Czechoslovak Republic Československá republika Timeline: Nihon no heiwa | ||||||
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Motto: Pravda vítězí/Pravda zvíťazí ("Truth prevails") |
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Anthem: Kde domov můj (Czech) "Where my home is" Nad Tatrou sa blýska (Slovak) "Lightning Over the Tatras" |
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Czechoslovakia (green)
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Capital | Prague | |||||
Official languages | Czech • Slovak | |||||
Demonym | Czechoslovak | |||||
Government | Federal parliamentary republic | |||||
- | President | Michal Klusáček | ||||
- | Prime Minister | Pavol Frešo | ||||
Legislature | National Assembly Assembly | |||||
- | Upper house | Senate | ||||
- | Lower house | Chamber of Nationalities | ||||
Independence from Austria-Hungary | ||||||
- | Proclaimed | 28 October 1918 | ||||
- | Munich Agreement | 30 September | ||||
- | Dissolution | 14 March 1939 | ||||
- | Reestablishment | 10 May 1945 | ||||
- | Current constitution | 15 July 1955 | ||||
Population | ||||||
- | 2022 estimate | 16,943,650 | ||||
Currency | Czechoslovak koruna (CSK ) |
Czechoslovakia (Czech and Slovak: Československo), officially the Czechoslovak Republic (Czech: Československá republika; Slovak: Česko-slovenská republika), is a country located in Eastern Europe. It borders East Germany and Poland to the north; West Germany to the west; and Austria, Hungary and Romania to the south. Prague is the nation's capital and centre of industry and tourism.
Slavs arrived in the areas of modern-day Czechoslovakia around the fourth and fifth centuries - the territories in modern-day Czechia evolved into the Duchy of Bohemia, while the Slovak area would come to be dominated by Hungary by the tenth century. After the Battle of Mohács in 1526, the Slovak and Czech regions were incorporated into the Habsburg monarchy. In the aftermath of the Bohemian Revolt in 1618, the Habsburgs consolidated their rule over the territory, and eventually the Czech and Slovak lands became fully integrated into the Austrian Empire in 1804.
In the 19th century, nationalism arose in the regions, as Czech and Slovak nationalists began fighting for an independent Slavic state consisting of Czechs and Slovaks. The idea was fully realised in 1918 when Austria-Hungary was collapsing at the end of World War I, and nationalists declared an independent Czechoslovak state. It was recognised after the war, and existed peacefully until the Munich Conference and the forced dissolution by Nazi Germany in the late 1930s. The country was reestablished after World War II, and at first pursued a policy of neutrality, but after the attempted communist coup in 1948, President Edvard Beneš moved Czechoslovakia away from the Soviet Union and towards the Western bloc against Stalin's best hopes.
Czechoslovakia is a federal parliamentary republic and developed country with an advanced, high-income social market economy. It is a welfare state with a European social model, universal health care and free-tuition university education. It ranks 10th in the UN inequality-adjusted human development and 24th in the World Bank Human Capital Index. It ranks as the 9th safest and most peaceful country and 31st in democratic governance. Czechoslovakia is a member of the United Nations, PATO, the European Economic Community, OECD, and the Council of Europe.
History[]
Post-World War II (1945-1950)[]
During the final weeks of World War II in Europe, Soviet forces asissted the Czechoslovak government-in-exile lead by Edvard Beneš in liberating Czechoslovakia by invading the Slovak Republic on 19 April 1945,. After the end of the war, Beneš began banning parties that had collaborated with the Nazis, while allowing socialist parties within the government. He then made a compromise with the Communist Party of Czechoslovakia to avoid a potential postwar coup, since he didn't want the country to come under Soviet influence, but rather a bridge between western and eastern blocs.