Bohemia (The Once and Never Kings)

The Kingdom of Bohemia, Bohemia, is one of the constituent Crownlands of the Austro-Bohemian Monarchy, and the largest is both area and population. The capital, Prague, is also the capital of the Crown of Bohemia.

History
Named for the Celtic Boii people, Bohemia was able to resist attempts by the Roman Empire to absorb them. As the Celtic tribes receded, Bohemia was repopulated by Slavic tribes.

Bohemia would fall to the empire of Great Moravia during the 870-894 reign of Svatopluk I. It was during Svatopluks and Great Moravias rule that the Bohemian people would be christianized. After Svatopluks death Great Moravia became roiled in internal factional feuds, and suffered from continued Magyar raids. It would be during this time that a native dynasty, the Premyslids, would gain control of Bohemia.

The Premyslids would rule Bohemia for an unbroken 440 years. After a brief period under the suzerainty of the Habsburg Holy Roman Emperor Rudolph I, the last Premyslid heir, Elizabeth of Bohemia, was married to John of Luxembourg, thereby further advancing the Luxembourg family's rise in Imperial politics.

John I's grandson, Sigismund, would however be faced with the Bohemian Hussites. After the execution of Jan Hus in 1415 for heresy (allowed by Sigismund, after he had previously placed him under Imperial Protection), Hus' followers rebelled. The Hussites waged war against consecutive Imperial invasions and Papal crusades for fifteen years until finally they were subdued by Sigismunds armies.

Bohemia would again fall into religious strife during the Reformation, where the teachings of Martin Luther spread like wildfire. Despite attempts by successive Luxembourg kings, Catholicism would not be restored to a majority denomination. Bohemia wouldn't rise in rebellion during the Schmalkaldic War, but the Lutheran nobles would be wary of the reactionary tendencies of the Luxembourg heir, Prince Sigismund.

Taking advantage of this, Archduke Rudolph I of Austria invaded whilst Lixembourg was still trying to recover financially from the war. The War of Bohemian Succession saw the end of Luxembourg rule in Bohemia.

But the Habsburgs had their share of reactionary zealots. One, Ferdinand II harbored well-known plans to forcefully re-convert Bohemia. Only the start of the Forty Years War prevented it from being implemented.

Bohemia would become a major battleground during that war, and saw repeated invasions by Prussia, the Hansa, and Svealand, as well as numerous internal rebellions. The ends of the war with the Peace of Hamburg saw Austrian rule confirmed, but forced to accept the presence of Lutheranism.

The rebellious nature of Bohemia lessened since then, only emerging slightly during times of economic trouble or unpopular conflicts. Again turned into a battleground during the Austro-Prussian wars and the Polish-Imperial War, Austrian sovereignty over it wouldn't be seriously threatened until the Napoleonic Wars, when Napoleone-allied Hungary invaded. Despite most of Moravia falling, Bohemia proper was better defended, and it was a Czech-majority army that effectively knocked Hungary out of the wars at the Battle of Brno.

Following the end of the Napoleonic Wars, Bohemia saw an unsurge of nationalism. This only grew throughout the early twentieth century. This culminated in the Austro-Bohemian Compromise of 1959, guaranteeing that Bohemians are allotted the same rights as Austrians.

Government
Bohemia proper is the highest level Crownland of the Austro-Bohemian Monarchy (the "Kingdom of Austria" encompasses the entirety of the Austrian Crownlands and isn't a landed title) and as such enjoys greater autonomy than some of the other states.

Prague is also home to the parliament of the Bohemian Crown, which includes not only Bohemia, but Moravia and Silesia too.