What is Czechoslovakia?

History of Czechoslovakia

Historical setting to 1918

Main Article: Origins of Czechoslovakia

Creation of Czechoslovakia in 1918 It was the culmination of a long struggle of the Czechs against their Austrian rulers and the Slovaks against Hungarisation and their Hungarian rulers. Although Czechs and Slovaks have a similar language, they have other ideas and different historical experiences. At the end of the 19th century, the situation of the Czechs and Slovaks was very different, due to different stages of the development of their overlords the Austrians in Bohemia and Moravia, and the Hungarians in Slovakia within the Austrian-Hungarian realm. The only unique feature is the fact that Bohemia is an industrialized part of Hungary but on a different level than Austria and Slovakia. At the turn of the century, the idea of ??a "Czechoslovak" individuality began to be advocated by some Czech and Slovak leaders. In the 1890s, contacts between Czech and Slovak intellectuals intensified.

During the First World War, together with Eduard Benes and Milan Stefanik (Slovak astronomer and war hero), Tomás Masaryk founded the National Congress of Czechoslovakia in 1916. Masaryk in America, Stefanik in France, and Benes worked tirelessly in France and Britain to get the league's attention. When secret talks between the Allies and Emperor Charles I of Austria (1916-18) collapsed, the Allies recognized, in the summer of 1918, the Czechoslovak State Conference as the supreme body of the future Czechoslovak government.

Early Years (1918-1938) First *** War

Main Articles: First *** War Czechoslovakia

Independence of Czechoslovakia Officially announced in Prague on October 28, 1918. Slovaks officially joined the state 2 days later in Martin Town. An interim constitution was adopted and Tomas Masaryk proclaimed president on 14 November. The Treaty of Saint-Germain, signed in September 1919, formally recognized the New Republic. Ruthenia was later added to Czech lands and Slovakia by the Treaty of Trianon (June 1920).

New South Wales is characterized by problems due to its ethnic diversity, separate history, and the vastly different religious, cultural, and social traditions of the Czechs and Slovaks. Germans and Magyars (Hungarians) in Czechoslovakia were openly agitated against the territorial settlement.

The new country has a population of 13.5 million. It inherited 70 to 80% of all the estates of the Austro Hungarian Empire. Czechoslovakia is one of the ten industrialized states in the world. Czech land is more industrialized than Slovakia. Most of the light and heavy industry was located in Sudetenland and was owned by Germans and controlled by German-owned banks. Very backward Subcarpathian Ruthenia has basically no industry.

The Czechoslovak states were conceived as a parliamentary democracy. The constitution recognized the "State of Czechoslovakia" as the creator and principal component of the state of Czechoslovakia and established Czech and Slovak as official languages. The concept of the Czechoslovak state was necessary in order to justify the creation of Czechoslovakia to the world, since the Czech statistical majority would otherwise be quite weak compared to the Germans. The actions of the new Czechoslovak government were distinguished by stability. Mainly responsible for this was the emergence of well-organized political parties as real centers of power.

In 1935 Eduard Benes succeeded Masaryk as president.

In WWII (before 1938 1939)

Main articles: Czechoslovakia: 1938-1939

Hitler's rise in Germany, German Anschluss Austria, the revival of revisionism in Hungary and agitation for autonomy in Slovakia, and the Western powers (France and Britain) met the policy of leaving Czechoslovakia without allies, exposed to the hostility of Germany and Hungary on three sides and to the ruthless Poland in the north .

After Anschluss in Austria, Czechoslovakia will become Hitler's next target. The German nationalist minority, led by Konrad Henlein and fiercely supported by Hitler, demanded the union of mainly German regions with Germany. Threatening war, Hitler was extorted through the Munich Agreement in September 1938 for the cession of the Czechs, Moravian and the Czech Silesian Frontier - Sudetenland. On September 29, the Munich Agreement was signed by Germany, Italy, France, and Britain.

The Czechoslovak government agreed to comply. The Munich Agreement stipulated that Czechoslovakia must cede Sudeten territory to Germany. Benes resigned as President of the Republic of Czechoslovakia on October 5, 1938, fled to London and was succeeded by Emil H3acha. In early November 1938, under the auspices of Vienna, as a result of the Munich Agreement, Czechoslovakia (and later Slovakia) were forced by Germany and Italy to cede South Slovakia (1/3 of Slovak territory) to Hungary, and Poland was then suddenly Obtained minor territorial cessions

The Czechs were forced to grant major concessions to non-Czechs in a greatly weakened Czechoslovak state. The Executive Committee of the Slovak People's Party met in Zilina on October 5, 1938, and with the acquiescence of all Slovak parties except the Social Democrats formed an autonomous Slovak government under Jozef Tiso. Likewise, the two main factions in Subcarpathian Ruthenia, the Russophiles and the Ukrainophiles, agreed on the creation of an autonomous government, were constituted on October 8, 1938. In late November 1938, the deposed states, renamed the so-called Second Soviet Republic of Czechoslovakia, were reorganized into three autonomous units - Czechia (i.e. Bohemia and Moravia), Slovakia, and Ruthenia.

On March 14, 1939, Slovakia gained nominal independence as a satellite state under Jozef Tiso. One day later, Hitler executed H3acha, surrendering the remaining Czechia to German control and making it a German protectorate of "Bohemia and Moravia". On the same day (March 15), Carpatho Ukraine (Subcarpathian Ruthenia) declared its independence and was immediately invaded and annexed by Hungary. Finally, on March 23 Hungary invaded and occupied some further parts of Slovakia (Eastern Slovakia) from Carpatho Ukraine.

World War II 1939-45

Main Articles:

Czechoslovakia: World War II (1939-1945),

The protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia is the contemporary Czech Republic, and

WWII Slovak*** and the protectorate is Slovakia

Benes and other Czechoslovakia The exile in London organized the Czechoslovak government in exile and persuaded the government to gain international recognition and refrain from the Munich Agreement and its consequences. In the summer of 1941, the Allies recognized the defeated government. Czechoslovak troops fought alongside the Allied forces.In December 1943, Benes ended a treaty with the Soviet Union. Benes worked to lead Czechoslovakia's communist exile in Britain into active cooperation with his government, offering far-reaching concessions, including the nationalization of heavy industry and the creation of local people's councils during the war (which did then occur). end(. In March 1945, he based the key cabinet on Czechoslovakia's communist exile in Moscow.

On May 8, 1944, Benes signed an agreement with the Soviet leadership It was stipulated that the territory of Czechoslovakia liberated by the Soviet Army would be placed under the control of Czechoslovak civilians

From September 21, 1944, Czechoslovakia was liberated mainly by the Soviet Army (Red Army). Supported by Czech and Slovak resistance from the east to the west, only southwestern Bohemia was liberated by other allied forces from the west except for the brutal German occupation in Bohemia and Moravia (in August 1944). After the Slovak National Uprising and in Slovakia, Czechoslovakia suffered less from the war. Bratislava was taken over on April 4, 1945, and Prague on May 9, 1945 by Soviet and Allied forces. The troops were withdrawn in the same year (Soviet troops, however, returned in 1968 (see Prague Spring) and were withdrawn only in the early 1990s)

The treaty ceding Carpatho Ukraine to the Soviet Union was signed. The Potsdam Agreement between Czechoslovakia and the Soviet Union in June 1945 provided for the expulsion of the Germans from Germany under the supervision of the Union's Control Council regarding the restoration of the Hungarian minority to the government of Czechoslovakia in 1946. In September, the Hungarian government agreed that Czechoslovakia could immigrate many Hungarians despite the fact that the Slovaks in Hungary wished to return to Czechoslovakia. See main article for details.

Third Republic (1945-1948) and the First Communist Takeover (1948)

Main terms: Czechoslovakia: 1945-1948

The Third Republic of China came into existence in April 1945. Its government, which was installed in Kosice on April 4 and moved to Prague in May, was dominated by the national front coalition of the three socialist parties -- the KSC, the Social Democratic Party of Czechoslovakia, and the National Socialist Party of Czechoslovakia. Certain nonsocialist parties are included in the coalition; among them are the Catholic People's Party (in Moravia) and the Democratic Party (Slovakia).

Public enthusiasm for the liberation of the Soviet Army was roused in favor of the KSC. The Czechoslovaks, bitterly disappointed by the West with the Munich Agreement (1938), responded favorably to the KSC and the Soviet Union. The Communists ensured strong representation in the universally elected National Council, the new body of local governance. In the May 1946 election, the KSC won in the Czech part of the country (40,17%), and the anti-Communist Democratic Party won in Slovakia (62%). Overall, however, KSC won a plurality of 38 percent of the votes cast at the national level. Eduard Benes continued as President of the Republic of China. Communist leader Klement Gottwald became chancellor. Most importantly, although the communists held only a minority of the portfolio, they were able to gain control of all key ministries (Ministry of Internal Affairs, etc.).

In 1947, Stalin summoned Gottwald to Moscow; on his return to Prague, the KSC demonstrated a major radicalization of its tactics. On 20 February, twelve non-Communist ministers resigned, in part, leading Benes to call for early election: Benes refused to agree to the resignation of the cabinet, without calling for election. At the same time, KSC acquired its army. The communist-controlled Interior Ministry deployed police corps to sensitive areas and equipped workers' militias. On February 25, Benes, perhaps fearing Soviet intervention, surrendered. He agreed to the resignation of dissident ministers and accepted a new cabinet list from Gottwald, thus completing the communist takeover.

The Communist Era I (1948- 1968)

Main Articles: Czechoslovakia: 1948-1968, see also: Economic History of Communist Czechoslovakia

In February 1948, when it became clear that the communists needed strength, Czechoslovakia was declared a "people's democracy" (until 1960)--a preliminary step toward socialism and, Finally, communism. Bureaucratic centralization was introduced under the direction of the KSC leadership. Alien elements were purged from all levels of society, including the Catholic Church. The ideological principles of Marxism-Leninism and socialist realism permeated cultural and intellectual life. The economy was committed to comprehensive central planning and the abolition of private ownership of capital. Czechoslovakia became a satellite of the Soviet Union; it was a founding member of the Committee for Mutual Economic Assistance (Comecon) in 1955 and the Warsaw Pact in 1949. The Soviet style of "socialist" attainment became the sworn policy of the government. Slovak autonomy was forced; the KSS (Slovak Communist Party) reunited with the KSC (Czechoslovak Communist Party) but retained its own identity. Following the Soviet example, Czechoslovakia began to emphasize the rapid development of heavy industry. Although Czechoslovakia's industrial development between 1948 and 1957 was impressive at 170 percent, it was surpassed by that of Japan (300 percent) and the German Federal Republic (almost 300 percent) And even more than by Austria and Greece combined.

Benes refused to sign the Communist Constitution of 1948 (905 Constitution) and resigned from the presidency; he was succeeded by Klement Gottwald. Gottwald died in 1953. He was succeeded by Anton3in Z3apotock3y as president in 1957 and by Anton3in Novotn3y as head of KSC. Novotn3y became president when Z3apotock3y died.

In the 1950s, the Stalinists accused their opponents of "conspiracy against the people's democratic order" and "treason" in order to expel them from asserting power. Mass arrests of communists with an "international" background, that is, those with wartime connections to the West, veterans of the Spanish Civil War, Jews, and Slovak "bourgeois nationalists," were followed by show trials.

The 1960 Constitution proclaimed the victory of "socialism" and proclaimed the Socialist Republic of Czechoslovakia.

Destalinization had a terminal beginning in Czechoslovakia. In the early 1960s, Czechoslovakia's economy became severely stagnant. Industrial development rates are the lowest in Eastern Europe. Therefore, in 1965 the party approved the New Economic Model, which introduced free market elements into the economy. The KSC "Paper" of December 1965 showed the party's response to the call for reform. Democratic Party concentration was reinterpreted, giving a stronger emphasis on democracy. KSC's protagonists are reiterated but limited. The Slovaks pressed for federalization. On January 5, 1968, the KSC Central Committee decided to replace Novotn 3y with Alexander Dubek, a Slovak reformer, as First Secretary of the KSC. On Novotn3y March 22, 1968, General Ludv3ik Svoboda resigned from the post of president and succeeded.

Dubek carried reforms further in the direction of liberalism. After Novotn3y's fall, the review was lifted. The media -- press, radio, and television -- were mobilized for reformist propaganda purposes. The movement for democratic socialism in Czechoslovakia, which had previously been restricted mainly to party intellectuals, gained new, popular dynamism in the spring of 1968 (Prague Spring). Essential elements found expression: anti-Soviet debates appeared in the news; social democrats began to form a separate party; new unaffiliated political clubs were created. The party conservatives urged the implementation of repressive measures, but Dubek suggested moderation and re-emphasis on the KSC leadership.

KSC conservatism misrepresents the power of reform in Moscow. Therefore, the troops of the Warsaw Pact countries (except Romania) invaded Czechoslovakia on the night of August 20-21. Two-thirds of the KSC Central Committee opposed Soviet intervention. Popular opposition to civil disobedience was expressed in numerous spontaneous actions. In Prague and other cities during the Soviet Union, the Czechs and Slovaks greeted the Warsaw Pact soldiers with arguments and reproaches. Dubek, who was arrested on the night of August 20, was taken to Moscow for negotiations. The result was the Brezhnev dogma of limited sovereignty, which provided a strengthened medium for the KSC, tight party control, and repression of Czechoslovakia's Social Democratic Party.

On January 19, 1969, 1968 student Jan Palach set himself on fire in Prague's Wenceslas Square to protest against the invasion of Czechoslovakia by the Soviet Union.

The Slovak-speaking part of Czechoslovakia made major gains in industrial production in the 1960s and 1970s. Before the 1970s, its industrial production was nearly on par with that of Czech lands. The Slovak share of national income per capita rose from slightly more than 60 percent in 1948 to 1968 in Bohemia and Moravia to almost 80 percent in 1968, and in 1971 Slovak income per capita totaled That Czech. The pace of Slovak economic growth continues to now exceed that of Czech growth (2003).

The Communist Era II (1969 1987)

Main Articles: Czechoslovakia: 1969-1987, see: Economic History of Communist Czechoslovakia< /p>

Dubek remained in the office only until April 1969. Gustav Husak (a moderate, 1971 and interestingly a Slovak "bourgeois nationalist" imprisoned by his own KSC in the 1950s) was named First Secretary (the title was changed to General Secretary). A "normalization" project -- the restoration of continuity with the prereform period -- was initiated. Normalization requires radical political repression and a return to ideological conformity. The new purge purged Czechoslovak leadership of all reformist elements.

The only perspective necessary during the Prague Spring that was achieved was the federalization of the country (since 1969), however more or less formally under normalization. The recently created Federal Assembly (the Federal Assembly), which replaced the National Assembly, will work in close cooperation with the Czech State Assembly and the Slovak-speaking State Assembly (the National Assembly).

In 1975 Gustav Husak increased the presidential claims to his post as party chief. Hus3ak's regime requires conformity and discipline in all aspects of life. Hus3ak also managed to gain acquiescence to his rules by providing an improved standard of living. He returned Czechoslovakia to an orthodox command economy with a heavy emphasis on central planning and continued expansion of industrialization. The policy seemed successful for a while, but the 1980s was however a period of more or less economic stagnation. Another hallmark of Hus3ak's rules was their continued dependence on the Soviet Union.

In the 1980s, approximately 50 percent of Czechoslovakia's foreign trade was with the Soviet Union, and almost 80 percent was with communist countries.

Through the 1970s and 1980s, the regime was challenged by individuals and organized groups eager for independent thought and activity. An organized opposition group emerged under the protection of Charter 77. On January 6, 1977, a manifesto called Charter 77 appeared in West German newspapers. The original manifesto was reportedly signed by 243 people; among them were artists, former civil servants, and other prominent figures. The charter had 800 signatures by the end of 1977, including workers and youth. The signers were arrested and questioned; dismissal from employment often followed. Since religion offers the possibility of independent states for ideas and activities, it is too severely limited and controlled. Clergy were asked to be admitted. Unlike in Poland, dissent, opposition to the government, and independent activities were restricted in Czechoslovakia to a fairly small segment of the civilian population. Many Czechs and Slovaks emigrated to the West.

End of the communist era (1987-1989) and Democratic Czechoslovakia (1989/1990-1992)

Main terms: Czechoslovakia: 1987-1992, Velvet Revolution and Velvet Divorce

Although in March 1987 Hus3ak nominally made Czechoslovakia follow Gorbachev's perestroika project, it did not actually happen. On December 17, 1987, Hus3ak, one month away from his seventeenth birthday, resigned as head of KSC. He retained, however, his position as President of Czechoslovakia and his full membership in the Presidium of the KSC. Milo Jake, who replaced Hus3ak as First Secretary of the KSC, changed nothing. The slow pace of reforms in Czechoslovakia was an irritant to the Soviet leadership.

The first anti-communist demonstration took place on March 25, 1988 in Bratislava. This was an unsanctioned peaceful gathering of approximately 2,000 (other sources 10,000) Catholics. Demonstrations also took place on August 21, 1988 1968 (anniversary of the Soviet intervention) in Prague, on October 28, 1988 1918 (the founding of Czechoslovakia) in Prague, Bratislava and other towns, in 1989 Palach died in January (January 16, 1969), on August 21, 1989 (see above) and on October 28, 1989 (see above).

The anti-Communist revolution began on November 16, 1989 in Bratislava, with demonstrations by Slovak university students for democracy, and continued with well-known similar demonstrations by Czech students in Prague on November 17th. See Velvet Revolution.

Engaging in the Velvet Revolution, Czechoslovakia's parliament (Federal Assembly) voted to split the country on November 25, 1992, and it split into two countries, the Czech Republic and Slovakia, on January 1, 1993.