Czechoslovakia was not part of the USSR in 1979. It was nominally an independent country, with its own government and its own seat at the United Nations.

At this time, however, Czechoslovakia was generally considered a 'satellite' or 'puppet state' of the USSR, with less than total independence of action. It was within the USSR sphere of influence, inside the 'iron curtain', and a member of the Warsaw pact.

Czechoslovakia was created in 1918, out of the remains of the Austro Hungarian Empire, and remained a constitutional democracy unitl 1938.

In 1938 Germany annexed the Sudetenland, followed by Hungary and Poland annexing other chunks of territory, leaving only part of the nation intact. In 1939, Slovakia broke away, and Hitler established a German Protectorate over the remaining parts of Czech territory.

In 1945, Czechoslovakia was re-established. The country was run by a coalition government after elections in 1945.

In 1948 the Communists (backed by the USSR) launched a successful coup d'etat, and took control of Czechoslovakia.

The Communists controlled Czechoslovakia until 1989. In 1969, in the so called "Prague Spring", the Czech government tried to liberalize to a more socialist and less communist form of government, less closely tied to the USSR. The rest of the Warsaw pact invaded Czechoslovakia and reimposed stricter rule. The leaders of the Prague Spring were purged from the Communist Party and Russian troops based in Czechoslovakia.

In 1989, in the so called "Velvet Revolution", the Communist government resigned in the face of public protests, and the first free elections in Czechoslovakia since 1945 were held.

Czechoslovakia remained a parliamentary democracy until 1992, when in the "Velvet Divorce" Slovakia broke away, and the country became two countries, Slovakia and the Czech Republic.