History of Czechoslovak nationality
Encyclopedia
The history of Czechoslovak nationality involves the rise and fall of national feeling among Czechs and Slovaks. Once forming a rather unified group, they were historically separated, unified under a democratic system, separated during threat of war, and reunified under an authoritarian regime. However, a democratization process has led to a definition of separate statehood for the majority of Czechs and Slovaks.
are both ethnic Slavs and speak very similar languages. Moreover, these peoples once formed a very unified group of tribes, which were basically indistinguishable from one another. It is through history and different circumstances, it is believed, that those tribes acquired the characteristics that made them Czechs and Slovaks. As to where exactly the Slav tribes came from, historians cannot agree.
, Moravia
, and Slovakia
were formerly embraced within the great Moravian Empire. Prince Mojmír I
, founder of the House of Mojmír
, established Great Moravia
in 833. At the end of the 9th century, it extended further under the rule of Svatopluk I
and became the most powerful Slavonic state of Christendom.
However, the tribes living in today’s Slovakia were conquered by Magyar (Hungarian
) tribes and were separated from the Moravians and Bohemians. In 1025, the territory of present-day Slovakia indeed became a part of the Kingdom of Hungary
, thus reducing, but not ending relations between the Czechs and Slovaks. In this period, culture expanded mostly through literature, creating nationalist feelings. Nevertheless, the Czechs and Slovaks were still far from forming a strong united country and the Slovaks remained under Hungarian influence.
and Hungary
. This division remained even after the Austro-Hungarian Compromise of 1867, whereby the Dual Monarchy
of Austria-Hungary
was established.
In their respective Empires, Czechs and Slovaks lived under strongly different conditions. On the one hand, Czechs enjoyed a certain autonomy
within Austria. Their culture and language could continue to live and expand, even though Czech remained mainly spoken by the peasantry. Moreover, they were represented in the Austrian Parliament
.
In 1862, the Sokol
movement was founded in Prague. It played an important part in the Czech national revival
and eventually extended to other Slavic countries (Sokół in Poland). Educated Czechs called for increased political participation. They wanted to have similar privileges as the Magyars, or Hungarians, and Germans, but were unable to form a united force. Thus, the Czech national movement was mostly suppressed.
On the other hand, Slovaks were living under harsher conditions in the Kingdom of Hungary. Having no political nor economic power, they were dominated by the Hungarians who tried to assimilated them through Magyarisation process as Slovak schools were closed. Under such conditions, the development of a national identity was much more complex and slower.
Having cultural ties with the Czechs, Slovaks were divided between associating with the Czechs or seeking for a separate existence. Moreover, the appeal of joining the Czechs was great since they considered Slovaks as members of their own people and often defended Slovak interests in the Austrian Parliament.
was mainly a product of the First World War. The three founders of the Czechoslovak National Council, Masaryk, Beneš
, and Štefánik
, met in France, seeking for complete independence rather than only more autonomy in the Habsburg Empire. On 6 January 1918 Czech deputies in the Reichsrat
issued the ‘Twelfth Night Declaration’ demanding self-determination
for the Czechoslovaks. On October 28, the National Council seized power and Czechoslovakia
was created as a parliamentary democracy.
Besides the mutual feelings of unity among Czechs and Slovaks, there were also clear demographic incentives for creating Czechoslovakia. One in three of the population of the Czechs lands was Germans
, most of them living in the Sudetenland
region. The Czechs could not be confident of defending the new state against a German minority which constituted approximately a third of the population; association with the Slovaks would decrease the minority to just under a quarter and thus make it much more manageable. The Czechoslovak Constitution of 1920
identified the "Czechoslovak nation" as the creator and principal constituent of the Czechoslovak state and established the "Czechoslovak language
" as the official language. The concept of Czechoslovakism 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.
After World War I, the First Czechoslovak Republic was finally formed by combining the Czech lands
, Upper Hungary
, and Carpathian Ruthenia
, which was annexed in 1919 due to the Allies
’ pressure. If the desire for a Czechoslovak nation had been expressed for a long time, the Slovaks in the 1920s, nevertheless, felt resentment because they were proportionally less represented into the Czechoslovak administration. This, however, can be explained by the fact that, in the Austro-Kingdom of Hungary, the Czechs had the opportunity to develop an elite which could then lead the new country and that such an elite was totally absent in the Slovak population. Moreover, the formation of a Czechoslovak Hussite Church
which conducted its services in Czech created large discontent. New national holidays, such as July 6, which commemorated the death of Czech reformer Jan Hus
, created opposition within the Catholics. Also during the 1920s, the Slovaks became more and more literate, thus developing their own culture, and the structures promoting such a Slovak culture.
decided to split Czechoslovakia, Slovaks showed little opposition. The Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia
was created, and Slovak State became a puppet state
of Nazi Germany
. However, Slovaks soon realized that this clearly meant Nazi domination and control, not real independence. The Slovak National Uprising
in 1944 was suppressed by Nazi Germany, but guerrilla warfare continued until the Soviet Army liberated Slovakia in 1945.
, the Slovak independence movement was suppressed and the Communist Party of Slovakia
incorporated into the Communist Party of Czechoslovakia
. In addition, Slovak communists who favoured a unitary state were installed in power. The most important change in the 1960 Constitution of Czechoslovakia
was that it severely limited the autonomy granted to Slovakia. This provision was the decision of President Antonín Novotný
. The executive branch of the Slovak government was abolished and its duties assigned to the Presidium of the Slovak National Council
, thus combining executive and legislative functions into a single body. The legislative National Assembly was given authority to overrule decisions of the Slovak National Council, and central government agencies took over the administration of the major organs of Slovak local government.
The situation changed under Nikita Khrushchev
’s leadership. The new General Secretary had a very different perspective about nationalities and decided to rehabilitate Slovak nationalists. Moreover, the purges and destalinization process of the 1950s caused the revival of Slovak nationalism. On the one hand, many Slovaks had been purged from the Party, and on the other hand, the destalinization process asked for more concessions and compromises. Intellectuals began to have ideas of federalism. The Prague Spring
in 1968 was followed by a period of normalization
, sometimes called Husakism
after Gustáv Husák
. Thus, in October 1968, Czechoslovakia amended the 1960 Constitution by the Constitutional Law of Federation
. The Slovaks were recognized as a separate nation and were given their own governmental bodies, namely the Slovak national council and the board of commissioners.
of 1989 and the end of the Soviet Union, the historic differences between the Czechs and the Slovaks came back. Those were mainly expressed through different political and economic viewpoints. While Slovaks were more attached and committed to state welfare and ownership, Czechs were wishing for a quick change to the western model of capitalism
. Moreover, there were intense debates on renaming the country, which various hyphened versions of Czechoslovakia. In addition, the system of checks and balances set up by the constitution made it possible for Slovak autonomists to bloc political institutions from functioning.
On July 17, 1992, the Slovak national council adopted Slovakia’s declaration of sovereignty, and major constitutional changes gave the Slovaks their own state, which they had desired for a long time. The peaceful dissolution of Czechoslovakia
led to the establishment of the Czech and Slovak Federative Republics.
, who brought Christianity to Eastern Europe
. However, spoken Czech is today very different from Slavonic, due to the many reforms, notably those of Jan Hus. As for Slovak, it consists of many dialects. Those from the Western part resemble to Czech and those from the East are more similar to Slavonic. Differences between the Czech and Slovak languages can also be explained by the Magyarisation of Slovak which occurred mainly in the 19th Century. However, even though Czech and Slovak are different languages, in most cases both Czech and Slovaks can easily understand each other, speaking their own language. Nevertheless, language is an important stone of the Czech and Slovak societies. Thus, knowledge of language is a requirement for the acquisition of citizenship.
The Bohemian population was mainly Protestant. Today, however, it is mostly non-religious. The Moravian and Slovak populations are mainly Catholic
. However, Czechoslovakia is truly a mosaic of diverse religions.
were very discriminatory against the German and Hungarian minorities of Czechoslovakia, who could not be granted citizenship. Emphasis was thus put on the unitary character of Czechoslovakia.
Ancient time
The Czechs and SlovaksSlovaks
The Slovaks, Slovak people, or Slovakians are a West Slavic people that primarily inhabit Slovakia and speak the Slovak language, which is closely related to the Czech language.Most Slovaks today live within the borders of the independent Slovakia...
are both ethnic Slavs and speak very similar languages. Moreover, these peoples once formed a very unified group of tribes, which were basically indistinguishable from one another. It is through history and different circumstances, it is believed, that those tribes acquired the characteristics that made them Czechs and Slovaks. As to where exactly the Slav tribes came from, historians cannot agree.
Great Moravia
The Slavonic tribes of BohemiaBohemia
Bohemia is a historical region in central Europe, occupying the western two-thirds of the traditional Czech Lands. It is located in the contemporary Czech Republic with its capital in Prague...
, Moravia
Moravia
Moravia is a historical region in Central Europe in the east of the Czech Republic, and one of the former Czech lands, together with Bohemia and Silesia. It takes its name from the Morava River which rises in the northwest of the region...
, and Slovakia
Slovakia
The Slovak Republic is a landlocked state in Central Europe. It has a population of over five million and an area of about . Slovakia is bordered by the Czech Republic and Austria to the west, Poland to the north, Ukraine to the east and Hungary to the south...
were formerly embraced within the great Moravian Empire. Prince Mojmír I
Mojmír I
Mojmir I or Moimir I was the first known ruler of the Moravian Slavs . In modern scholarship, the creation of the early medieval state known as "Great" Moravia is attributed either to his or to his successors' expansionist policy...
, founder of the House of Mojmír
House of Mojmír
The House of Mojmír is the modern name of the ruling dynasty of Great Moravia, the Moravian principality and the Principality of Nitra in the 9th and early 10th century....
, established Great Moravia
Great Moravia
Great Moravia was a Slavic state that existed in Central Europe and lasted for nearly seventy years in the 9th century whose creators were the ancestors of the Czechs and Slovaks. It was a vassal state of the Germanic Frankish kingdom and paid an annual tribute to it. There is some controversy as...
in 833. At the end of the 9th century, it extended further under the rule of Svatopluk I
Svatopluk I
Svatopluk I or Zwentibald I was the greatest ruler of Moravia that attained its maximum territorial expansion in his reign . His career had already started in the 860s, when he governed a principality, the location of which is still a matter of debate among historians, within Moravia under the...
and became the most powerful Slavonic state of Christendom.
However, the tribes living in today’s Slovakia were conquered by Magyar (Hungarian
Hungary
Hungary , officially the Republic of Hungary , is a landlocked country in Central Europe. It is situated in the Carpathian Basin and is bordered by Slovakia to the north, Ukraine and Romania to the east, Serbia and Croatia to the south, Slovenia to the southwest and Austria to the west. The...
) tribes and were separated from the Moravians and Bohemians. In 1025, the territory of present-day Slovakia indeed became a part of the Kingdom of Hungary
Kingdom of Hungary
The Kingdom of Hungary comprised present-day Hungary, Slovakia and Croatia , Transylvania , Carpatho Ruthenia , Vojvodina , Burgenland , and other smaller territories surrounding present-day Hungary's borders...
, thus reducing, but not ending relations between the Czechs and Slovaks. In this period, culture expanded mostly through literature, creating nationalist feelings. Nevertheless, the Czechs and Slovaks were still far from forming a strong united country and the Slovaks remained under Hungarian influence.
Habsburg Empire
In 1526, Bohemia became part of the Habsburg crown, but it was not until the battle of the White Mountain in 1620 that Bohemian independence was liquidated and the native, Czech aristocracy dispossessed. As for Moravia, it also became part of the Habsburg Empire in 1648. Thus, the Czechs' and Slovaks' lands were divided between AustriaAustria
Austria , officially the Republic of Austria , is a landlocked country of roughly 8.4 million people in Central Europe. It is bordered by the Czech Republic and Germany to the north, Slovakia and Hungary to the east, Slovenia and Italy to the south, and Switzerland and Liechtenstein to the...
and Hungary
Hungary
Hungary , officially the Republic of Hungary , is a landlocked country in Central Europe. It is situated in the Carpathian Basin and is bordered by Slovakia to the north, Ukraine and Romania to the east, Serbia and Croatia to the south, Slovenia to the southwest and Austria to the west. The...
. This division remained even after the Austro-Hungarian Compromise of 1867, whereby the Dual Monarchy
Dual monarchy
Dual monarchy occurs when two separate kingdoms are ruled by the same monarch, follow the same foreign policy, exist in a customs union with each other and have a combined military but are otherwise self-governing...
of Austria-Hungary
Austria-Hungary
Austria-Hungary , more formally known as the Kingdoms and Lands Represented in the Imperial Council and the Lands of the Holy Hungarian Crown of Saint Stephen, was a constitutional monarchic union between the crowns of the Austrian Empire and the Kingdom of Hungary in...
was established.
In their respective Empires, Czechs and Slovaks lived under strongly different conditions. On the one hand, Czechs enjoyed a certain autonomy
Autonomy
Autonomy is a concept found in moral, political and bioethical philosophy. Within these contexts, it is the capacity of a rational individual to make an informed, un-coerced decision...
within Austria. Their culture and language could continue to live and expand, even though Czech remained mainly spoken by the peasantry. Moreover, they were represented in the Austrian Parliament
Reichsrat (Austria)
The Imperial Council of Austria from 1867 to 1918 was the parliament of the Cisleithanian part of the Austro-Hungarian Empire. It was a bicameral legislature, consisting of the Herrenhaus and the Abgeordnetenhaus...
.
In 1862, the Sokol
Sokol
The Sokol movement is a youth sport movement and gymnastics organization first founded in Czech region of Austria-Hungary, Prague, in 1862 by Miroslav Tyrš and Jindřich Fügner...
movement was founded in Prague. It played an important part in the Czech national revival
Czech National Revival
Czech National Revival was a cultural movement, which took part in the Czech lands during the 18th and 19th century. The purpose of this movement was to revive Czech language, culture and national identity...
and eventually extended to other Slavic countries (Sokół in Poland). Educated Czechs called for increased political participation. They wanted to have similar privileges as the Magyars, or Hungarians, and Germans, but were unable to form a united force. Thus, the Czech national movement was mostly suppressed.
On the other hand, Slovaks were living under harsher conditions in the Kingdom of Hungary. Having no political nor economic power, they were dominated by the Hungarians who tried to assimilated them through Magyarisation process as Slovak schools were closed. Under such conditions, the development of a national identity was much more complex and slower.
Having cultural ties with the Czechs, Slovaks were divided between associating with the Czechs or seeking for a separate existence. Moreover, the appeal of joining the Czechs was great since they considered Slovaks as members of their own people and often defended Slovak interests in the Austrian Parliament.
First Czechoslovak Republic
CzechoslovakismCzechoslovakism
Czechoslovakism is a term for the political and cultural conception of a unified Czechoslovak nation and disapproval of differentiating separate nations of Czechs and Slovaks. This nation was made ideologically for a newborn country, which needed to identify itself on national level...
was mainly a product of the First World War. The three founders of the Czechoslovak National Council, Masaryk, Beneš
Edvard Beneš
Edvard Beneš was a leader of the Czechoslovak independence movement, Minister of Foreign Affairs and the second President of Czechoslovakia. He was known to be a skilled diplomat.- Youth :...
, and Štefánik
Milan Rastislav Štefánik
Milan Rastislav Štefánik , Kingdom of Hungary – May 4, 1919 in Ivanka pri Dunaji, Czechoslovakia) was a Slovak politician, diplomat, and astronomer. During World War I, he was General of the French Army, at the same time the Czechoslovak Minister of War, one of the leading members of the...
, met in France, seeking for complete independence rather than only more autonomy in the Habsburg Empire. On 6 January 1918 Czech deputies in the Reichsrat
Reichsrat
There was a Reichsrat * Reichsrat * Reichsrat , in the Austrian part of Austria-Hungary * Reichsrat -See also:...
issued the ‘Twelfth Night Declaration’ demanding self-determination
Self-determination
Self-determination is the principle in international law that nations have the right to freely choose their sovereignty and international political status with no external compulsion or external interference...
for the Czechoslovaks. On October 28, the National Council seized power and Czechoslovakia
Czechoslovakia
Czechoslovakia or Czecho-Slovakia was a sovereign state in Central Europe which existed from October 1918, when it declared its independence from the Austro-Hungarian Empire, until 1992...
was created as a parliamentary democracy.
Besides the mutual feelings of unity among Czechs and Slovaks, there were also clear demographic incentives for creating Czechoslovakia. One in three of the population of the Czechs lands was Germans
Germans
The Germans are a Germanic ethnic group native to Central Europe. The English term Germans has referred to the German-speaking population of the Holy Roman Empire since the Late Middle Ages....
, most of them living in the Sudetenland
Sudetenland
Sudetenland is the German name used in English in the first half of the 20th century for the northern, southwest and western regions of Czechoslovakia inhabited mostly by ethnic Germans, specifically the border areas of Bohemia, Moravia, and those parts of Silesia being within Czechoslovakia.The...
region. The Czechs could not be confident of defending the new state against a German minority which constituted approximately a third of the population; association with the Slovaks would decrease the minority to just under a quarter and thus make it much more manageable. The Czechoslovak Constitution of 1920
Czechoslovak Constitution of 1920
After World War I, Czechoslovakia established itself and as a republic and democracy with the establishment of the Constitution of 1920. The constitution was adopted by the National Assembly on 29 February 1920 and replaced the provisional constitution adopted on 13 November 1918.The introduction...
identified the "Czechoslovak nation" as the creator and principal constituent of the Czechoslovak state and established the "Czechoslovak language
Czechoslovak language
The Czechoslovak language was a political sociolinguistic concept used in Czechoslovakia in 1920–1938 for the definition of the state language of the country which proclaimed its independence as the republic of two nations, Czechs and Slovaks.- Language legislation in the First Czechoslovak...
" as the official language. The concept of Czechoslovakism 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.
After World War I, the First Czechoslovak Republic was finally formed by combining the Czech lands
Czech lands
Czech lands is an auxiliary term used mainly to describe the combination of Bohemia, Moravia and Czech Silesia. Today, those three historic provinces compose the Czech Republic. The Czech lands had been settled by the Celts , then later by various Germanic tribes until the beginning of 7th...
, Upper Hungary
Upper Hungary
Upper Hungary is the usual English translation for the area that was historically the northern part of the Kingdom of Hungary, now mostly present-day Slovakia...
, and Carpathian Ruthenia
Carpathian Ruthenia
Carpathian Ruthenia is a region in Eastern Europe, mostly located in western Ukraine's Zakarpattia Oblast , with smaller parts in easternmost Slovakia , Poland's Lemkovyna and Romanian Maramureş.It is...
, which was annexed in 1919 due to the Allies
Allies of World War I
The Entente Powers were the countries at war with the Central Powers during World War I. The members of the Triple Entente were the United Kingdom, France, and the Russian Empire; Italy entered the war on their side in 1915...
’ pressure. If the desire for a Czechoslovak nation had been expressed for a long time, the Slovaks in the 1920s, nevertheless, felt resentment because they were proportionally less represented into the Czechoslovak administration. This, however, can be explained by the fact that, in the Austro-Kingdom of Hungary, the Czechs had the opportunity to develop an elite which could then lead the new country and that such an elite was totally absent in the Slovak population. Moreover, the formation of a Czechoslovak Hussite Church
Czechoslovak Hussite Church
The Czechoslovak Hussite Church is a Christian Church which separated from the Roman Catholic Church after World War I in former Czechoslovakia. It traces its tradition back to the Hussite reformers and acknowledges Jan Hus as its predecessor...
which conducted its services in Czech created large discontent. New national holidays, such as July 6, which commemorated the death of Czech reformer Jan Hus
Jan Hus
Jan Hus , often referred to in English as John Hus or John Huss, was a Czech priest, philosopher, reformer, and master at Charles University in Prague...
, created opposition within the Catholics. Also during the 1920s, the Slovaks became more and more literate, thus developing their own culture, and the structures promoting such a Slovak culture.
1938-1945: Nazi Regime and World War II
The resentment felt by the Slovak population was expressed by the growing support it gave to the Nazi regime and policies. Thus, when Adolf HitlerAdolf Hitler
Adolf Hitler was an Austrian-born German politician and the leader of the National Socialist German Workers Party , commonly referred to as the Nazi Party). He was Chancellor of Germany from 1933 to 1945, and head of state from 1934 to 1945...
decided to split Czechoslovakia, Slovaks showed little opposition. The Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia
Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia
The Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia was the majority ethnic-Czech protectorate which Nazi Germany established in the central parts of Bohemia, Moravia and Czech Silesia in what is today the Czech Republic...
was created, and Slovak State became a puppet state
Puppet state
A puppet state is a nominal sovereign of a state who is de facto controlled by a foreign power. The term refers to a government controlled by the government of another country like a puppeteer controls the strings of a marionette...
of Nazi Germany
Nazi Germany
Nazi Germany , also known as the Third Reich , but officially called German Reich from 1933 to 1943 and Greater German Reich from 26 June 1943 onward, is the name commonly used to refer to the state of Germany from 1933 to 1945, when it was a totalitarian dictatorship ruled by...
. However, Slovaks soon realized that this clearly meant Nazi domination and control, not real independence. The Slovak National Uprising
Slovak National Uprising
The Slovak National Uprising or 1944 Uprising was an armed insurrection organized by the Slovak resistance movement during World War II. It was launched on August 29 1944 from Banská Bystrica in an attempt to overthrow the collaborationist Slovak State of Jozef Tiso...
in 1944 was suppressed by Nazi Germany, but guerrilla warfare continued until the Soviet Army liberated Slovakia in 1945.
Soviet regime
Following the defeat of the Nazis and the end of the Second World War, Czechoslovakia was restored as a unitary state. After the Czechoslovak coup d'état of 1948Czechoslovak coup d'état of 1948
The Czechoslovak coup d'état of 1948 – in Communist historiography known as "Victorious February" – was an event late that February in which the Communist Party of Czechoslovakia, with Soviet backing, assumed undisputed control over the government of Czechoslovakia, ushering in over four decades...
, the Slovak independence movement was suppressed and the Communist Party of Slovakia
Communist Party of Slovakia (1939)
The Communist Party of Slovakia was a communist party in Slovakia. It was formed in March 1939, when the Slovak Republic was created, as the Slovak branches of the Communist Party of Czechoslovakia were separated from the mother party...
incorporated into the Communist Party of Czechoslovakia
Communist Party of Czechoslovakia
The Communist Party of Czechoslovakia, in Czech and in Slovak: Komunistická strana Československa was a Communist and Marxist-Leninist political party in Czechoslovakia that existed between 1921 and 1992....
. In addition, Slovak communists who favoured a unitary state were installed in power. The most important change in the 1960 Constitution of Czechoslovakia
1960 Constitution of Czechoslovakia
The Constitution of the Czechoslovak Socialist Republic , promulgated on 11 July 1960 as the constitutional law 100/1960 Sb., codified the Communist regime in Czechoslovakia...
was that it severely limited the autonomy granted to Slovakia. This provision was the decision of President Antonín Novotný
Antonín Novotný
Antonín Novotný was General Secretary of the Communist Party of Czechoslovakia from 1953 to 1968, and also held the post of President of Czechoslovakia from 1957 to 1968. He was born in Letňany, now part of Prague....
. The executive branch of the Slovak government was abolished and its duties assigned to the Presidium of the Slovak National Council
Slovak National Council
The Slovak National Council is the name of different types of supreme bodies in the history of Slovakia. They existed within the Kingdom of Hungary, Czechoslovakia or the Slovak Republic or were bodies of Slovak exiles:...
, thus combining executive and legislative functions into a single body. The legislative National Assembly was given authority to overrule decisions of the Slovak National Council, and central government agencies took over the administration of the major organs of Slovak local government.
The situation changed under Nikita Khrushchev
Nikita Khrushchev
Nikita Sergeyevich Khrushchev led the Soviet Union during part of the Cold War. He served as First Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union from 1953 to 1964, and as Chairman of the Council of Ministers, or Premier, from 1958 to 1964...
’s leadership. The new General Secretary had a very different perspective about nationalities and decided to rehabilitate Slovak nationalists. Moreover, the purges and destalinization process of the 1950s caused the revival of Slovak nationalism. On the one hand, many Slovaks had been purged from the Party, and on the other hand, the destalinization process asked for more concessions and compromises. Intellectuals began to have ideas of federalism. The Prague Spring
Prague Spring
The Prague Spring was a period of political liberalization in Czechoslovakia during the era of its domination by the Soviet Union after World War II...
in 1968 was followed by a period of normalization
Normalization (Czechoslovakia)
In the history of Czechoslovakia, normalization is a name commonly given to the period 1969 to about 1987. It was characterized by initial restoration of the conditions prevailing before the reform period led by Alexander Dubček , first of all, the firm rule of the Communist Party of...
, sometimes called Husakism
Husakism
Husakism is an ideology connected with the Communist Slovak and Czechoslovak politician Gustáv Husák. It has two different meanings. First it was used by Karol Bacílek to denounce the alleged "bourgeois nationalism" of Husák in 1950s...
after Gustáv Husák
Gustáv Husák
Gustáv Husák was a Slovak politician, president of Czechoslovakia and a long-term Communist leader of Czechoslovakia and of the Communist Party of Czechoslovakia...
. Thus, in October 1968, Czechoslovakia amended the 1960 Constitution by the Constitutional Law of Federation
Constitutional Law of Federation
The Constitutional Law of Federation was a constitutional law in Czechoslovakia adopted on 27 October 1968 and in force from 1969 – 1992, by which the unitary Czechoslovak state was turned into a federation.-Federation:...
. The Slovaks were recognized as a separate nation and were given their own governmental bodies, namely the Slovak national council and the board of commissioners.
Velvet Revolution and divorce
With the Velvet RevolutionVelvet Revolution
The Velvet Revolution or Gentle Revolution was a non-violent revolution in Czechoslovakia that took place from November 17 – December 29, 1989...
of 1989 and the end of the Soviet Union, the historic differences between the Czechs and the Slovaks came back. Those were mainly expressed through different political and economic viewpoints. While Slovaks were more attached and committed to state welfare and ownership, Czechs were wishing for a quick change to the western model of capitalism
Capitalism
Capitalism is an economic system that became dominant in the Western world following the demise of feudalism. There is no consensus on the precise definition nor on how the term should be used as a historical category...
. Moreover, there were intense debates on renaming the country, which various hyphened versions of Czechoslovakia. In addition, the system of checks and balances set up by the constitution made it possible for Slovak autonomists to bloc political institutions from functioning.
On July 17, 1992, the Slovak national council adopted Slovakia’s declaration of sovereignty, and major constitutional changes gave the Slovaks their own state, which they had desired for a long time. The peaceful dissolution of Czechoslovakia
Dissolution of Czechoslovakia
The dissolution of Czechoslovakia, which took effect on 1 January 1993, was an event that saw the self-determined separation of the federal state of Czechoslovakia. The Czech Republic and Slovakia, entities which had arisen in 1969 within the framework of Czechoslovak federalisation, became...
led to the establishment of the Czech and Slovak Federative Republics.
Languages
Czech and Slovak remain very similar languages. At the time of their formation, Czech and Slovak were actually the same. They both come from Church Slavonic, the original language of Slav tribes and transformed into a literary language by Saints Cyril and MethodiusSaints Cyril and Methodius
Saints Cyril and Methodius were two Byzantine Greek brothers born in Thessaloniki in the 9th century. They became missionaries of Christianity among the Slavic peoples of Bulgaria, Great Moravia and Pannonia. Through their work they influenced the cultural development of all Slavs, for which they...
, who brought Christianity to Eastern Europe
Eastern Europe
Eastern Europe is the eastern part of Europe. The term has widely disparate geopolitical, geographical, cultural and socioeconomic readings, which makes it highly context-dependent and even volatile, and there are "almost as many definitions of Eastern Europe as there are scholars of the region"...
. However, spoken Czech is today very different from Slavonic, due to the many reforms, notably those of Jan Hus. As for Slovak, it consists of many dialects. Those from the Western part resemble to Czech and those from the East are more similar to Slavonic. Differences between the Czech and Slovak languages can also be explained by the Magyarisation of Slovak which occurred mainly in the 19th Century. However, even though Czech and Slovak are different languages, in most cases both Czech and Slovaks can easily understand each other, speaking their own language. Nevertheless, language is an important stone of the Czech and Slovak societies. Thus, knowledge of language is a requirement for the acquisition of citizenship.
Religions
The Bohemian population was mainly Protestant. Today, however, it is mostly non-religious. The Moravian and Slovak populations are mainly Catholic
Catholic
The word catholic comes from the Greek phrase , meaning "on the whole," "according to the whole" or "in general", and is a combination of the Greek words meaning "about" and meaning "whole"...
. However, Czechoslovakia is truly a mosaic of diverse religions.
Citizenship laws
After the Velvet Divorce, laws about citizenship became clearer with the new constitutions. During the Soviet Regime, there was not much place for the rule of law. The rights and duties of citizens were similar to other socialist states, an included the right to serve in the military and the right to work. If the citizens clearly had no recognized political rights, they were, however, able to organize and get some political impact through the civil society, highly developed in Czechoslovakia. Moreover, the Beneš DecreesBeneš decrees
Decrees of the President of the Republic , more commonly known as the Beneš decrees, were a series of laws that were drafted by the Czechoslovak Government-in-Exile in the absence of the Czechoslovak parliament during the German occupation of Czechoslovakia in World War II and issued by President...
were very discriminatory against the German and Hungarian minorities of Czechoslovakia, who could not be granted citizenship. Emphasis was thus put on the unitary character of Czechoslovakia.