The reforms, especially the decentralization of administrative authority, were not received well by the Soviets, who, after failed negotiations, sent half a million Warsaw Pact troops and tanks to occupy the country. This dual federation was the only formal change that survived the invasion. After national discussion of dividing the country into a federation of three republics, Bohemia, Moravia- Silesia and Slovakia, Dubček oversaw the decision to split into two, the Czech Socialist Republic and Slovak Socialist Republic. The freedoms granted included a loosening of restrictions on the media, speech and travel. The Prague Spring reforms were a strong attempt by Dubček to grant additional rights to the citizens of Czechoslovakia in an act of partial decentralization of the economy and democratization. It began on 5 January 1968, when reformist Alexander Dubček was elected First Secretary of the Communist Party of Czechoslovakia (KSČ), and continued until 21 August 1968, when the Soviet Union and most Warsaw Pact members invaded the country to suppress the reforms. The Prague Spring ( Czech: Pražské jaro, Slovak: Pražská jar) was a period of political liberalization and mass protest in
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