Czechoslovakia “Czechoslovak” redirects here. For other uses, see Czechoslovak (disambiguation). Czechoslovakia or Czecho-Slovakia[1] /ˌtʃɛkɵslɵˈvaːkiə/[2][3] (Czech and Slovak: Českoslo- vensko, Česko-Slovensko,[4] pronounced [ˈtʃɛskoslovɛnsko]͡ in both of those languages) was a sovereign state in Central Europe that existed from October 1918, when it declared its independence from the Austro-Hungarian Empire, until its peaceful dissolution into the Czech Republic and Slovakia on 1 January 1993. From 1939 to 1945, following its forced division and par- tial incorporation into Nazi Germany, the state did not de facto exist but its government-in-exile continued to op- erate. On 29 June 1945, a treaty was signed between Czechoslovakia and the Soviet Union, ceding Carpatho- Ukraine to the USSR. From 1948 to 1990 Czechoslovakia was part of the Marxist-Leninist Warsaw Pact and had a command or planned economy. A period of political liberalization in Small coat of arms in 1918–1960 1968, known as the Prague Spring, was forcibly ended when several other Warsaw Pact countries invaded. In 1989, as Marxist-Leninist governments and state capital- it was also recognised by the USSR. Czechoslovakia ism were ending all over Europe, Czechoslovaks peace- adhered to the Declaration by United Nations and fully deposed their government in the Velvet Revolution; was a founding member of the United Nations. socialist price controls were removed after a period of preparation. A few years afterwards, in 1993 the country • 1946–1948: The country was governed by a coali- was separated into two sovereign states, again peacefully. tion government with communist ministers, includ- ing the prime minister and the minister of interior. Carpathian Ruthenia was ceded to the USSR. 1 Basic characteristics • 1948–1989: The country became a communist state with a centrally planned economy. In 1960, the Form of state country officially became a socialist republic. • 1969–1990: The federal republic consisted of the • 1918–1938: A democratic republic. Czech Socialist Republic and the Slovak Socialist Re- • 1938–1939: After annexation of Sudetenland by public. Germany in 1938, the region gradually turned into • 1990–1992: The federal democratic republic con- a state with loosened connections among the Czech, sisted of the Czech Republic and the Slovak Repub- Slovak, and Ruthenian parts. A large strip of south- lic. ern Slovakia and Carpatho-Ukraine was annexed by Hungary, and the Zaolzie region was annexed by Poland. Neighbours • 1939–1945: The region split into the Protectorate of • Austria 1918–1938, 1945–1992 Bohemia and Moravia and the Slovak Republic.A government-in-exile continued to exist in London, • Germany (Both predecessors, West Germany and supported by the United Kingdom, United States East Germany, were neighbours between 1949 and and its Allies; after the German invasion of Russia, 1990.) 1 2 3 HISTORY • Hungary 3.1 Foundation • Poland 3.1.1 Origins • Romania 1918–1938 • Soviet Union 1945–1991 • Ukraine 1991–1992 Topography The country was of generally irregular terrain. The west- ern area was part of the north-central European uplands. The eastern region was composed of the northern reaches of the Carpathian Mountains and lands of the Danube River basin. Climate The weather was predominantly continental, but varied from the moderate temperature of Western Europe in the west, to the more severe weather of Eastern Europe and the western Soviet Union in the east. 2 Official names See also: Hyphen War Tomáš Garrigue Masaryk, founder and first president • 1918–1920: Republic of Czechoslovakia (abbre- viated RČS)/Czecho-Slovak State,[5] or Czecho- Slovakia/Czechoslovakia • 1920–1938: Czechoslovak Republic (ČSR), or Czechoslovakia • 1938–1939: Czecho-Slovak Republic, or Czecho- Slovakia • 1945–1960: Czechoslovak Republic (ČSR), or Czechoslovakia • 1960–1990: Czechoslovak Socialist Republic Czechoslovak troops in Vladivostok (1918) (ČSSR), or Czechoslovakia Main article: Origins of Czechoslovakia • April 1990: Czechoslovak Federative Republic (Czech version) and Czecho-Slovak Federative Re- public (Slovak version) The area was long a part of the Austro Hungarian Empire until the Empire collapsed at the end of World War I. The • The country subsequently became the Czech new state was founded by Tomáš Garrigue Masaryk[6] and Slovak Federative Republic, ČSFR, or (1850–1937), who served as its first president from 14 Československo (Czech version) and Česko- November 1918 to 14 December 1935. He was suc- Slovensko (Slovak version). ceeded by his close ally, Edvard Beneš (1884–1948). The roots of Czech nationalism go back to the 19th century, when philologists and educators, influenced by 3 History Romanticism, promoted the Czech language and pride in the Czech people. Nationalism became a mass move- Main articles: History of Czechoslovakia, History of the ment in the last half of the 19th century. Taking advan- Czech lands and History of Slovakia tage of the opportunities for limited participation in polit- ical life available under the Austrian rule, Czech leaders 3.2 Interwar 3 such as historian František Palacký (1798–1876) founded 3.1.3 Ethnicity many patriotic, self-help organizations which provided a chance for many of their compatriots to participate in The new country was a multi-ethnic state. The popu- communal life prior to independence. Palacký supported lation consisted of Czechs (51%), Slovaks (16%), Ger- Austroslavism and worked for a reorganized and federal mans (22%), Hungarians (5%) and Rusyns (4%).[8] Many Austrian Empire, which would protect the Slavic speak- of the Germans, Hungarians, Ruthenians and Poles[9] ing peoples of Central European against Russian and Ger- and some Slovaks, felt oppressed because the political man threats. elite did not generally allow political autonomy for mi- nority ethnic groups. This policy, combined with in- An advocate of democratic reform and Czech auton- creasing Nazi propaganda especially in the industrialized omy within Austria-Hungary, Masaryk was elected twice German-speaking Sudetenland, led to unrest among the to Reichsrat (Austrian Parliament), the first time being non-Czech population. from 1891 to 1893 in the Young Czech Party and again from 1907 to 1914 in the Czech Realist Party, which he The state proclaimed the official ideology that there are founded in 1889 with Karel Kramář and Josef Kaizl. no Czechs and Slovaks, but only one nation of Czechoslo- vaks (see Czechoslovakism), to the disagreement of Slo- During World War I small numbers of Czechs, the vaks and other ethnic groups. Once a unified Czechoslo- Czechoslovak Legions, fought with the Allies in France vakia was restored after World War II (after the country and Italy, while large numbers deserted to Russia, in had been divided during the war), the conflict between exchange for their support for the independence of the Czechs and the Slovaks surfaced again. The govern- Czechoslovakia from the Austrian Empire. With the ments of Czechoslovakia and other eastern European na- outbreak of World War I, Masaryk began working for tions deported ethnic Germans to the West, reducing the Czech independence in union with Slovakia. With Ed- presence of minorities in the nation. Most of the Jews had vard Beneš and Milan Rastislav Štefánik, Masaryk visited been killed during the war by the Nazis and their allies. several Western countries and won support from influen- tial publicists.[7] *Jews proclaimed themselves even as Germans or Hungarians Bohemia and Moravia, under Austrian rule, were Czech- (and Jews only by religion not ethnicity), the sum is, therefore, speaking industrial centres, while Slovakia, which was more than 100%. part of Hungary, was an undeveloped agrarian region. Conditions were much better for the development of a 3.2 Interwar mass national movement in the Czech lands than in Slo- vakia. Nevertheless, the two regions united and created a The period between the two world wars saw the flowering new nation. of democracy in Czechoslovakia. Of all the new states es- tablished in central Europe after 1918, only Czechoslo- 3.1.2 Founding vakia preserved a democratic government until the war broke out. The persistence of democracy suggests that Czechoslovakia was better prepared to maintain democ- racy than were other countries in the region. Thus, de- spite regional disparities, its level of development was much higher than that of neighboring states. The popula- tion was generally literate, and contained fewer alienated groups. The influence of these conditions was augmented by the political values of Czechoslovakia’s leaders and the policies they adopted. Under Masaryk, Czech and Slo- vak politicians promoted progressive social and economic conditions that served to defuse discontent. Czechoslovakia in 1928. Foreign minister Beneš became the prime architect of the Main article: History of Czechoslovakia (1918–1938) Czechoslovak-Romanian-Yugoslav alliance (the "Little Entente", 1921–38) directed against Hungarian attempts The Bohemian Kingdom officially ceased to exist in 1918 to reclaim lost areas. Beneš worked closely with France. by transformation into Czechoslovakia. Czechoslovakia Far more dangerous was the German element, which af- was founded in October 1918, as one of the successor ter 1933 became allied with the Nazis in Germany. The states of Austro-Hungarian Empire at the end of World increasing feeling of inferiority among the Slovaks, who War I and as part of the Treaty of St. Germain. It con- were hostile to the more numerous Czechs,