Czechoslovakia, Czech Československo [ t ʃ εsk ɔ sl ɔ vεnsk ɔ ], 1918-92 existing state in Central Europe, officially 1918-39 and 1945-60 Československá republika [ t ʃ εsk ɔ sl ɔ vεnska ː -], abbreviation Czechoslovakia [ t ʃ e ː at yield.epsilon..sub.R], 1960-89 Československá republika socialistická [-stitska ː -], acronym CSSR [tʃ e ː εsεs.epsilon..sub.R], 1990-92 Česká a Slovenská federativní republika [ t ʃ εska ː, sl ɔ vεnska ː fεdεrati ː vni ː -], abbreviation ČSFR [t ʃ e ː εsεf ː.epsilon..sub.R], with 127,900 km 2 and (1992) 15.6 million residents.
The capital was Prague. On January 1, 1993, the ČSFR was divided into the Czech Republic and the Slovak Republic.
Prehistory (1848-1918)
According to itypejob, with the March Revolution of 1848/49, the Czech national idea in the countries of the Bohemian Crown took hold of ever larger circles of the Czech population. a. in Bohemia and Moravia, from which long-term tensions developed with the German-speaking part of the population who did not want to lose their political primacy. The Czech national movement was initially supported solely by the Old Czechs (National Party) under the leadership of F. Palacký, later came the Young Czechs (founded in 1874, chairman Karel Sladkovský, * 1823, † 1880) and (among others) that of T. G. Masaryk and K. Kramář The Realists Party, founded in 1890, participated in parliamentary work in the Landtag and Reichsrat. Attempts by the Viennese government to reduce the conflict between the Czech and German-speaking parts of the population by means of language regulations failed. In 1913 the dispute over a German-Czech settlement led to the dissolution of the Bohemian state parliament.
With the creation of a written Slovak language around 1840, a Slovak national consciousness emerged in the Transleithan (Hungarian) part of Austria-Hungary. Rigorous Magyarization policy, along with a bad economic situation, forced hundreds of thousands of Slovaks to emigrate (especially to the USA).
After the outbreak of World War I, Masaryk and E. Beneš set up the »Czechoslovak National Council« in exile (from February 1916). The Czechoslovak legions formed in Russia, France and Italy were formally subordinate to him. On May 30, 1918, Masaryk signed the Pittsburgh Agreement agreed with the representatives of the Slovak emigration in the USAon the state union of the Czech and Slovak nations. On October 28, 1918, the “National Committee” formed by representatives of all Czech parties in Prague proclaimed the “independent Czechoslovak state”. On November 14, 1918, a provisional Revolutionary National Assembly elected Masaryk, who was still abroad, as President (in office until 1935) and Kramář as Prime Minister; Beneš became foreign minister. In the predominantly German-populated peripheral areas of the new state (“Sudetenländer”), the new political order was not implemented until the winter of 1918/19. Partly enforced by military means. Previously (October 29, 1918) the German-Bohemian and German-Moravian members of the former Austrian Imperial Council had declared “German-Bohemia”, “Sudetenland”, “Bohemian Forest” and “German South Moravia” to be the province of the Republic of “German Austria”, which was confirmed in Vienna on November 22nd, 1918. Against the military resistance of the Hungarian councilor government, the Czech military occupied Slovakia until mid-1919.
The »Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia« and the »Protectorate« Slovakia (1939–1945)
According to the Protectorate Treaty (March 15, 1939), the Protectorate was granted autonomous self-government with a President (Hácha) and its own government under the strict supervision of the Reich Protector (K. Freiherr von Neurath, W. Frick). These protectorate governments under Alois Eliáš (* 1890, † 1942), Jaroslav Krejčí (* 1892, † 1956) and Richard Bienert (* 1881, † 1949) had no influence. The actual rule was exercised by the deputies of the Reich Protectors: R. Heydrich, K. Daluege and Karl Hermann Frank (* 1898, † 1946). They pursued a ruthless, v. a. Politics directed against the bourgeoisie and the intelligentsia (closure of all Czech universities in November 1939). Only after the »retaliatory action« for the assassination attempt on R. Heydrich (May 17, 1942), the destruction of the villages of Lidice and Ležáky, did stronger resistance against the Nazi arbitrary rule begin. a. the Jews suffered. – In the “protective state” of Slovakia, the governments under J. Tiso and V. Tuka tried(October 1938 to September 1944) to use the opportunities for economic and cultural development. At the end of 1943, underground politicians with a “Czechoslovakian” orientation joined forces with the communists and, in view of the Soviet troops advancing in Slovakia since August 18, triggered the Slovak national uprising on August 29, 1944 (only crushed by German troops in October 1944). – Beneš had already formed a Czechoslovak National Committee in London in autumn 1939, which on July 23, 1940 was provisionally recognized by the Allies as the “Provisional Government of Czechoslovakia”. On December 11, 1940, a State Council appointed by Beneš was constituted as a parliament in exile. The (under the influence of Beneš) The government-in-exile formed on December 18, 1940 under J. Šrámek concluded a.o. on 12. 12. 1943 a treaty with the USSR.
