CHAPTER I
Since the migration of nations, the history of Central Europe has been connected with the history of the Slavs, the predecessors of today's Czechs and Slovaks. These predecessors settled in the territory of Czechoslovakia, i.e., the present territory of Bohemia, Moravia and Slovakia, before the sixth century. The first preserved accounts of the Slavonic empire of Sámo date back to the seventh century, about 623-624. This was not a true state formation as Sámo was only the ruler of the united Slavonic tribes, nevertheless it drew the attention of contemporary chroniclers because of its successful warfare with its neighbors, the Avars and Franconians. The first state formation in this region was the Great Moravian Empire. The Moravians are mentioned for the first time in a written account of 822; eleven years later the name of their prince was mentioned.
In its period of peak prosperity, the Great Moravian Empire reached over the territories of its present neighbors--Austria, Hungary and Poland. It was the most important state formation lying between the Franconian Empire in the west and the Byzantine to the southeast. While its connections with the Byzantine Empire were friendly, there were wars with the Franconians. These were the roots of the later continuingly tense relationships between the Slovanic and Germanic ethnic groups in Central Europe, a relationship which has affected Czech history till the present time. A result of the good contacts with the Byzantine Empire was the mission of Cyril and Method to the Great Moravian Empire. This mission was the beginning of the nation's cultural history. These two learned, religious men--brothers from Thessalonike, Konstantin (Cyril) and Method--translated the liturgical texts into the language of the Slavs; in this way laying the foundation-stone for a national literature and culture, and, in essence, for an ideology for the formation of a state.(1)
Still, before the definite fall of the Great Moravian Empire, the Czech princes had already broken away. From among them, in the tenth century, the Pemyslides came to the fore, thereby laying the foundations of the Czech state. In the late twelfth century, Pemysl I Otakar became king and the lands of the Czech Crown became among the most important states of Europe at that time. Prince Václav (Wenceslaus), who died in 935, was declared a saint and became the patron saint of the Czech lands. He died a martyr, killed by his own brother who disliked his policy of appeasement toward the German Empire. The veneration of Wenceslaus later became a two-edged weapon. At first, it served particularly the Pemyslides as an ideological support. The patron of the dynasty was St. Wenceslaus, the Duke of Bohemia, and his symbol was the lance, the attribute of a warrior. Later, Wenceslaus the warrior became Wenceslaus the martyr as the Church stressed Wenceslaus' martyrdom for religious purposes. In the seventh century, Wenceslaus, as a Catholic, receded into the background, and, in the early eighteenth century, he was nearly completely replaced by St. John of Nepomuký, an otherwise insignificant victim of disputes among the powerful of the late fourteenth century. The Germans later revived the cult of St. Wenceslaus as a friend of the German Empire; they attempted to force this on the Czechs instead of other saints. These endeavors were strongest during the German occupation in the period 1939-1945. St. Wenceslaus became truly the Czech patron again in the 1980s when he served as a symbol of resistance against the communists.
Other important Pemyslides were Pemysl II Otakar (who ruled 1253-1278) and his successors. At that time, the Czech Kingdom expanded and included, for a time, the territory of present Austria and other countries to the south down to the Adriatic Sea, as well as the territories of Hungary and Poland. However, the acquisition of these territories proved to be problematic and in the end they became more a burden than a contribution to the Czech Crown. The great authority of Pemysl II Otakar, the "iron and gold king", actually prevented his becoming emperor, because none of his neighbors wanted to enhance the power of so forceful a ruler.
After the Pemyslides died out (1306), John Luxembourg became the Czech king (1310), beginning a new and very important stage in Czech history. The Czech kingdom could lean upon the authority of John's father, Henry VII, the Roman king. However, it was undoubtedly John's son and successor to the throne, Charles IV, who made the greatest contribution (1346-1378). A great politician, he was also the emperor of the Holy Roman Empire and succeeded in incorporating the Czech Kingdom into the European political system of the time. Charles IV ensured a dignified positive relationship of the Czechs to the German Empire. He made Prague, his seat city, a truly cosmopolitan center of culture, intellectual pursuits and economic enterprise. In 1348 he founded a university in Prague, the first of its kind in Central Europe which, from the very beginning, had faculties of philosophy, law, medicine and theology. The frontier which Charles IV had ensured for the Bohemian Crown did not change for 400 years.
The evaluation of Charles IV by the historians was very controversial, as is true of all great personalities of history. The Czechs consider him to be the Father of their country, while the Germans call him the Papist king. Although the latter is farther from the truth, it should be noted that Charles' religion brought many religious orders to Bohemia and enabled them to be engaged in trading and business activities, preparing thereby the ground for the later reformation of the Church. The Hussite revolutionary movement originated particularly from the denunciation of the Church religious orders which expanded greatly in the rich Czech lands. The criticism by Jan Huss (who was burned at the stake in 1415 after being sentenced to death by the Council of Constance), Jakoubek of Stíbro and other representatives of the Czech reformation was intended initially to be a means of reformation within the Church. In the hands of popular radicals, however, it became a tool which brought to life the greatest heretical movement in Europe at that time. Even in France and England, at that time fully occupied with the 100-year war, the Hussite movement was well known. Joan of Arc wrote a letter in her own hand to the Hussites (a hostile letter, of course).
The Hussite period is yet to be thoroughly evaluated, even though much has been written about it. As all the other revolutionary periods, it was neither univocally positive, nor univocally negative. Opinions coming from the outside are different than those from within, and it is perceived differently by historians of the Church and by historians of culture. What is important is that this period, like no other period before or after, ensured world fame for the Czechs. It gave them a feeling of being exceptional: Czechs contra omnes. It also proved that the definition of the Czech character as "dove-like" is a recent designation, manifesting the Czech feeling of pain after loss of their own state. Traditionally, the Czechs of the early fifteenth century were regarded as outstanding warriors.
However, the following period interrupted this promising tradition. It is true that a great king arose, George of Podbrady, a significant personality, elected in 1458 from the Bohemian Estates. On a European scale, however, this ruler was not so significant as the domestic historians have wished to present him. His peace incentives generally were not considered highly and, in particular, he did not succeed in breaking the barrier which the Church had built around the heretic Czech lands. His rule was a struggle for the preservation of the Czech Kingdom, not for improving his position. He represented the last resistance against the gradually growing agony of the Czech state which began with the ascension of the House of Habsburgs to the Czech throne in 1526. Ferdinand, the brother of Emperor Charles V, was the first sovereign to become Czech King only incidentally. The Czech throne to which he was elected was for him only a part of a widely conceived territory, which included also the Austrian and Alpine countries and Hungary. The ambitions of Ferdinand were those of a visionary European politician who did not intend to bind his hands for the limited local policy of the Bohemian Estates.
After the incorporation of the Czech lands into the alliances of Habsburg countries, it was only a matter of time until the striving of the Bohemian Estates for an independent policy would become subject to the centralization efforts of Vienna. However, the Czech politicians tended to underestimate their adversaries. As the interests of the nobles and of the cities, of the Catholics and the "Calixtins" or Utraquists(2), were contradictory, the interests of the individual lands of the Bohemian Crown were different. This disunity led to the disruption of Czech society and, in the end, to the extinction of the Czech State. In spite of this, the domestic politicians considered the hostile activities of the German Habsburgs, to be the main cause. At that time the Czech image of the world was formed: What is good is an Utraquist Czech, what is bad is a Catholic German. It is true that this scheme did not apply consistently even at the time of its origin, but it was adamantly preserved in the subconsciousness (even of politicians) for the following 300 years as a part of the political tradition.
Two unsuccessful uprisings of the Estates against the Habsburgs (in the mid-sixteenth century and in 1618) ended in the complete loss of rights of the Czech Crown. The lost battle of White Mountain in 1620, in substance a completely insignificant skirmish at the beginning of the Thirty Year War, became a symbol of this humiliation. The following period, in which Czech lands were under the pressure of Germanization and completely subordinate to Vienna, is called the post-White-Mountain period. In retrospect, it was a period when the "dark night" settled upon the Czech people. The Czech language was suppressed, the inhabitants were forcibly Catholicized (see the above-mentioned John of Nepomucký). This meant not only the restriction of political and economic freedom, but also of cultural development. This total oppression led to the exile of thousands of Czech people, though this had multiple reasons. Among those who were forced to leave their country at that time was Karel Starí of erotín, a significant politician; Václav Hollar, painter and engraver; and Jan Amos Komenský (Comenius), philosopher, diplomat and prophet of education.
The Czech lands suffered great losses at that time, but in the following period this time came to be viewed in even more dismal colors than it appeared to it contemporaries. Most controversial in this regard was the issue of culture. In the Czech lands the development of baroque was very creative, integrating many regional themes. This proved that baroque was very much alive and not simply imported in a final rigid form. This is true not only of architecture--the architectural beauty of present-day Prague is mostly baroque. South-Bohemian baroque is significant in ethnography and the history of the arts including sculpture and painting, music and even literature.
A notable national revival began at the turn of the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, reached its peak in the mid-nineteenth century and overlapped the period of great development in the social sciences and economy. In its beginning this brought to the Czech lands the strong influence of West-European Enlightenment, even though it did not take root in this environment because of its cosmopolitan search for novelty. Subsequently, the concepts of "nation" and "nationality" were formulated in a modern manner, history was studied from a different aspect (not only purely politically and dynastically) and even politics acquired new dimensions after the onset of liberal and even revolutionary democratic currents. Most of the present Czech concepts of tradition, nation, historical continuity and development, and political heritage have their origin at this time.
How did the Czech national revival, in the context of the revival movement in all Europe, define the concept of the Czech nation? The new definition naturally included historical frontiers, a unified history and culture, and one common language. On this basis, in fact, the Czech nation, which was endangered by Germanization under the Austrian monarchy, was redefined. Along with the idea of nation there was nostalgia for the lost state.
The situation was even more complicated for the Slovaks who were also faced with the danger of de-nationalization for the Slovaks had no historical consciousness of a past state, having been always simply an "Hungarian upper land". At that time the mutual Czecho-Slovak relationships began to form. These had never existed before because of their completely different histories and cultural influences. The Slovak national revival was highly related to the Czech cultural tradition because the Slovaks lacked anything similar. If the Czechs struggled for their own state through the struggle for their language, the Slovaks strove only to save their language and culture.
The political situation of the mid-19th century was very complex and controversial. The radicals rejected the German language, the Germans and the Austrians, Austria and the Habsburgs, in the revolution of 1848-1849. However, the realistic wing of Czech politicians leaned toward the idea of Austroslavism which Frantiek Palacký (1798-1876), politician and the most important Czech historian, articulated thus: "If there were no Austria, we would have to create it."(3)
This was not an attempt, as has sometimes been mistakenly interpreted, to subordinate completely Czech politics to German supervision; on the contrary, it was an effort to ensure an important position for the Czechs in the Austrian State. Their politics would be the balance point for the intersection of powers passing through Central Europe. In practice this meant following Austrian politics when convenient, and abandoning them in hostile times. To this were added cautious efforts to resist the centralization of the state and efforts for dual arrangements of the government by maintaining, if possible, a balanced federation. This concept (based on another quotation of Palacký: "We existed before Austria and we shall exist after") was dealt a blow when the dualistic variant of government was accepted in 1867 and later by the strengthening of the power of the central authorities.
At that time, however, the Austrian-Hungarian Empire was losing one battle after another and Czech politics was finally able to show its capabilities. It was also given an opportunity during World War I which resulted in the constitution of an independent Czechoslovakia. This constitution was not only a historical necessity; it was also the work of the Czechoslovak politicians abroad, and of such other factors as the importance of the Austrian government, the interests of the Western powers, and, last but not least, the Great October Revolution in Russia which changed the attitudes of politicians toward Russia and called for a shield across Central Europe.
On October 28, 1918, the Czechs finally reached the longed-for independence they had lacked for 300 years. The Slovaks were offered the possibility of joining them on condition of a preference for the state and not the nation. This was partly a concession to the active foreign policy of Milan Rastislav tefánik, the astronomer, soldier and Slovak diplomat who, together with Masaryk and Bene, contributed greatly to the constitution of an independent Czechoslovak State. The issue of Carpathian Ruthenia was similar to Slovakia, it being joined to Czechoslovakia without any interest on the part of the Czech politicians.
In spite of the radical transformation of political life, it appeared that the Czech propensity to tradition would be triumphant. In the heritage of the Republic there remained much more from the old Austrian Empire than its heirs were willing to admit. In the first place, it remained a multi-national state with strong national minorities (in comparison with the 2.5 million Slovaks, there were 3.5 million Germans), that is, with the same maladies as the Austrian-Hungarian Empire. Although only a few years before the Czechs had condemned the insensitive Austrian-Hungarian national policy, now they had to act similarly in order to maintain the existence of a strong state against centrifugal tendencies. The problem of nationalities was one of the most important problems disturbing the First Republic.
The "men of 28 October" came to the fore in Czech politics, particularly Tomá Garrigue Masaryk who was not only a competent and realistic politician, but also a philosopher and sociologist.(4)
The Czechoslovak Republic generally was considered to be an oasis of democracy in Central Europe up to the 30s when it was surrounded by fascist and semi-fascist countries. Its democracy, however, had some peculiarities. If we admit that the degree of democracy is determined not only by the magnitude of various freedoms, but also by the ability of the system to take care of the weakest part of the population, then Czechoslovakia was not an ideal country. One of the main factors in maintaining democracy was the personality of T.G. Masaryk who was not only a president for many of the citizens of the Republic, but also their "dear father", and, for many philosophers, in many respects also an arbiter. How content he was with this role is another issue and a somewhat paradoxical situation arose when the purity of the democracy was defended by the not very "democratic" means of a personality which thus became the guarantee of rule by the people.
The 20 years of the existence of the Czechoslovak Republic was also a period of relatively successful economic development. Alois Raín, the minister of finance, began this economic development by separating from the Austrian inflation by closing the frontiers and introducing duty stamps. His successors, too, fought for a strong currency so that a devaluation of the crown did not have to be made until several years later after great struggles against an economic crisis which was much worse in Czechoslovakia than in other countries and lasted longer (from 1929 to 1934). It was deeper because Czechoslovakia, as a producer of consumer goods, was dependent on large and potential markets which disappeared during the general economic crisis.
The unsolved nationality problems included the traditional problems of the relations of the Czechs with the Germans, but also Hungarians, Ruthenians and Poles, and, last but not least, the Czecho-Slovak relationship. Even though the official governing idea was that of Czechoslovakism, meaning not only one nation, but even only one language (in Bohemia and Moravia it was the Czech language, and in Slovakia the Slovak language), under the lid feelings were boiling. Dissatisfaction grew particularly on the part of the weaker Slovak population which frequently stated that the Hungarian oppressor had only been exchanged for a Czech bully. Different problems, cultural, economic and political, combined into one. The Slovak party was quite obstinate in its weakness, and the Czechs were not capable of being broadminded enough, in spite of their strength. These disputes between the two main nations of the First Republic contributed, to a certain extent, to its break up in 1939.
However, the most important reason for the fall of independent Czechoslovakia was her powerful neighbor in the west, Germany and its "Drang nach Osten", where Czechoslovakia stood in the way. In the decisive period of September, 1938, the Western powers lost their morality in a duel with pragmatism. In Munich, France and Britain sacrificed Czechoslovakia to Germany in the interests of an expected preservation of peace. However, the aggressor was not satisfied; his major orgies were only postponed for a short time. The Czechoslovak Republic thus became, without fighting, the second victim after Austria of the German expansion.
The Munich treaty in September, 1938, and the subsequent occupation, first of the borderlands and then of the remaining part of Czechoslovakia (in March, 1939, of the Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia, on the one hand, and of the Slovak State, on the other) was an essential turning point in the country's history.(5)
It was also a turning point in political thinking, and not only of professional politicians. The idea of retaliation for Munich and safeguarding against its repetition did appear, but many politicians suffered from a defeatist Munich complex. The political representation was headed by Dr. Edvard Bene who had been a key co-operator with Masaryk and tefáník in the creation of the Czechoslovak State. During the whole period of the First Republic he was Minister of Foreign Affairs and the spiritual father of the grand conception of Czechoslovak foreign policy, which included not only the allied block of the Small Entente, but also ambitious plans for allied cooperation with the Great Powers of Europe. As Masaryk's closest collaborator, Dr. Bene naturally became his successor as president. The Munich disaster became his own personal failure from which he never recovered either as politician or as a person.(6)
The period of the Protectorate under German rule (1939-1945) was one of the worst periods for the Czech nation and changed people's thinking. The hopes of most of the people gradually turned to the east. In the west were the allied powers which had betrayed them, but help could still be expected to come from the USSR. And come it did. The victory of the Red Army over Fascism greatly strengthened the prestige of the Communist Party. The idea of a Slavonic brotherhood standing against the German enemies was renewed. In sum, this meant that after the defeat of fascism in 1945, it was not possible merely to link up with the preceding development and continue in the traditions of the pre-Munich Republic.
The political climate had changed, not only within the country, but also in world politics. The Soviet Union had become the most important ally of the anti-Hitler coalition. Along with the USA, it began to aspire to the role of super-power. The so-called period of the Third Republic (1945-1948) was marked by great irresoluteness on the part of many non-communist politicians and parties against the concentrated attacks of the communists on the positions of power. In this, the Communist Party was supported by other political parties and even by President Bene himself. Czechoslovak politics was closely connected with Soviet politics, and this was associated with gradual economic, cultural and other connections. Under these influences, Czechoslovakia disclaimed participation in the Marshall Plan, sacrificed Carpathian Ruthenia to the USSR, and finally sacrificed even the independence of its foreign and, consequently, also its home affairs. The result (particularly after February, 1948) was the following of the Soviet model of political totalitarianism, including political judicial procedures.
The development in Slovakia at that time was very interesting. During World War II, Slovakia was a satellite of Germany with a clerical-fascist government. However, Slovakia was the first part of Czechoslovakia to be liberated by the Red Army, and so the popularity of the Communist Party increased there, though not as much as in the Czech lands. In 1946, the Communist Party of Czechoslovakia won the elections in the Czech lands. In Slovakia, however, the Democratic Party, in which all the other political movements were grouped from an originally quite wide spectrum, won by a two-thirds majority. This situation again disqualified the Slovaks, this time in the eyes of the Czech Communists. Not only cultural and economic backwardness, but now also political backwardness were attributed to Slovakia. Hence, although the concept of Czechoslovakism was abolished, the inequality of Slovakia persisted. The so-called aid for backward Slovakia did not heal the causes, but only the symptoms, of its delayed development.
The communist coup d'etat in 1948 was essentially only the logical result of the preceding development. The removal of the differences in the policies of the individual parties by incorporating them into a unified National Front deprived them of their defensive reflexes; the concessions made by Bene only finished this work of destruction. The repressive character of the regime deepened very early: the proclaimed democratic centralism liquidated all democracy in favor of centralism. The nationalization of industry and collectivization in agriculture were to create preconditions for the building of socialism. In the first place, it led the economy into dependence on Soviet economy and/or the other socialist countries of the Comecon. Political pressure also affected culture. The twentieth Congress of the Communist Party of the USSR, which revealed the causes and implications of the personality cult in the USSR, did not lead to any essential changes in Czechoslovak politics. At a time when, logically, the greatest doubts about correctness of the current direction should have arisen, Czechoslovakia was proclaimed a socialist republic (1960).
At that time, however, certain powers began to appear demanding that the political direction be revised. At first, the critics concentrated on economic problems, though culture also was criticized, for instance in the Congress of Writers in 1967. These criticisms were voiced not only from among Communists, but also by the so-called citizens' incentives. The reformist wing of the Communist Party gradually managed to take control. The peak of these activities was the general assembly in January, 1968, where changes in the supreme party and state organs were carried out. However, then came August, 1968, and the occupation of Czechoslovakia by the Soviet and other armies. The communist leaders of Czechoslovakia failed to stand up to the pressure of Soviet politics, nor was the international situation yet ripe for such a confrontation.
In the following period of "normalization", those who had voiced their own opinions were persecuted, be they communists or representatives of other parties, intelligentsia or ordinary citizens. The result was a further devastation of the economy, the social sphere and culture. Since the early 70s, all contacts with the surrounding world were rapidly broken. Czechoslovakia very consistently followed the Soviet model and isolated herself from the world. Czechoslovakia became a preserve into which it was very difficult to penetrate and even more difficult to leave.
Together with the tightening screws of "normalization", the weakness and inability of the leading politicians became more and more evident. Resistance grew, at home and abroad, particularly among the young, the intellectuals and the artists. The opposition to the regime this time was concentrated outside the Communist Party, in the spirit of a new Eastern Europe which set in 1989. For Czechoslovakia, November 17, 1989, was the date of the first step toward a new freedom.
On the 1st of January 1993, Czechoslovakia (the Czech and Slovak Federal Republic) was divided into two independent states--the Czech Republic (involving Bohemia, Moravia and Silesia) and the Slovak Republic.