History of Czechoslovakia
424158
223723820
2008-07-05T13:25:39Z
Kozuch
1339567
clean up + reference formating fixes using [[Project:AutoWikiBrowser|AWB]]
{{Unreferenced|date=August 2006}}
{{History of Czechoslovakia}}
With the collapse of the [[Habsburg monarchy]] at the end of [[World War I]], the independent country of [[Republic of Czechoslovakia|Czechoslovakia]] ([[Slovak language|Slovak]]: Česko-Slovensko, [[Czech language|Czech]]: Československo) was formed, encouraged by, among others, U.S. President [[Woodrow Wilson]]. The [[Czechs]] and [[Slovaks]] were not at the same level of economic and technological development, but the freedom and opportunity found in an independent Czechoslovakia enabled them to make strides toward overcoming these inequalities. However, the gap between cultures was never fully bridged, and the discrepancy played a continuing role throughout the seventy-five years of the union.
== Political history ==
===Historical settings to 1918===
[[Image:Czech and Slovak peoples in Austro-Hungarian Empire.gif|350px|thumb|right|Czechoslovak lands within the [[Austro-Hungarian Empire]] according to the controversial 1910 census of the Kingdom of Hungary.
{| style="background:transparent;" cellspacing="10"
|- valign="top"
|
{{legend|#99cccc|Czechs}} {{legend|#b5bd8c|Slovaks}} {{legend|#dee78c|Ruthenians/Ukrainians}}
|
{{legend|#cc9966|Poles}} {{legend|#f7b5b5|Austrians/Germans}}
|
{{legend|#99cc99|Hungarians}} {{legend|#ffcc99|Romanians}}
|}
]]
{{main|Origins of Czechoslovakia}}
The creation of [[Czechoslovakia]] in 1918 was the culmination of the long struggle of the [[Czechs]] against their [[Austria]]n rulers and of the [[Slovaks]] against [[Magyarisation]] and their [[Hungary|Hungarian]] rulers. Although the Czechs and Slovaks have similar [[Slovak language|languages]], at the end of the [[19th century|nineteenth century]], the situation of the Czechs and Slovaks was very different, because of the different stages of development of their overlords – the Austrians in [[Bohemia]] and [[Moravia]], and the Hungarians in Slovakia – within [[Austria-Hungary]]. Bohemia was the most industrialized part of Austria and Slovakia that of Hungary – however at a different level. Despite cultural differences, the Slovaks shared with the Czechs similar aspirations for independence from the Habsburg state and voluntarily united with the Czechs. At the turn of the century, the idea of a "Czecho-Slovak" entity began to be advocated by some Czech and Slovak leaders. In the 1890s, contacts between Czech and Slovak intellectuals intensified.
During [[World War I]], in 1916, together with [[Edvard Beneš]] and [[Milan Rastislav Štefánik|Milan Štefánik]] (a Slovak astronomer and war hero), [[Tomáš Masaryk]] created the [[Czechoslovak National Council]]. Masaryk in the [[United States]], Štefánik in [[France]], and Beneš in [[France]] and [[United Kingdom|Britain]] worked tirelessly to gain Allied recognition. When secret talks between the [[Allies]] and Austrian emperor [[Charles I of Austria|Charles I]] (1916-18) collapsed, the Allies recognized, in the summer of 1918, the Czechoslovak National Council would be the main contributor to the future Czechoslovak government.
===The First Republic (1918-1938)===
[[Image:Tomáš G Masaryk1918.jpg|thumb|150px|Tomáš Garrigue Masaryk, first president of Czechoslovakia.]]
{{main|History of Czechoslovakia (1918–1938)}}
The independence of Czechoslovakia was officially proclaimed in [[Prague]] on [[October 28]], [[1918]] in Smetana Hall of the [[Municipal House]], a physical setting strongly associated with nationalist feeling. The Slovaks officially joined the state two days later in the town of [[Martin, Slovakia|Martin]]. A temporary constitution was adopted and Tomáš Masaryk declared president on [[November 14]]. The [[Treaty of St. Germain]], signed in September 1919 formally recognized the new republic. [[Ruthenia]] was later added to the Czech lands and Slovakia by the [[Treaty of Trianon]] (June, 1920). There were also various [[border conflicts between Poland and Czechoslovakia]].
The new state was characterized by problems with its ethnic diversity, the separate histories and greatly differing religious, cultural, and social traditions of the Czechs and Slovaks. The Germans and Magyars (Hungarians) of Czechoslovakia openly agitated against the territorial settlements.
The new nation had a population of over 13.5 million. It had inherited 70 to 80% of all the industry of the [[Austro-Hungarian Empire]]{{Fact|date=February 2007}}. Czechoslovakia was one of the world's ten most industrialized countries. The [[Czech lands]] were far more industrialized than Slovakia. Most light and heavy industry were located in the [[Sudetenland]] and were owned by Germans and controlled by German-owned banks. The very backward [[Subcarpathian Ruthenia]] was essentially without industry.
[[Image:Czechoslovakia01.png|thumb|left|200px|Czechoslovakia in 1928.]]
The Czechoslovak state was conceived as a [[parliamentary democracy]]. The constitution identified the "Czechoslovak nation" as the creator and principal constituent of the Czechoslovak state and established Czech and Slovak as official languages. The concept of the Czechoslovak nation was necessary in order to justify the establishment of Czechoslovakia towards the world, because otherwise the statistical majority of the Czechs as compared to Germans would be rather weak. The operation of the new Czechoslovak government was distinguished by stability. Largely responsible for this were the well-organized political parties that emerged as the real centers of power.
===The Second Republic (1938–1939)===
{{main|German occupation of Czechoslovakia}}
Although Czechoslovakia was the only central European country to remain a parliamentary democracy from 1918 to 1938, it faced problems with [[ethnic minority|ethnic minorities]], the most important of which concerned the country's large German population. The ethnic Germans constituted more than 22% of the interwar state's population and were largely concentrated in the Bohemian and Moravian border regions, called the ''[[Sudetenland]]'' in German. Some members of this minority, which were predominantly sympathetic to [[Germany]], undermined the new Czechoslovak state.
[[Hitler]]'s rise in [[Germany]], the German annexation ([[Anschluss]]) of [[Austria]], the resulting revival of revisionism in [[Hungary]] and of agitation for autonomy in Slovakia, and the [[appeasement]] policy of the Western powers ([[France]] and the [[United Kingdom]]) left Czechoslovakia without allies, exposed to hostile Germany and [[Hungary]] on three sides and to unsympathetic [[Poland]] on the north.
After the Austrian [[Anschluss]], Czechoslovakia was to become [[Hitler]]'s next target. The German nationalist minority, led by [[Konrad Henlein]] and vehemently backed by [[Hitler]], demanded the union of the predominantly German districts with Germany. Threatening war, Hitler extorted through the [[Munich Agreement]] in September 1938 the cession of the [[Bohemia]]n, [[Moravia]]n and [[Silesia|Czech-Silesian]] borderlands - [[Sudetenland]] where all Czech population were forcible expelled. On September 29, the Munich Agreement was signed by Germany, Italy, France, and Britain. The Czechoslovak government agreed to abide by the agreement. The Munich Agreement stipulated that Czechoslovakia must cede [[Sudetenland]] territory to Germany. Beneš resigned as president of the Czechoslovak Republic on October 5, 1938, fled to London and was succeeded by [[Emil Hácha]]. In early November 1938, under the [[Vienna Award]], which was a result of the Munich agreement, Czechoslovakia (and later Slovakia) was forced by Germany and Italy to cede southern Slovakia (one third of Slovak territory) to Hungary. After an 30 September [[ultimatum]] (but without consulting with any other countries), [[Poland]] obtained the disputed [[Zaolzie]] region as a territorial cession shortly after the Munich Agreement, on 2 October.
The Czechs in the greatly weakened Czechoslovak Republic were forced to grant major concessions to the non-Czechs. The executive committee of the [[Slovak People's Party]] met at [[Žilina]] on [[October 5]], [[1938]], and with the acquiescence of all Slovak parties except the Social Democrats formed an autonomous Slovak government under [[Jozef Tiso]]. Similarly, the two major factions in Subcarpathian Ruthenia, the [[Ukrainian Russophiles|Russophiles]] and Ukrainophiles, agreed on the establishment of an autonomous government, which was constituted on [[October 8]], [[1938]]. In late November 1938, the truncated state, renamed Czecho-Slovakia [the so-called Second Republic], was reconstituted in three autonomous units: Czechia (i.e. [[Bohemia]] and [[Moravia]]), Slovakia, and Ruthenia.
On [[March 14]], [[1939]], Slovakia gained nominal independence as a [[satellite state]] under [[Jozef Tiso]]. Hitler forced Hácha to surrender what remained of [[Bohemia]] and [[Moravia]] to German control on [[15 March]] [[1939]], establishing the German [[protectorate]] "Bohemia and Moravia", which was created on March 16th. On the same day (March 15), the [[Carpatho-Ukraine]] (Subcarpathian [[Ruthenia]]) declared its independence and was immediately invaded and annexed by [[Hungary]]. Finally, on March 23 Hungary invaded and occupied from the Carpatho-Ukraine some further parts of [[Slovakia]] (eastern Slovakia).
===World War II===
[[Image:Anschlusstears.jpg|thumb|150px|left|A woman acknowledges incoming German troops with tears and the [[Nazi salute]], [[Sudetenland]], 1938. This image was used by the Nazis and the [[Allies of World War II|Allies]], depicting the woman crying with either joy or sadness respectively.]]
{{main|German occupation of Czechoslovakia|Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia|Slovak Republic (1939-1945)|l3=First Slovak Republic}}
Beneš and other Czechoslovak exiles in London organized a [[Czechoslovak Government-in-Exile]] and negotiated to obtain international recognition for the government and a renunciation of the [[Munich Agreement]] and its consequences. The government was recognized by government of [[United Kingdom]] Foreign Secretary [[Lord Halifax]] on July 18, 1940. In July and December 1941, the [[Soviet Union]] and [[United States]] also recognized the exiled government, respecitvely. Czechoslovak military units fought alongside [[Allies of World War II|Allied]] forces. In December Carpatho-Ukraine1943, Beneš's government concluded a treaty with the [[Soviet Union]]. Beneš worked to bring Czechoslovak [[communist]] exiles in Britain into active cooperation with his government, offering far-reaching concessions, including [[nationalization]] of heavy industry and the creation of local people's committees at the war's end (which then indeed happened). In March 1945, he gave key cabinet positions to Czechoslovak communist exiles in Moscow.
The assassination of ''Reichsprotector'' [[Reinhard Heydrich]] in 1942 by a group of British-trained Czech and Slovak [[commandos]] led to reprisals, including the annihilation of the village of [[Lidice]]. All adult male inhabitants were executed, while females and children were transported to [[concentration camp]]s.
On [[May 8]] [[1944]], [[Edvard Beneš|Beneš]] signed an agreement with Soviet leaders stipulating that Czechoslovak territory liberated by Soviet armies would be placed under Czechoslovak civilian control.
From [[September 21]] [[1944]], Czechoslovakia was liberated mostly by Soviet troops (the [[Red Army]]), supported by Czech and Slovak resistance, from the east to the west, only southwestern Bohemia was liberated by other Allied troops from the west. In May 1945, U.S. forces liberated the city of [[Plzen]]. A civilian uprising against the Nazi garrison took place in Prague in May 1945. The resistance was assisted by heavily-armed [[ROA]] aka Gen. Vlasov's army, a force composed of Russian POWs organised by the Germans, now turning again against them. Except for the brutalities of the German occupation in Bohemia and Moravia (and, after the [[Slovak National Uprising]] in August 1944, also in Slovakia), Czechoslovakia suffered relatively little from the war. [[Bratislava]] was taken over on April 4, 1945, and [[Prague]] on May 9, 1945 by Soviet troops. Both [[Soviet Union|Soviet]] and Allied troops were withdrawn in the same year.
A treaty ceding [[Carpatho-Ukraine]] to the Soviet Union was signed in June 1945 between Czechoslovakia and the Soviet Union, following an apparently rigged Sovier-run referendum in Carpatho-Ukraine or Ruthenia. The [[Potsdam Agreement]] provided for the [[expulsion of Sudeten Germans]] to Germany under the supervision of the Allied Control Council. Decisions regarding the Hungarian minority reverted to the Czechoslovak government. In February 1946, the Hungarian government agreed that Czechoslovakia could expatriate as many Hungarians as there were Slovaks in Hungary wishing to return to Czechoslovakia. See main article for details.
===The Third Republic (1945-1948) and the Communist takeover (1948)===
{{main|Czechoslovakia: 1945-1948|Czechoslovak coup d'état of 1948}}
The Third Republic came into being in April 1945. Its government, installed at [[Košice]] on [[April 4]] and moved to [[Prague]] in May, was a [[National Front (Czechoslovakia)|National Front]] coalition in which three socialist parties—[[Communist Party of Czechoslovakia|KSČ]], Czechoslovak Social democratic Party, and Czechoslovak National Socialist Party—predominated. Certain nonsocialist parties were included in the coalition; among them were the Catholic People's Party (in Moravia) and the [[Democratic Party (Slovakia)]].
Following Nazi Germany's surrender, some 2.9 million [[Expulsion of Germans after World War II|ethnic Germans were expelled]] from Czechoslovakia with Allied approval. [[Czechoslovakia]] fell within the [[Soviet Union|Soviet]] sphere of influence.
The popular enthusiasm evoked by the Soviet armies of liberation (which was decided by compromise of Allies and [[Stalin]] on [[Yalta conference|Yaltas conference]] in 1944) benefited the [[Communist Party of Czechoslovakia|KSČ]]. Czechoslovaks, bitterly disappointed by the West at the [[Munich Agreement]] (1938), responded favorably to both the KSČ and the Soviet alliance. Reunited after the war, the Czechs and Slovaks set national elections for the spring of 1946. The democratic elements, led by President [[Edvard Beneš]], hoped the Soviet Union would allow Czechoslovakia the freedom to choose its own form of government and aspired to a Czechoslovakia that would act as a bridge between East and West. Communists secured strong representation in the popularly elected [[National Committee]]s, the new organs of local administration. In the May 1946 election, the KSČ won in the Czech part of the country (40.17%), and the anti-Communist [[Democratic Party (Slovakia)|Democratic Party]] won in Slovakia (62%). In sum, however, the KSČ won a plurality of 38 percent of the vote at countrywide level. [[Edvard Beneš]] continued as president of the republic. The Communist leader [[Klement Gottwald]] became prime minister. Most important, although the communists held only a minority of portfolios, they were able to gain control over all key ministries (Ministry of the Interior etc. ).
Although the communist-led government initially intended to participate in the [[Marshall Plan]], it was forced by Moscow to back out.
In 1947, [[Joseph Stalin|Stalin]] summoned Gottwald to Moscow; upon his return to Prague, the KSČ demonstrated a significant radicalization of its tactics. On [[February 20]], [[1948]], the twelve noncommunist ministers resigned, in part, to induce Beneš to call for early elections: Beneš refused to accept the cabinet resignations and did not call for elections. In the meantime, the KSČ garnered its forces for the [[Czechoslovak coup d'état of 1948|coup d'état of 1948]]. The communist-controlled Ministry of Interior deployed police regiments to sensitive areas and equipped a workers' [[militia]]. On [[February 25]], Beneš, perhaps fearing Soviet intervention, capitulated. He accepted the resignations of the dissident ministers and received a new cabinet list from Gottwald, thus completing, under the cover of superficial legality, the [[communist]] takeover.
On [[March 10]], [[1948]] the moderate foreign minister of the government, [[Jan Masaryk]], was found dead in an apparent suicide, although the suspicious circumstances surrounding his death have led some to believe that it was a political assassination.
===The Communist era (1948-1989)===
{{main|Czechoslovakia: 1948-1989}}
In February 1948, when the [[Communism|Communists]] took power, Czechoslovakia was declared a "[[People's republic|people's democracy]]" (until 1960) – a preliminary step toward socialism and, ultimately, communism. Bureaucratic [[centralism]] under the direction of [[Communist Party of Czechoslovakia|KSČ]] leadership was introduced. [[Dissident]] elements were purged from all levels of society, including the [[Roman Catholic]] Church. The ideological principles of [[Marxism-Leninism]] and [[socialist realism]] pervaded cultural and intellectual life. The economy was committed to comprehensive central planning and abolition of private ownership of capital. Czechoslovakia became a [[satellite state]] of the Soviet Union; it was a founding member of the Council for Mutual Economic Assistance ([[Comecon]]) in 1949 and of the [[Warsaw Pact]] in 1955. The attainment of Soviet-style command [[socialism]] became the government's avowed policy. Slovak [[Wiktionary:autonomy|autonomy]] was constrained; the [[KSS]] (Communist Party of Slovakia) was reunited with the [[Communist Party of Czechoslovakia|KSČ]] (Communist Party of Czechoslovakia) but retained its own identity. Following the Soviet example, Czechoslovakia began emphasizing the rapid development of heavy industry. Although Czechoslovakia's industrial growth of 170 percent between 1948 and 1957 was impressive, it was far exceeded by that of [[Japan]] (300 percent) and the [[Federal Republic of Germany]] (almost 300 percent) and more than equaled by [[Austria]] and [[Greece]].
Beneš refused to sign the Communist Constitution of 1948 ([[Ninth-of-May Constitution]]) and resigned from the presidency; he was succeeded by [[Klement Gottwald]]. Gottwald died in 1953. He was succeeded by [[Antonín Zápotocký]] as president and by [[Antonín Novotný]] as head of the KSČ. After extensive purges modeled on the Stalinist pattern in other east European states, the Communist Party tried 14 of its former leaders in November 1952 and sentenced 11 to death. For more than a decade thereafter, the Czechoslovak communist political structure was characterized by the orthodoxy of the leadership of party chief [[Antonín Novotný]]. Novotný became president in 1957 when Zápotocký died.
In the 1950s, the [[Stalinism|Stalinists]] accused their opponents of "conspiracy against the people's democratic order" and "high treason" in order to oust them from positions of power. Large-scale arrests of Communists with an "international" background, i.e., those with a wartime connection with the West, veterans of the [[Spanish Civil War]], [[Jew]]s, and Slovak "[[bourgeois]] [[nationalists]]," were followed by [[show trials]]. The outcome of these trials, serving the communist propaganda, was often known in advance and the penalties were extremely heavy, such as in the case of [[Milada Horáková]], who was sentenced to death together with Jan Buchal, [[Záviš Kalandra]] and Oldřich Pecl.
The [[1960 Constitution of Czechoslovakia|1960 Constitution]] declared the victory of [[socialism]] and proclaimed the Czechoslovak Socialist Republic.
[[History of the Soviet Union (1953-1985)#De-Stalinization and the Khrushchev era|Destalinization]] had a late start in Czechoslovakia. In the early 1960s, the Czechoslovak economy became severely stagnate. The industrial growth rate was the lowest in Eastern Europe. As a result, in 1965, the party approved the [[New Economic Model]], introducing [[free market]] elements into the economy. The KSČ "Theses" of December 1965 presented the party response to the call for political reform. [[Democratic centralism]] was redefined, placing a stronger emphasis on democracy. The leading role of the KSČ was reaffirmed but limited. [[Slovaks]] pressed for [[federal system|federalization]]. On January 5, 1968, the KSČ Central Committee elected [[Alexander Dubček]], a Slovak reformer, to replace Novotný as first secretary of the KSČ. On March 22, 1968, Novotný resigned from the presidency and was succeeded by General [[Ludvík Svoboda]].
====The Prague Spring (1968)====
{{main|Prague Spring}}
[[Image:Czechoslovakia.png|thumb|right|200px|Czechoslovakia in 1969]]
Dubček carried the reform movement a step further in the direction of liberalism. After Novotný's fall, [[censorship]] was lifted. The press, radio, and television were mobilized for reformist propaganda purposes. The movement to democratize socialism in Czechoslovakia, formerly confined largely to the party intelligentsia, acquired a new, popular dynamism in the spring of 1968 (the "[[Prague Spring]]"). Radical elements found expression: anti-Soviet polemics appeared in the press; the [[Social Democrats]] began to form a separate party; new unaffiliated political clubs were created. Party conservatives urged the implementation of repressive measures, but Dubček counseled moderation and reemphasized KSČ leadership. In addition, the Dubček leadership called for politico-military changes in the Soviet-dominated Warsaw Pact and [[Council for Mutual Economic Assistance]]. The leadership affirmed its loyalty to socialism and the Warsaw Pact but also expressed the desire to improve relations with all countries of the world regardless of their social systems.
A program adopted in April 1968 set guidelines for a modern, humanistic socialist democracy that would guarantee, among other things, freedom of religion, press, assembly, speech, and travel; a program that, in Dubček's words, would give socialism "[[socialism with a human face|a human face]]." After 20 years of little public participation, the population gradually started to take interest in the government, and Dubček became a truly popular national figure.
The internal reforms and foreign policy statements of the Dubček leadership created great concern among some other [[Warsaw Pact]] governments. KSČ conservatives had misinformed Moscow regarding the strength of the reform movement. As a result, the troops of [[Warsaw Pact]] countries (except [[Romania]]) [[Soviet invasion of Czechoslovakia (1968)|invaded Czechoslovakia]] during the night of August 20-21. Two-thirds of the [[Communist Party of Czechoslovakia|KSČ]] Central Committee opposed the Soviet intervention. Popular opposition was expressed in numerous spontaneous acts of nonviolent resistance. In Prague and other cities throughout the republic, Czechs and Slovaks greeted Warsaw Pact soldiers with arguments and reproaches. The Czechoslovak Government declared that the troops had not been invited into the country and that their invasion was a violation of socialist principles, international law, and the [[UN Charter]]. Dubček, who had been arrested on the night of August 20, was taken to Moscow for negotiations. The outcome was the [[Brezhnev Doctrine]] of limited sovereignty, which provided for the strengthening of the KSČ, strict party control of the media, and the suppression of the Czechoslovak Social Democratic Party.
On [[January 19]] [[1969]], the student [[Jan Palach]] set himself on fire in [[Prague]]'s [[Wenceslas Square]] to protest the invasion of Czechoslovakia by the [[Soviet Union]] in 1968.
The principal Czechoslovak reformers were forcibly and secretly taken to the Soviet Union where they signed a treaty that provided for the "temporary stationing" of an unspecified number of Soviet troops in Czechoslovakia. Dubček was removed as party First Secretary on [[17 April]] [[1969]], and replaced by another Slovak, [[Gustáv Husák]]. Later, Dubček and many of his allies within the party were stripped of their party positions in a purge that lasted until 1971 and reduced party membership by almost one-third.
====Aftermath====
The [[Slovakia|Slovak part of Czechoslovakia]] made major gains in industrial production in the 1960s and 1970s. By the 1970s, its industrial production was near parity with that of the [[Czech lands]]. [[Slovakia]]'s portion of per capita [[national income]] rose from slightly more than 60 percent of that of Bohemia and Moravia in 1948 to nearly 80 percent in 1968, and Slovak per capita [[earning power]] equaled that of the Czechs in 1971. The pace of Slovak economic growth has continued to exceed that of Czech growth to the present day (2003).
Dubcek remained in office only until April 1969. [[Gustáv Husák]] (a centrist, and interestingly one of the Slovak "bourgeois [[nationalists]]" imprisoned by his own [[Communist Party of Czechoslovakia|KSČ]] in the 1950s) was named first secretary (title changed to general secretary in 1971). A program of "[[Normalization]]"—the restoration of continuity with the prereform period—was initiated. Normalization entailed thoroughgoing political [[repression]] and the return to ideological conformity.
A new purge cleansed the Czechoslovak leadership of all reformist elements.
Anti-Soviet demonstrations in August 1969 ushered in a period of harsh repression. The 1970s and 1980s became known as the period of "normalization," in which the apologists for the 1968 Soviet invasion prevented, as best they could, any opposition to their conservative regime. Political, social, and economic life stagnated. The population, cowed by the "normalization," was quiet. The only point required during the [[Prague spring]] that was achieved was the [[federal system|federalization]] of the country (as of 1969), which however was more or less only formal under the normalization. The newly created Federal Assembly (i. e. federal parliament), which replaced the National Assembly, was to work in close cooperation with the [[Czech National Council]] and the [[Slovak National Council]] (i.e. national parliaments).
In 1975, [[Gustáv Husák]] added the position of president to his post as party chief. The Husák regime required conformity and obedience in all aspects of life. Husák also tried to obtain acquiescence to his rule by providing an improved standard of living. He returned Czechoslovakia to an orthodox command economy with a heavy emphasis on [[central planning]] and continued to extend [[industrialization]]. For a while the policy seemed successful; the 1980s, however, were more or less a period of economic stagnation. Another feature of Husák's rule was a continued dependence on the [[Soviet Union]]. In the 1980s, approximately 50 percent of Czechoslovakia's foreign trade was with the Soviet Union, and almost 80 percent was with communist countries.
Through the 1970s and 1980s, the regime was challenged by individuals and organized groups aspiring to independent thinking and activity. The first organized opposition emerged under the umbrella of Charter 77. On January 6, 1977, a manifesto called [[Charter 77]] appeared in West German newspapers. The original manifesto reportedly was signed by 243 persons; among them were artists, former public officials, and other prominent figures. The Charter had over 800 signatures by the end of 1977, including workers and youth. It criticized the government for failing to implement human rights provisions of documents it had signed, including the state's own constitution; international covenants on political, civil, economic, social, and cultural rights; and the Final Act of the Conference for Security and Cooperation in Europe. Although not organized in any real sense, the signatories of Charter 77 constituted a citizens' initiative aimed at inducing the Czechoslovak Government to observe formal obligations to respect the human rights of its citizens. Signatories were arrested and interrogated; dismissal from employment often followed. Because [[religion]] offered possibilities for thought and activities independent of the state, it too was severely restricted and controlled. Clergymen were required to be licensed. Unlike in Poland, [[dissent]] and independent activity were limited in Czechoslovakia to a fairly small segment of the populace. Many Czechs and Slovaks emigrated to the West.
===The end of the Communist era (1989) and the Velvet Revolution 1989===
{{further|[[History of Czechoslovakia (1989–1992)]] and [[Velvet Revolution]]}}
Although in March 1987, Husák nominally committed Czechoslovakia to follow the program of [[Gorbachev]]'s [[perestroika]], it did not happen much in reality. On December 17, 1987, Husák, who was one month away from his seventy-fifth birthday, had resigned as head of the KSČ. He retained, however, his post of president of Czechoslovakia and his full membership on the Presidium of the KSČ. [[Miloš Jakeš]], who replaced Husák as first secretary of the [[Communist Party of Czechoslovakia|KSČ]], did not change anything. The slow pace of the Czechoslovak reform movement was an irritant to the Soviet leadership.
The first anti-Communist demonstration took place on [[March 25]], [[1988]] in [[Bratislava]] (the [[Candle demonstration in Bratislava]]). It was an unauthorized peaceful gathering of some 2,000 (other sources 10,000) Roman Catholics. Demonstrations also occurred on [[August 21]], [[1988]] (the anniversary of the Soviet intervention in 1968) in [[Prague]], on [[October 28]], [[1988]] (establishment of Czechoslovakia in 1918) in Prague, Bratislava and some other towns, in January 1989 (death of [[Jan Palach]] on [[January 16]], [[1969]]), on August 21 1989 (see above) and on October 28 1989 (see above).
The [[anti-Communist]] revolution started on [[November 16]] 1989 in Bratislava, with a demonstration of Slovak university students for democracy, and continued with the well-known similar demonstration of Czech students in [[Prague]] on [[November 17]].
===Democratic Czechoslovakia (1989/1990-1992)===
{{main|Dissolution of Czechoslovakia}}
On [[17 November]] [[1989]], the communist police violently broke up a peaceful pro-democracy demonstration, brutally beating many student participants. In the days which followed, Charter 77 and other groups united to become the [[Civic Forum]], an umbrella group championing bureaucratic reform and civil liberties. Its leader was the dissident playwright [[Václav Havel]]. Intentionally eschewing the label "party", a word given a negative connotation during the previous regime, Civic Forum quickly gained the support of millions of Czechs, as did its Slovak counterpart, "People Against Violence".
Faced with an overwhelming popular repudiation, the Communist Party all but collapsed. Its leaders, Husák and party chief [[Miloš Jakeš]], resigned in December 1989, and Havel was elected President of Czechoslovakia on [[29 December]]. The astonishing quickness of these events was in part due to the unpopularity of the communist regime and changes in the policies of its Soviet guarantor as well as to the rapid, effective organization of these public initiatives into a viable opposition.
A coalition government, in which the Communist Party had a minority of ministerial positions, was formed in December 1989. The first free elections in Czechoslovakia since 1946 took place in June 1990 without incident and with more than 95% of the population voting. As anticipated, Civic Forum and Public Against Violence won landslide victories in their respective republics and gained a comfortable majority in the federal parliament. The parliament undertook substantial steps toward securing the democratic evolution of Czechoslovakia. It successfully moved toward fair local elections in November 1990, ensuring fundamental change at the county and town level.
Civic Forum found, however, that although it had successfully completed its primary objective—the overthrow of the communist regime—it was ineffectual as a governing party. The demise of Civic Forum was viewed by most as necessary and inevitable.
By the end of 1990, unofficial parliamentary "clubs" had evolved with distinct political agendas. Most influential was the Civic Democratic Party, headed by former Prime Minister [[Václav Klaus]]. Other notable parties that came into being after the split were the Czech Social Democratic Party, Civic Movement, and Civic Democratic Alliance.
By 1992, Slovak calls for greater autonomy effectively blocked the daily functioning of the federal government. In the election of June 1992, Klaus's Civic Democratic Party won handily in the Czech lands on a platform of economic reform. [[Vladimír Mečiar]]'s Movement for a Democratic Slovakia emerged as the leading party in Slovakia, basing its appeal on fairness to Slovak demands for autonomy. Federalists, like Havel, were unable to contain the trend toward the split. In July 1992, President Havel resigned. In the latter half of 1992, Klaus and Mečiar hammered out an agreement that the two republics would go their separate ways by the end of the year.
Members of Czechoslovakia's [[parliament]] (the Federal Assembly), divided along national lines, barely cooperated enough to pass the law officially separating the two nations in late 1992. On [[1 January]] [[1993]], the [[Czech Republic]] and the Republic of [[Slovakia]] were simultaneously and peacefully founded.
Relationships between the two states, despite occasional disputes about the division of federal property and the governing of the border, have been peaceful. Both states attained immediate recognition from the U.S. and their European neighbors.
==Economic history==
{{main|Economy of Communist Czechoslovakia}}
At the time of the communist takeover, Czechoslovakia had a balanced economy and one of the higher levels of industrialization on the continent{{Fact|date=August 2007}}. In 1948, however, the government began to stress heavy industry over agricultural and consumer goods and services. Many basic industries and foreign trade, as well as domestic wholesale trade, had been nationalized before the communists took power. Nationalization of most of the retail trade was completed in 1950-51{{Fact|date=August 2007}}.
Heavy industry received major economic support during the 1950s, but central planning resulted in waste and inefficient use of industrial resources{{Fact|date=August 2007}}. Although the labor force was traditionally skilled and efficient, inadequate incentives for labor and management contributed to high labor turnover, low productivity, and poor product quality. Economic failures reached a critical stage in the 1960s, after which various reform measures were sought with no satisfactory results.
Hope for wide-ranging economic reform came with Alexander Dubcek's rise in January 1968. Despite renewed efforts, however, Czechoslovakia could not come to grips with inflationary forces, much less begin the immense task of correcting the economy's basic problems.
The economy saw growth during the 1970s but then stagnated between 1978-82{{Fact|date=August 2007}}. Attempts at revitalizing it in the 1980s with management and worker incentive programs were largely unsuccessful. The economy grew after 1982, achieving an annual average output growth of more than 3% between 1983-85{{Fact|date=August 2007}}. Imports from the West were curtailed, exports boosted, and hard currency debt reduced substantially. New investment was made in the electronic, chemical, and pharmaceutical sectors, which were industry leaders in eastern Europe in the mid-1980s.
==From creation to dissolution – Overview==
{{Czechoslovakia timeline}}
{| align="right" style="background:transparent;"
|- valign="top"
| {{History of the Czech Republic}}
| {{History of Slovakia}}
|}
<!--Categories-->
[[Category:History of Czechoslovakia| ]]
[[Category:Czech history|Czechoslovakia]]
<!--Other languages-->
[[cs:Dějiny Československa]]
[[de:Geschichte der Tschechoslowakei]]
[[it:Storia della Cecoslovacchia]]
[[sk:Dejiny Česko-Slovenska]]
[[sv:Tjeckoslovakiens historia]]