Researching the 1948 coup in Czechoslovakia, I learned that the President of Czechoslovakia (Edvard Benes) had the opportunity to halt the coup in its tracks. On the 21st February 1948 twelve non-Communist ministers resigned from their posts in opposition to Communist subversion in the government. If Benes had refused to accept their resignations, it is possible that could have halted the momentum that the Communists had been building, and as they were growing increasingly unpopular it is likely that they wouldn’t have won the May 1948 elections. So I would like to ask, what if the Czechoslovak coup failed? Would the West try to intervene to draw the country into their orbit or would the Soviets simply invade and crush the government?