Republic of Czechoslovakia

The Republic of Czechoslovakia (Czech: Československá republika , Slovak: Češkoslovaška republika) was a country in Central Europe that existed from 1918 until 1939. A government-in-exile was upheld during World War II and the republic was re-established in 1945, but in the course of the Cold War it soon ended up as a satellite state of the Soviet Union.

1 Official names
2 Basic characteristics
3 History
4 Heads of state and government
5 Administrative divisions
6 Politics
7 Culture
8 Postage stamps
9 Timeline
10 References
11 See also
12 External links

[edit] Official names

1918–1920: Republic of Czecho-Slovakia or Republic of Czechoslovakia (abbreviated RČS); short form Czecho-Slovakia or rarely Czechoslovakia
1920–1938 and 1945–1960: Republic of Czechoslovakia (ČSR); short form Czechoslovakia
1938–1939: Republic of Czecho-Slovakia; Czecho-Slovakia

[edit] Basic characteristics

1918–1938: a democratic republic consisting of the regions Bohemia, Slovakia, Moravia-Silesia, and Carpathian Ruthenia
1938–1939: after annexation of Sudetenland by Germany in 1938 turned into an authoritative nationalist state with loosened connections between Czech, Slovak and Ruthenian parts. A large strip of southern Slovakia and Ruthenia was annexed by Hungary, Zaolzie region by Poland.
1939–1945: split into the Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia and the Slovak Republic (WWII), Hungary annexed the rest of Ruthenia
1939–1945: A government-in-exile recognised by the Western Allies was based in London, after German invasion to Russia recognised also by USSR.

[edit] History

Main article: First Republic of Czechoslovakia

Image:Czech and Slovak peoples in Austro-Hungarian Empire.gif

Czechoslovakia arose in October 1918 as one of the successor states of Austria-Hungary at the end of World War I. It consisted of the present-day territories of the Czech Republic, Slovakia and (until 1939/29 June 1945) Carpathian Ruthenia (briefly independent as Carpatho-Ukraine). Its territory included some of the most industrialized regions of the former Austria-Hungary. It was a democratic republic throughout the pre-World War II period, but was characterized by ethnic problems due to the fact that the second and third largest ethnic groups (Germans and Slovaks, respectively) were not satisfied with the political and economic dominance of the Czechs, and that most Germans and Hungarians of Czechoslovakia never really accepted the creation of the new state.

Many Germans, Hungarians, Ruthenians and Poles (who together made up 40% of the new state<ref name = "pp">Playing the blame game, Prague Post, July 6th, 2005</ref>) and also some Slovaks, felt disadvantaged in Czechoslovakia, because the political elite of the country introduced a centralised state and most of the time did not allow political autonomy for the ethnic groups. This policy, combined with increasing Nazi propaganda especially in the industrialised German speaking Sudetenland, led to increasing unrest among the Non-Czech population.

Image:Czechoslovakia01.png

Before WWII, Czechoslovakia became Hitler's target. After the Munich Agreement of 1938, Hitler's troops occupied the ethnic-German border regions of Bohemia and Moravia (the Sudetenland), Hungary received territory in southern Slovakia, and the Slovak and Ruthene regions received an autonomous status for a while. Finally Czechoslovakia ceased to exist in March 1939, when Hitler occupied the remainder of the Czech lands and (the remaining) Slovakia was forced to declare independence. During the Second World War the Czech lands were designated the Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia and were ruled directly by the German state. The newly independent Slovak state became an ally of Nazi Germany. Slovakia's troops fought on the Russian front until the summer of 1944, when the Slovak armed forces staged an uprising against their government. German forces crushed this uprising after several months of fighting.

Image:Czechoslovakia.png

During World War II a Czechoslovak government-in-exile was established in London by Dr Edvard Benes, who was recognised as President of Czechoslovakia by the British and other Allied governments. He was returned to power as President when Czechoslovakia was liberated in 1945 and was re-elected in 1946.

[edit] Heads of state and government

[edit] Administrative divisions

Main article: Administrative divisions of Czechoslovakia

1918–1923: different systems on former Austrian territory (Bohemia, Moravia, small part of Silesia) and on former Hungarian territory (Slovakia and Ruthenia): 3 lands [země] (also called district units [obvody]) Bohemia, Moravia, Silesia + 21 counties [župy] in today's Slovakia + 2? counties in today's Ruthenia; both lands and counties were divided in districts [okresy]
1923–1927: like above, except that the above counties were replaced by 6 (grand) counties [(veľ)župy] in today's Slovakia and 1 (grand) county in today's Ruthenia, and the number and frontiers of the okresy were changed on these 2 territories
1928–1938: 4 lands [in Czech: země / in Slovak: krajiny]: Bohemia, Moravia-Silesia, Slovakia and Subcarpathian Ruthenia; divided in districts [okresy]
late 1938–March 1939: like above, but Slovakia and Ruthenia were promoted to "autonomous lands"

[edit] Politics

Main articles: Czechoslovakia: 1918 - 1938

Constitutions:

Temporary Constitution of November 14 1918 [democratic], see: Czechoslovakia: 1918 - 1938
The 1920 Constitution (The Constitutional Document of the Czechoslovak Republic) [democratic, in force till 1948, several amendments], see: Czechoslovakia: 1918 - 1938

[edit] Culture

[edit] Postage stamps

Czechoslovakia's first issue [1]

[edit] Timeline

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	Czechoslovakia (or Czecho-Slovakia) \| 1918 - 1939; 1945 - 1992
Austria-Hungary (until 1918) (Bohemia, Moravia, a part of Silesia, northern parts of the Kingdom of Hungary (Slovakia and Carpathian Ruthenia)	Republic of Czechoslovakia (the first Republic; RČS) (1918-1938)	Sudetenland + other German territories (1938-1945) "Upper Hungary" territories of Hungary (1938-1945) </TD>		Czechoslovak Republic (ČSR) (1945-1960)	Socialist Republic of Czechoslovakia (ČSSR) (1960-1990) Czech Socialist Republic Slovak Socialist Republic	Czech and Slovak Federal Republic (ČSFR) (1990-1992) Czech Republic Slovak Republic	Czech Republic (since 1993) Slovakia (since 1993)
		Czecho-Slovak Republic (ČSR) incl. autonomous Slovakia and Transcarpathian Ukraine (1938-1939)	Protectorate (1939-1945) WWII Slovak Republic (1939-1945)
			(further) "Upper Hungary" of Hungary (1939-1945)	part of the Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic (1945/1946-1991)		Zakarpattia Oblast of Ukraine (from 1991)
		nazism		1948-1989 a satellite state of the Soviet Union
			govern. in exile

[edit] References

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