Czechoslovakia, formercountry in centralEuropeencompassing the historical lands ofBohemia,Moravia, and Slovakia. Czechoslovakia was formed from several provinces of the collapsing empire ofAustria-Hungary in 1918, at the end ofWorld War I. In the interwar period it became the most prosperous and politically stable state in eastern Europe. It was occupied byNaziGermany in 1938–45 and was underSoviet domination from 1948 to 1989. On January 1, 1993, Czechoslovakia separated peacefully into two new countries, theCzech Republic andSlovakia.

A brief treatment of the history of Czechoslovakia follows. For full treatment, including a discussion of the region prior to 1918,seeCzechoslovak history.

The political union of Czechs and Slovaks after World War I wasfeasible because the two ethnic groups are closely related in language, religion, and generalculture. An independent Czechoslovak state was declared byTomáš Masaryk,Edvard Beneš, and other leaders on October 28, 1918, and was quickly recognized byFrance and otherAllied opponents ofAustria. Bohemia and Moravia, populated by Czechs,constituted its western portion, while Slovakia occupied the eastern portion. Czechs and Slovaks together accounted for roughly two-thirds of the new country’s population; other nationalities within the state’s borders included Germans, Hungarians,Ruthenians, and Poles.

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Czech Republic

Under the leadership of Masaryk, who served as president from 1918 to 1935, Czechoslovakia became a stableparliamentary democracy and the most industrially advanced country in eastern Europe. But after the rise to power ofAdolf Hitler in Germany in 1933, the significant German minority in theSudetenland of western Czechoslovakia began to lean toward Hitler’sNational Socialism. With the acquiescence ofBritain and France, Hitler annexed the German-speaking Sudeten areas of Czechoslovakia in 1938. By 1939 Germany had occupied all of Bohemia and Moravia and turned the two regions into a German protectorate. Slovakia receivednominalautonomy, though it was dominated by Germany.

The liberation of Czechoslovakia by Soviet troops duringWorld War II helpedbolster theCommunist Party while hindering the numerous other parties that emerged. Clever maneuvering and unfailing support from the Soviet Union enabled the Communists to stage a virtualcoup d’état in 1948, and a people’srepublic was formed. Gradually, with Soviet supervision, internal opposition was crushed while the country’s industry was nationalized and its agriculture was collectivized.

In the 1960s a progressively deteriorating economy discredited the government and led to grudgingly granted, and limited, reforms. When these failed, the Communist Party’s leadership passed to the Slovak first secretary,Alexander Dubček, in January 1968. He instituted a more openly reformist program, “socialism with a human face,” that encouraged non-Communists to participate in government and restored a number ofcivil liberties. The brief period of liberalization became known as thePrague Spring. In August 1968, however,Warsaw Pact troops invaded the country and seized Dubček, transporting him toMoscow. Upon his return to Czechoslovakia, Dubček saw his reforms rolled back, and hard-line communists restored the country toconformity withSoviet-bloc norms.

The country’s new Communist leaders concentrated on making the state-run economy more productive while also stifling internal political dissent. Czechoslovakia in the 1970s and ’80s was thus one of the more prosperous but also one of the more repressive countries in eastern Europe. In late 1989, however, a wave of democratization swept through eastern Europe with the encouragement of the leader of the Soviet Union,Mikhail Gorbachev. Czechoslovakia’s Communist leadership found itself confronted by mass demonstrations inPrague opposed to its policies, and the party soon gave in to the demands for reform. In December the Communists formed acoalition government with non-Communist opposition groups. A multipartypolitical system was written into law, the writer and formerdissidentVáclav Havel became the country’s new president, and free elections to theFederal Assembly were held in June 1990, with non-Communists winning resounding majorities.

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With the end of Communist rule and the reemergence of true multipartydemocracy (the so-calledVelvet Revolution), disagreements between the two halves of the country escalated. In particular, Slovaks resisted the Czechs’ preference for rapid privatization of the country’s state-run industries. The results of parliamentary elections in June 1992 highlighted these differences, and talks between Czech and Slovak leaders later that year resulted in the peaceful dissolution of the Czechoslovak federation. As part of the so-calledVelvet Divorce, two new countries were created, the Czech Republic and Slovakia, on January 1, 1993.