmental commissions into these events, accessed diplomatic cables and reports from 1968 and has interviewed some high ranking military personnel.

The thesis analyses Czechoslovak-Jewish relations in the twentieth century using the case study of the Czechoslovak Government-in-Exile in London and its activities during the Second World War. In order to present the research in a wider perspective, it covers the period between the Munich Agreement, when the first politicians left Czechoslovakia, and the Communist Coup in February 1948. Hence the thesis evaluates the political activities and plans of the Czechoslovak exiles, as well as the implementation of the plans in liberated Czechoslovakia after 1945. In comparison with previous contributions to the theme, this thesis is based on extensive archival research. It examines how the Czechoslovak treatment of the Jews was shaped by resurgent Czech and Slovak nationalism/s caused by the war and the experience of the occupation by the German army. Simultaneously, the thesis enquires into the role played in the Czechoslovak exiles’ decision making by their efforts to maintain the image of a democratic country in the heart of Europe. An adherence to western liberal democracies was a key political asset used by Czechoslovakia since her creation in 1918. Fair treatment of minorities, in particular the Jews, became part of this ‘myth’. However, the Second World War brought to the fore Czechoslovak efforts to nationally homogenize the post-war Republic and rid it of its ‘disloyal’ minorities. Consequently, the thesis evaluates how the Jews as a minority were perceived and constructed. The thesis is divided into five chapters, following the developments in chronological, as well as thematic order. The first chapter analyses the influence of people in occupied Czechoslovakia on the exiles’ policy towards the Jews. Chapter two and three document the exiles’ policy towards the Jews during the war, including the government’s responses to the Holocaust. Chapter four enquires into the wartime origins of the post-war Czechoslovak policy towards the Jews. Finally, the last chapter analyses the influence of public opinion abroad on the Czechoslovak policy towards the Jews during and after the war.