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Czechoslovakia

Czechoslovakia[2] (/ˌtʃɛkoʊsloʊˈvækiə, -kə-, -slə-, -ˈvɑː-/ ⓘ;[3][4] Czech and Slovak: Československo, Česko-Slovensko)[5][6] was a landlocked state in Central Europe,[7] created in 1918, when it declared its independence from Austria-Hungary. In 1938, after the Munich Agreement, the Sudetenland became part of Nazi Germany, while the country lost further territories to Hungary and Poland (the territories of southern Slovakia with a predominantly Hungarian population to Hungary and Zaolzie to Poland). Between 1939 and 1945, the state ceased to exist, as Slovakia proclaimed its independence and Carpathian Ruthenia became part of Hungary, while the German Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia was proclaimed in the remainder of the Czech Lands. In 1939, after the outbreak of World War II, former Czechoslovak President Edvard Beneš formed a government-in-exile and sought recognition from the Allies.

"RČS" redirects here. For other topics, see RCS (disambiguation).

Czechoslovakia
Československo[a]

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

Czechoslovak, after 1948 Czech · Slovak

Czechoslovak

First Republic
(1918–38)
Second Republic
(1938–39)
Third Republic
(1945–48)
Socialist Republic
(1948–89)
Federative Republic
(1990–92)

Details

 

Tomáš G. Masaryk

Edvard Beneš

Emil Hácha

Klement Gottwald

Antonín Zápotocký

Antonín Novotný

Ludvík Svoboda

Gustáv Husák

Václav Havel

 

Klement Gottwald

Antonín Novotný

Alexander Dubček

Gustáv Husák

Miloš Jakeš

 

Karel Kramář

Jan Stráský

Revolutionary National Assembly (1918–1920)
National Assembly (1920–1939)
Interim National Assembly (1945–1946)
Constituent National Assembly (1946–1948)
National Assembly (1948–1969)
Federal Assembly (1969–1992)

 

28 October 1918

30 September 1938

14 March 1939

10 May 1945

25 February 1948

21 August 1968

17 – 28 November 1989

1 January 1993

0.897[1]
very high

Czechoslovak koruna

right

+42

.cs

After World War II, Czechoslovakia was reestablished under its pre-1938 borders, with the exception of Carpathian Ruthenia, which became part of the Ukrainian SSR (a republic of the Soviet Union). The Communist Party seized power in a coup in 1948. From 1948 to 1989, Czechoslovakia was part of the Eastern Bloc with a planned economy. Its economic status was formalized in membership of Comecon from 1949 and its defense status in the Warsaw Pact of 1955. A period of political liberalization in 1968, the Prague Spring, ended peacefully when the Soviet Union, assisted by other Warsaw Pact countries, invaded Slovakia. In 1989, as Marxist–Leninist governments and communism were ending all over Central and Eastern Europe, Czechoslovaks peacefully deposed their communist government during the Velvet Revolution, which began on 17 November 1989 and ended 11 days later on 28 November when all of the top Communist leaders and Communist party itself resigned. On 31 December 1992, Czechoslovakia peacefully split into the two sovereign states of the Czech Republic and Slovakia.[8]

1918–1937: A championed by Tomáš Masaryk.[9]

democratic republic

1938–1939: After the annexation of by Nazi Germany in 1938, the region gradually turned into a state with loosened connections among the Czech, Slovak, and Ruthenian parts. A strip of southern Slovakia and Carpathian Ruthenia was redeemed by Hungary, and the Trans-Olza region was annexed by Poland.

Sudetenland

1939–1945: The remainder of the state was dismembered and became split into the and the Slovak Republic, while the rest of Carpathian Ruthenia was occupied and annexed by Hungary. A government-in-exile continued to exist in London, supported by the United Kingdom, United States and their Allies; after the German invasion of Soviet Union, it was also recognized by the Soviet Union. Czechoslovakia adhered to the Declaration by United Nations and was a founding member of the United Nations.

Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia

1946–1948: The country was governed by a with communist ministers, including the prime minister and the minister of interior. Carpathian Ruthenia was ceded to the Soviet Union.

coalition government

1948–1989: The country became a under Soviet domination with a command economy. In 1960, the country officially became a socialist republic, the Czechoslovak Socialist Republic. It was a satellite state of the Soviet Union.

Marxist-Leninist state

1989–1990: Czechoslovakia formally became a comprising the Czech Socialist Republic and the Slovak Socialist Republic. In late 1989, the communist rule came to an end during the Velvet Revolution followed by the re-establishment of a democratic parliamentary republic.[10]

federal republic

1990–1992: Shortly after the Velvet Revolution, the state was renamed the , consisting of the Czech Republic and the Slovak Republic (Slovakia) until the peaceful dissolution on 31 December 1992.[10]

Czech and Slovak Federative Republic

The country was of generally irregular terrain. The western area was part of the north-central European uplands. The eastern region was composed of the northern reaches of the Carpathian Mountains and lands of the Danube River basin.


The weather is mild winters and mild summers. Influenced by the Atlantic Ocean from the west, the Baltic Sea from the north, and Mediterranean Sea from the south. There is no continental weather.

1918–1938: (abbreviated ČSR), or Czechoslovakia, before the formalization of the name in 1920, also known as Czecho-Slovakia or the Czecho-Slovak state[12]

Czechoslovak Republic

1938–1939: , or Czecho-Slovakia

Czecho-Slovak Republic

1945–1960: (ČSR), or Czechoslovakia

Czechoslovak Republic

1960–1990: (ČSSR), or Czechoslovakia

Czechoslovak Socialist Republic

1990: Czechoslovak Federative Republic (ČSFR)

1990–1992: (ČSFR), or Czechoslovakia

Czech and Slovak Federative Republic

Temporary constitution of 14 November 1918 (democratic): see

History of Czechoslovakia (1918–1938)

The (The Constitutional Document of the Czechoslovak Republic), democratic, in force until 1948, several amendments

1920 constitution

The Communist 1948

Ninth-of-May Constitution

The Communist with major amendments in 1968 (Constitutional Law of Federation), 1971, 1975, 1978, and 1989 (at which point the leading role of the Communist Party was abolished). It was amended several more times during 1990–1992 (for example, 1990, name change to Czecho-Slovakia, 1991 incorporation of the human rights charter)

1960 Constitution of the Czechoslovak Socialist Republic

Industry: and manufacturing dominated the sector, including machinery, chemicals, food processing, metallurgy, and textiles. The sector was wasteful in its use of energy, materials, and labor and was slow to upgrade technology, but the country was a major supplier of high-quality machinery, instruments, electronics, aircraft, airplane engines and arms to other socialist countries.

Extractive industry

Agriculture: Agriculture was a minor sector, but collectivized farms of large acreage and relatively efficient mode of production enabled the country to be relatively self-sufficient in the food supply. The country depended on imports of grains (mainly for livestock feed) in years of adverse weather. Meat production was constrained by a shortage of feed, but the country still recorded high per capita consumption of meat.

Foreign Trade: Exports were estimated at US$17.8 billion in 1985. Exports were machinery (55%), fuel and materials (14%), and manufactured consumer goods (16%). Imports stood at an estimated US$17.9 billion in 1985, including fuel and materials (41%), machinery (33%), and agricultural and forestry products (12%). In 1986, about 80% of foreign trade was with other socialist countries.

Exchange rate: Official, or commercial, the rate was crowns (Kčs) 5.4 per US$1 in 1987. Tourist, or non-commercial, the rate was Kčs 10.5 per US$1. Neither rate reflected purchasing power. The exchange rate on the was around Kčs 30 per US$1, which became the official rate once the currency became convertible in the early 1990s.

black market

Fiscal year: Calendar year.

Fiscal policy: The state was the exclusive owner of means of production in most cases. Revenue from state enterprises was the primary source of revenues followed by . The government spent heavily on social programs, subsidies, and investment. The budget was usually balanced or left a small surplus.

turnover tax

Before World War II, the economy was about the fourth in all industrial countries in Europe. The state was based on strong economy, manufacturing cars (Škoda, Tatra), trams, aircraft (Aero, Avia), ships, ship engines (Škoda), cannons, shoes (Baťa), turbines, guns (Zbrojovka Brno). It was the industrial workshop for the Austro-Hungarian empire. The Slovak lands relied more heavily on agriculture than the Czech lands.


After World War II, the economy was centrally planned, with command links controlled by the communist party, similarly to the Soviet Union. The large metallurgical industry was dependent on imports of iron and non-ferrous ores.

Czech Republic / Slovakia

 / List of Slovaks

List of Czechs

MDŽ (International Women's Day)

Jazz in dissident Czechoslovakia

Postage stamps and postal history of Czechoslovakia

Czechoslovakia stamp reused by Slovak Republic after 18 January 1939 by overprinting country and value

Effects on the environment in Czechoslovakia from Soviet influence during the Cold War

Former countries in Europe after 1815

List of former sovereign states

. The official website of the Czech Republic. Archived from the original on 4 March 2007.

"The First Czechoslovak Republic"

Archived 1 April 2011 at the Wayback Machine

Online books and articles

U.S. Library of Congress Country Studies, "Czechoslovakia"

English/Czech:

Orders and Medals of Czechoslovakia including Order of the White Lion

Czechoslovakia by Encyclopædia Britannica

Katrin Boeckh: , in: 1914-1918-online. International Encyclopedia of the First World War.

Crumbling of Empires and Emerging States: Czechoslovakia and Yugoslavia as (Multi)national Countries

Maps with Hungarian-language rubrics: