Study Sources A and B.
How far do these two sources agree? Explain your answer using details of the sources. (7)

Source A

The Soviet decision to invade Czechoslovakia on 21 August 1968 was slow in coming and was only taken as a last resort. The crisis had been brewing since the spring and one explanation for Soviet slowness to make up their minds would be that the situation was new for everyone. What were the limits beyond which a socialist state could not go without ceasing to be socialist? The Czechs repeated again and again their loyalty to the Warsaw Pact. They were idealistic, they were convinced that they were contributing to the development of socialism. Socialism with a human face. Censorship was abolished and plans to re-examine the sentences passed on political undesirables forced those who felt threatened into active opposition to the ‘Prague Spring’.
The Czechoslovak tragedy can be seen as a failure to communicate. Had the Soviets made clear the limits beyond which the Czechoslovaks could not go, then it is likely that the whole episode would never have occurred. It was the slow Soviet response to the developing situation that made the situation worse. The Soviets were reluctant invaders.
From a book published in 1991.

Source B