Europe

Czech Republic
Last reviewed: 31 March 2009

Country information

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HISTORY

Recent History

The first Czechoslovak Republic was founded on October 28, 1918. Under the leadership of Tomáš Masaryk, it was a relatively stable and democratic state. In September1938, the Sudeten lands (areas bordering Germany and Austria with a predominantly ethnic German population) were ceded to Germany under the Munich Agreement, and in March 1939, six months before the outbreak of World War II Germany occupied the remainder of Czechoslovakia. After it was liberated in 1945 Czechoslovakia fell under the Soviet sphere of influence, and a Communist government took control in February 1948. The August 1968 invasion by other Warsaw Pact countries ended a short period of reform known as the Prague Spring and was followed by a period of harsh repression. The 1989 Velvet Revolution saw the Communists ousted and a democratic government installed with Václav Havel as President. Differences between the Czechs and Slovaks led to the separation of the two countries ('the Velvet Divorce') on 1 January 1993 and the formation of the Czech Republic. The Czech Republic became a member of NATO in March 1999 and the European Union on 1 May 2004, after a referendum on 13 and 14 June 2003 revealed nearly 80% support for EU membership on a turn-out of 55%.

Longer Historical Perspective

The development of the Czech nation is rooted in the 9th century when the Kingdom of Bohemia emerged. Bohemia was a major medieval and early modern political, cultural and economic state. The power of Bohemia reached its zenith with the reign of Charles IV in the 14th century. The religious reform movement (1419-1436) of Jan Hus created religious dualism for the first time in Christian Europe and was a precursor to the Reformation of the 16th century. From 1526 until 1918 Bohemia was part of what was to become the Austro-Hungarian Empire. The Thirty Years War that devastated Central Europe started with a revolt by Bohemian nobles in 1618. Their defeat at the Battle of the White Mountain, on the outskirts of Prague, ushered in a period of Germanic domination until Czech and Slovak nationalist movements gained greater momentum in the nineteenth century.