Czechoslovakia and its Armed Forces in Times of Change

Abstract

In the 1980s Czechoslovakia was one of the strongest countries in the Warsaw Treaty Organisations in terms of military capacity. In addition to the regular army, Czechoslovakia had strong internal security forces and people’s militia.The army was under the control of the Communist Party, whose extension wasthe political main directorate of the army. The reorganisation of the army started in 1990. The main task was to reorganise the army of a totalitarian country into the armed forces of a democratic state. A civilian was appointed the Defence Minister; a new military doctrine was prepared, which stated that national defence was the duty of the army; the general staff and the Ministry of Defence as well as the structure of units were reorganised; reducing the number of staff started; the length of compulsory military service was shortened; and becoming a member of NATO was set as a goal.