Patriotic Guards (Romania)
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The Patriotic Guards were paramilitary formations in the Socialist Republic of Romania from 1968 to 1989.
Patriotic Guards were often equipped with World War II weapons. The fighter in the foreground is using a Czechoslovak ZB vz. 30.
Young female Patriotic Guards posing with rifles next to an industrial complex. They were expected to defend Romania's infrastructure in the event of war.
Patriotic Guards during a training exercise. The paramilitary formations were trained to adopt guerrilla warfare tactics.
Nicolae Ceaușescu
On 20–21 August 1968, the Czechoslovak Socialist Republic was jointly invaded by four fellow Warsaw Pact countries: the Soviet Union, the Polish People's Republic, the People's Republic of Bulgaria, a
Patriotic Guards (Romania)
…Nicolae Ceaușescu, the Romanian Communist Party General Secretary and State Council President, delivered the 21 August Bucharest speech condemning the Warsaw Pact invasion of Czechoslovakia during the Prague Spring, conducted by the Soviet Union, the Polish People's Republic, the People's Republic of Bulgaria, and the Hungarian People's…
From left to right, top to bottom: Prague students walk past a burning Soviet tank with a national flag · Hippie drawings on a Soviet truck · Crowd of Prague residents surround a Soviet tank · "Home!! Go home!" graffiti on an armored personnel carrier · Funeral of Jan Palach · Refugee camp in Austria · Protesters near burning Soviet tanks · Street fighting · Graffiti with Soviet and Nazi symbols under the inscription "ᛋᛋСР" (SSSR)
Soviet leader Leonid Brezhnev and Polish leader Władysław Gomułka in East Berlin, 1967
Brezhnev, Nikolai Podgorny, and East German leader Walter Ulbricht in Moscow
Nicolae Ceauşescu (right) visiting Czechoslovakia in 1968; here, with Alexander Dubček and Ludvik Svoboda