Czechoslovak Republic Československá Republika[a] | |||||||||||
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1918–1939 1939–1945 Government-in-exile 1945–1992 | |||||||||||
Motto: 'Pravda vítězí / Pravda víťazí' (Czech / Slovak, 1918–1990) 'Veritas vincit' (Latin, 1990–1992) 'La vérité vaincra' (French, unofficial) 'Truth prevails' | |||||||||||
Anthem: 'Kde domov můj' (Czech) and 'Nad Tatrou sa blýska' (Slovak) | |||||||||||
![]() Czechoslovakia during the interwar period and the Cold War | |||||||||||
Capital and largest city | Prague 50°05′N 14°25′E / 50.083°N 14.417°E | ||||||||||
Official languages | Czechoslovak, after 1948 Czech · Slovak | ||||||||||
Recognised languages | |||||||||||
Demonym(s) | Czechoslovak | ||||||||||
Government | First Republic (1918–38) Second Republic (1938–39) Third Republic (1945–48) Socialist Republic (1948–89) Federative Republic (1990–92) Details
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President | |||||||||||
• 1918–1935 | Tomáš G. Masaryk | ||||||||||
• 1935–1938 · 1945–1948 | Edvard Beneš | ||||||||||
• 1938–1939 | Emil Hácha | ||||||||||
• 1948–1953 | Klement Gottwald | ||||||||||
• 1953–1957 | Antonín Zápotocký | ||||||||||
• 1957–1968 | Antonín Novotný | ||||||||||
• 1968–1975 | Ludvík Svoboda | ||||||||||
• 1976–1989 | Gustáv Husák | ||||||||||
• 1989–1992 | Václav Havel | ||||||||||
KSČ General Secretary / First Secretary | |||||||||||
• 1948–1953 | Klement Gottwald | ||||||||||
• 1953–1968 | Antonín Novotný | ||||||||||
• 1968–1969 | Alexander Dubček | ||||||||||
• 1969–1987 | Gustáv Husák | ||||||||||
• 1987–1989 | Miloš Jakeš | ||||||||||
Prime Minister | |||||||||||
• 1918–1919 (first) | Karel Kramář | ||||||||||
• 1992 (last) | Jan Stráský | ||||||||||
Legislature | 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) | ||||||||||
History | |||||||||||
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 | |||||||||||
HDI (1990 formula) | 0.897[1] very high | ||||||||||
Currency | Czechoslovak koruna | ||||||||||
Driving side | left (Pre 1939) right (Post 1939) | ||||||||||
Calling code | +42 | ||||||||||
Internet TLD | .cs | ||||||||||
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Today part of | |||||||||||
Calling code +42 was withdrawn in the winter of 1997. The number range was divided between the Czech Republic (+420) and Slovak Republic (+421). Current ISO 3166-3 code is "CSHH". |
Czechoslovakia[2] (/ˌtʃɛkoʊsloʊˈvæki.ə, ˈtʃɛkə-, -slə-, -ˈvɑː-/ CHEK-oh-sloh-VAK-ee-ə, CHEK-ə-, -slə-, -VAH-;[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 with a predominantly Polish population 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.
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 when the Soviet Union, assisted by other Warsaw Pact countries, invaded Czechoslovakia. 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]
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