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Czechoslovak Socialist Republic

The Czechoslovak Socialist Republic,[a] known from 1948 to 1960 as the Czechoslovak Republic[b], Fourth Czechoslovak Republic, or simply Czechoslovakia, was the Czechoslovak state from 1948 until 1989, when the country was under communist rule, and was regarded as a satellite state in the Soviet sphere of interest.[3]

Czechoslovak Republic
(1948–1960)
Československá republika
Czechoslovak Socialist Republic
(1960–1990)
Československá socialistická republika
Czechoslovak Federative Republic
(1990)
Československá federativní republika (Czech)
Česko-slovenská federatívna republika (Slovak)

Warsaw Pact and Comecon member

Prague
50°05′N 14°25′E / 50.083°N 14.417°E / 50.083; 14.417

 

Klement Gottwald

Antonín Novotný

Alexander Dubček

Gustáv Husák

Miloš Jakeš

Karel Urbánek

Ladislav Adamec

 

Klement Gottwald

Václav Havel

 

Antonín Zápotocký

Marián Čalfa

Cold War

25 February 1948

9 May 1948

11 July 1960

21 August 1968

1 January 1969

24 November 1989

23 April 1990

27 June 1990

127,900 km2 (49,400 sq mi)

15,600,000

Steady 0.931[1]
very high

Czechoslovak koruna

42

.cs

Following the coup d'état of February 1948, when the Communist Party of Czechoslovakia seized power with the support of the Soviet Union, the country was declared a socialist republic when the Ninth-of-May Constitution became effective. The traditional name Československá republika (Czechoslovak Republic), along with several other state symbols, were changed on 11 July 1960 following the implementation of the 1960 Constitution of Czechoslovakia as a symbol of the "final victory of socialism" in the country.


In April 1990, shortly after the Velvet Revolution of November 1989, the Czechoslovak Socialist Republic was renamed to the Czech and Slovak Federative Republic. On 27 June 1990, the National Government of Understanding established by Ladislav Adamec which replaced his own government and was established for the designation of the Czechoslovak Federal Government. It was established in 10 December 1989 and until 1990, the Communist Party of Czechoslovakia was in power of the government and held a large majority until the new elections in February 1990 when the Civic Forum claimed victory and led the government until its end. The government was replaced by the Government of National Sacrifice led by Marián Čalfa.

Name[edit]

The official name of the country was the Czechoslovak Socialist Republic. Conventional wisdom suggested that it would be known as simply the "Czechoslovak Republic"—its official name from 1920 to 1938 and from 1945 to 1960. However, Slovak politicians felt this diminished Slovakia's equal stature, and demanded that the country's name be spelled with a hyphen (i.e. "Czecho-Slovak Republic"), as it was spelled from Czechoslovak independence in 1918 until 1920, and again in 1938 and 1939. President Havel then changed his proposal to "Republic of Czecho-Slovakia"—a proposal that did not sit well with Czech politicians who saw reminders of the 1938 Munich Agreement, in which Nazi Germany annexed a part of that territory. The name also means "Land of the Czechs and Slovaks" while Latinised from the country's original name – "the Czechoslovak Nation"[4] – upon independence in 1918, from the Czech endonym Češi – via its Polish orthography[5]


The name "Czech" derives from the Czech endonym Češi via Polish,[5] from the archaic Czech Čechové, originally the name of the West Slavic tribe whose Přemyslid dynasty subdued its neighbors in Bohemia around AD 900. Its further etymology is disputed. The traditional etymology derives it from an eponymous leader Čech who led the tribe into Bohemia. Modern theories consider it an obscure derivative, e.g. from četa, a medieval military unit.[6] Meanwhile, the name "Slovak" was taken from the Slovaks. During the state's existence, it was simply referred to "Czechoslovakia", or sometimes the "ČSSR" and "ČSR" for short.

Geography[edit]

The Czechoslovak Socialist Republic was bounded on the west by West Germany and East Germany, on the north by Poland, on the east by the Soviet Union (via the Ukrainian SSR) and on the south by Hungary and Austria.

List of presidents of Czechoslovakia

List of prime ministers of Czechoslovakia

Industry: extractive and manufacturing industries dominated this sector. Major branches included , chemicals, food processing, metallurgy, and textiles. Industry was wasteful of energy, materials, and labor and slow to upgrade technology, but was a source of high-quality machinery and arms for other communist countries.

machinery

: minor sector but supplied bulk of domestic food needs. Dependent on large imports of grains (mainly for livestock feed) in years of adverse weather. Meat production constrained by shortage of feed, but high per capita consumption of meat.

Agriculture

Foreign Trade: exports estimated at US$17.8 billion in 1985, of which 55% was machinery, 14% fuels and materials, and 16% manufactured consumer goods. Imports at estimated US$17.9 billion in 1985, of which 41% was fuels and materials, 33% machinery, and 12% agricultural and forestry products. In 1986, about 80% of foreign trade was with communist countries.

Exchange Rate: the official, or commercial, rate was Kcs 5.4 per US$1 in 1987; whereas the tourist, or noncommercial, rate was Kcs 10.5 per US$1. Neither rate reflected purchasing power. The exchange rate on the was around Kcs 30 per US$1, and this rate would become official once the currency became convertible in the early 1990s.

black market

Fiscal Year: calendar year.

Fiscal Policy: state almost exclusive owner of means of production. Revenues from state enterprises primary source of revenues followed by . Large budget expenditures on social programs, subsidies, and investments. Budget usually balanced or small surplus.

turnover tax

Government structure of Communist Czechoslovakia

Economy of Communist Czechoslovakia

Resource base of Communist Czechoslovakia

Society of Communist Czechoslovakia

Health and social welfare in Communist Czechoslovakia

Mass media in Communist Czechoslovakia

Prague Spring

Captive Nations

Czech Socialist Republic

Slovak Socialist Republic

Czech Republic within Czechoslovakia (1963-1969)

Bideleux, Robert; Jeffries, Ian (2007), A History of Eastern Europe: Crisis and Change, Routledge,  978-0-415-36626-7

ISBN

Black, Cyril E.; English, Robert D.; Helmreich, Jonathan E.; McAdams, James A. (2000), Rebirth: A Political History of Europe since World War II, Westview Press,  0-8133-3664-3

ISBN

Crampton, R. J. (1997), Eastern Europe in the twentieth century and after, Routledge,  0-415-16422-2

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Dale, Gareth (2005), Popular Protest in East Germany, 1945–1989: Judgements on the Street, Routledge,  978-0-7146-5408-9

ISBN

Frucht, Richard C. (2003), Encyclopedia of Eastern Europe: From the Congress of Vienna to the Fall of Communism, Taylor & Francis Group,  0-203-80109-1

ISBN

Grenville, John Ashley Soames (2005), A History of the World from the 20th to the 21st Century, Routledge,  0-415-28954-8

ISBN

Grenville, John Ashley Soames; Wasserstein, Bernard (2001), , Taylor & Francis, ISBN 0-415-23798-X

The Major International Treaties of the Twentieth Century: A History and Guide with Texts

Grogin, Robert C. (2001), Natural Enemies: The United States and the Soviet Union in the Cold War, 1917–1991, Lexington Books,  0-7391-0160-9

ISBN

Hardt, John Pearce; Kaufman, Richard F. (1995), East-Central European Economies in Transition, M.E. Sharpe,  1-56324-612-0

ISBN

Saxonberg, Steven (2001), The Fall: A Comparative Study of the End of Communism in Czechoslovakia, East Germany, Hungary and Poland, Routledge,  90-5823-097-X

ISBN

Wettig, Gerhard (2008), Stalin and the Cold War in Europe, Rowman & Littlefield,  978-0-7425-5542-6

ISBN

Blinken Open Society Archives, Budapest.

RFE/RL Czechoslovak Unit