HISTORY

Following WW I, the closely related Czechs and Slovaks of the former Austro-Hungarian Empire merged to form Czechoslovakia. The First Republic initially experienced an industrial boom; however, slow development, the Great Depression, the arrival of Czech bureaucrats and the breaking of a promise of Slovak federal state generated calls for Slovak autonomy.

Czechoslovakia was not left to solve its problems in peace. Most of Bohemia's 3 million German speakers fell for the dream of a greater Germany. Hitler demanded (and got) the Sudetenland in the infamous Munich agreement of 1938 and the Czechs prepared for war. Although Bohemia and Moravia suffered little material damage in the war, many of the Czech were killed and the Germans managed to wipe out most of the Czech underground. Tens of thousands of Czech and Slovak Jews died in concentration camps.

On 5 May 1945 , the population of Prague rose against the German forces as the Red Army approached from the east. The Germans, granted free passage out of the city by the victorious Czech resistance, began pulling out on 8 May. Most of Prague was liberated before Soviet forces arrived the following day.

Czechoslovakia was re-established as an independent state. Attempts to consolidate its cultural identity and punish its oppressors included large scale deportations of German and Hungarian inhabitants. In the 1946 elections, the Communists became the largest party, with 36% of the popular vote. The 1950s was an era of cruel repression and decline as the Communist economic policies nearly bankrupted the country. Many people were imprisoned, and hundreds were executed or died in labour camps, often for little more than a belief in democracy.

In the 1960's, Czechoslovakia enjoyed a gradual liberalization. A new president, the former Slovak party leader Alexander Dubcek, represented a popular desire for full democracy and an end to censorship, 'socialism with a human face'.

Soviet leaders, unable to face the thought of a democratic society within the Soviet bloc, crushed the short-lived 'Prague Spring' of 1968 with an invasion of Warsaw Pact troops on the night of 20-21 August. By the end of the next day, 58 people had died.

Around 14,000 party functionaries and 500,000 members refused to deny their belief in 'socialism with a human face', were expelled from the Party and lost their jobs. Totalitarian rule was re-established and people with different beliefs were routinely imprisoned.

With the collapse of Soviet authority in 1989, Czechoslovakia regained its freedom through a peaceful 'Velvet Revolution'. On 1 January 1993, the country separated into its 2 national components, the Czech Republic and Slovakia.

The Czech Republic joined NATO in 1999 and the European Union in 2004.