Czechoslovakia

Czechoslovakia (Czech language: ''Československo'', Slovak language: ''Česko-Slovensko''/before 1990 ''Československo'') was a country in Central Europe that existed from 1918 until 1992 (except for the World War II period). On January 1, 1993, it peacefully split into the Czech Republic and Slovakia, in what was known as the ''Velvet Divorce'', by analogy with the Velvet Revolution.

Československo

	Coat of Arms (see Czechoslovakia#Coat of Arms)
(Flag of Czechoslovakia)

National motto: (1918–1989) Pravda v�těz� ''(Czech: Truth prevails)''
(1989–1992) Veritas Vincit
''(Latin: Truth prevails)''

Official languages

Czech language and Slovak language

Capital

Prague

Area (1991)

127,900 km�

Population (1991)

15,600,000
Czechs 54.1%, Slovaks 31%, Moravians 8.7%, Hungarians 3.8%, Gypsies 0.7%

Currency

Koruna (Kčs) = 100 halers

Time zone

UTC+1

National anthem

Kde domov můj + Nad Tatrou sa bl�ska

ISO 3166-1

CS (obsolete)

Top-level domain

.cs (obsolete, as .cz and .sk were assigned to the two countries resulting from the split)

== Basic characteristics == Form of state: *1918–1968 (except for 1938–1945): a centralized country; *1969–1992: a federal republic consisting of the ''Czech Socialist Republic'' (1990–1992: Czech Republic) and the ''Slovak Socialist Republic'' (1990–1992: Slovak Republic); *1918–1939 and 1945–1948 and 1990–1992: a democratic republic *1939–1945: split into the Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia and the WWII Slovak Republic (the so-called Slovak state) *1948–1989: a Communist country with a centrally planned economy Neighbors: Germany (1945–1990: West Germany and East Germany), Poland, Soviet Union (1992: Ukraine), Romania (until 1939), Hungary, Austria Topography: Generally irregular terrain. Western area is part of north-central European uplands. Eastern region is composed of northern reaches of Carpathian Mountains and Danube Basin lands. Climate: Predominantly continental but varied from moderate temperatures of Western Europe in the west to more severe weather systems affecting Eastern Europe and the western Soviet Union in the east. ==Official names== *1918–1920: Czecho-Slovak Republic or Czechoslovak Republic (abbreviated RČS); short form Czecho-Slovakia or rarely Czechoslovakia *1920–1938 and 1945–1960: Czechoslovak Republic (ČSR [initially abbreviated RČS]); short form Czechoslovakia *1938–1939: Czecho-Slovak Republic; Czecho-Slovakia *1960–1990: Czechoslovak Socialist Republic (ČSSR); Czechoslovakia *April 1990: Czechoslovak Federative Republic (Czech version) and Czecho-Slovak Federative Republic (Slovak version), *afterwards: Czech and Slovak Federative Republic (ČSFR, with the short forms Czechoslovakia (Czech version) and Czecho-Slovakia (Slovak version)) ==Coat of arms== :1920–1945: [http://193.85.166.213/historie/znaky/cs18znm.gif] small version, [http://193.85.166.213/historie/znaky/cs18zns.gif] middle version, [http://193.85.166.213/historie/znaky/cs18znv.gif] big version :1945–1960: [http://193.85.166.213/historie/znaky/cs18znm.gif] :1960–1990: [http://193.85.166.213/historie/znaky/cs60znm.gif] :1990–1992: [http://193.85.166.213/historie/znaky/cs90zn.gif] == History == ''Main article'': History of Czechoslovakia Czechoslovakia arose in October 1918 as one of the succession states of Austria-Hungary at the end of World War I. It consisted of the present-day territories of the Czech Republic, Slovakia and (until 1939/29 June 1945) the Carpathian Ruthenia (Carpatho-Ukraine). It's territory included some of the most industrialized regions of the former Austria-Hungary, it was a democratic republic throughout the pre-World War II period, but was characterized by ethnic problems. The ethnic problems were due to the fact that the second and third largest ethnic groups (ethnic German and Slovaks, respectively) were not fully satisfied with the political and economic dominance of the Czechs, and that the Germans and Hungarians of Czechoslovakia never really accepted the creation of the new state. Czechoslovakia was to become Hitler's target. After the Munich Agreement of 1938, Hitler's troops occupied the ethnic-German border regions of Bohemia and Moravia (the Sudetenland), Hungary received territory in southern Slovakia, and the Slovak and Ruthene regions received an autonomous status for a while. Finally Czechoslovakia ceased to exist in March 1939, when Hitler occupied remainder of the Bohemian lands and (the remaining) Slovakia was forced to declare independence. During the Second World War the Bohemian lands were designated the Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia and were ruled directly by the German state. The newly independent Slovak state became an ally of Nazi Germany. Slovakia's troops fought on the Russian front until the summer of 1944, when the Slovak armed forces staged an uprising against their government. German forces crushed this uprising after several months of fighting. After World War II, pre-war Czechoslovakia was reestablished, all Germans were expelled from the country and Carpathian Ruthenia was occupied by (and ultimately ceded to) the Soviet Union. Three years later the Communist Party of Czechoslovakia seized power (1948–1989) following a parliamentary election in which the Communists emerged as the winner and the country came under the influence of the Soviet Union. Except for a short period in the late 1960s (the Prague Spring) the country was characterized by the absence of democracy and relative economic backwardness compared to Western Europe, although its economy remained more advanced than those of its neighbors in Eastern Europe. In the religious sphere, atheism was officially promoted and taught. In 1969, Czechoslovakia was turned into a federation of the Czech Socialist Republic and Slovak Socialist Republic. Under the federation, social and economic inequities between the Czech and Slovak halves of the state were largely eliminated. In 1989, the country became a democratic country again through the Velvet revolution. In 1992, the federal parliament decided to split the country in the Czech Republic and Slovakia as of January 1, 1993. === From creation to dissolution � Overview === == Heads of State and Government == *List of Presidents of Czechoslovakia *List of Prime Ministers of Czechoslovakia * see also Communist Party of Czechoslovakia — Communist Party of Czechoslovakia#Leaders == International agreements and membership == After WWII, active participant in Council for Mutual Economic Assistance (Comecon), Warsaw Pact, United Nations and its specialized agencies, and Movement of Nonaligned Nations; signatory of conference on Security and Cooperation in Europe == Administrative divisions == *1918–1923: different systems on former Austrian territory (Bohemia, Moravia, small part of Silesia) and on former Hungarian territory (Slovakia and Ruthenia): 3 lands [země] (also called district units [obvody]) Bohemia, Moravia, Silesia + 21 counties [župy] in today's Slovakia + 2? counties in today's Ruthenia; both lands and counties were divided in districts [okresy] *1923–1927: like above, except that the above counties were replaced by 6 (grand) counties [(veľ)župy] in today's Slovakia and 1 (grand) county in today's Ruthenia, and the number and frontiers of the okresy were changed on these 2 territories *1928–1938: 4 lands [in Czech: země / in Slovak: krajiny]: Bohemia, Moravia-Silesia, Slovakia and Subcarpathian Ruthenia; divided in districts [okresy] *late 1938–March 1939: like above, but Slovakia and Ruthenia were promoted to "autonomous lands" *1945–1948: like 1928–1938, except that Ruthenia became part of the Soviet Union *1949–1960: 19 regions [kraje] divided in 270 districts [okresy] *1960–1992: 10 regions [kraje], Prague, and (since 1970) Bratislava; divided in 109–114 districts [okresy]; the kraje were abolished temporarily in Slovakia in 1969–1970 and for many functions since 1991 in Czechoslovakia; in addition, the two republics Czech Socialist Republic and Slovak Socialist Republic were established in 1969 (without the word ''Socialist'' since 1990) == Population and ethnic groups == ''Main article'': Population and Ethnic Groups of Czechoslovakia == Religion == ''Main article'': Religion in Communist Czechoslovakia In 1991: Roman Catholics 46.4%, Evangelic Lutheran 5.3%, Atheist 29.5%, n/a 16.7%, but there were huge differences between the 2 constituent republics – see Czech Republic and Slovakia == Health, social welfare and housing== ''Main article'': Health and Social Welfare in Communist Czechoslovakia After WWII, free health care available to all citizens. National health planning emphasized preventive medicine; factory and local health-care centers supplement hospitals and other inpatient institutions. Substantial improvement in rural health care in 1960s and 1970s. == Politics == ''Main articles'': Czechoslovakia: 1918 - 1938 and Politics of Communist Czechoslovakia After WWII, monopoly on politics held by Communist Party of Czechoslovakia. Gust�v Hus�k elected first secretary of KSC in 1969 (changed to general secretary in 1971) and president of Czechoslovakia in 1975. Other parties and organizations existed but functioned in subordinate roles to KSC. All political parties, as well as numerous mass organizations, grouped under umbrella of National Front of the Czechoslovak Socialist Republic. Human rights activists and religious activists severely repressed == Government== ''Main article'': Government structure of Communist Czechoslovakia == Constitutional development == Czechoslovakia had the following constitutions throughout its history (1918 – 1992): * Temporary Constitution of November 14 1918 [democratic], see: Czechoslovakia: 1918 - 1938 * The 1920 Constitution (The Constitutional Document of the Czechoslovak Republic) [democratic, in force till 1948, several amendments], see: Czechoslovakia: 1918 - 1938 * The 1948 Constitution (The Ninth-of-May Constitution) [a Communist one] * The 1960 Constitution of Czechoslovakia (The Constitution of the Czechoslovak Socialist Republic) [a Communist one till 1989] with amendments in 1968 (Czechoslovakia turned into a federation), 1971, 1975, 1978, 1989 (leading role of the Communist Party of Czechoslovakia abolished) and several times during 1990-1992 (e. g. 1990 change of the name of Czechoslovakia, 1991 incorporation of the human rights charter) == Society and social groups == ''Main article'': Society of Communist Czechoslovakia == Education == ''Main article'': Education in Czechoslovakia Education free at all levels and compulsory from age six to sixteen. Vast majority of population literate. Highly developed system of apprenticeship training and vocational schools supplemented general secondary schools and institutions of higher education == Resource base == ''Main article'': Resource base of Communist Czechoslovakia After WWII, country energy short, relying on imported crude oil and natural gas from Soviet Union, domestic brown coal, and nuclear and hydroelectric energy. Energy constraints a major factor in 1980s. == Economy, foreign trade and financial system== ''Main articles'': Economy of Communist Czechoslovakia and Economic History of Communist Czechoslovakia After WWII, economy centrally planned with command links controlled by communist party, similar to Soviet Union. Large metallurgical industry but dependent on imports for iron and nonferrous ores. *Industry: Extractive and manufacturing industries dominated sector. Major branches included machinery, chemicals, food processing, metallurgy, and textiles. Industry wasteful of energy, materials, and labor and slow to upgrade technology, but country source of high-quality machinery and arms for other communist countries. *Agriculture: Minor sector but supplied bulk of food needs. Dependent on large imports of grains (mainly for livestock feed) in years of adverse weather. Meat production constrained by shortage of feed, but high per capita consumption of meat. *Foreign Trade: Exports estimated at US$17.8 billion in 1985, of which 55 percent machinery, 14 percent fuels and materials, 16 percent manufactured consumer goods. Imports at estimated US$17.9 billion in 1985, of which 41 percent fuels and materials, 33 percent machinery, 12 percent agricultural and forestry products other. In 1986, about 80 percent of foreign trade with communist countries. *Exchange Rate: Official, or commercial, rate Kcs 5.4 per US$1 in 1987; tourist, or noncommercial, rate Kcs 10.5 per US$1. Neither rate reflected purchasing power. The exchange rate on the black market was around Kcs 30 per US$1, and this rate became the official one once the currency became convertible in the early 1990s. *Fiscal Year: Calendar year. *Fiscal Policy: State almost exclusive owner of means of production. Revenues from state enterprises primary source of revenues followed by turnover tax. Large budget expenditures on social programs, subsidies, and investments. Budget usually balanced or small surplus. == Transportation and communications == ''Main article'': Transportation in Czechoslovakia == Mass media == ''Main article'': Mass media in Communist Czechoslovakia == Sports == The Czechoslovakia national football team was a consistent performer in the international scene, with 8 appearances in the Football World Cup, finishing in second-place in Football World Cup 1934 and Football World Cup 1962. The team also won the European Football Championship in 1976 European Football Championship. The Czechoslovakian national ice hockey team has won many medals from the world championships and olympic games. The famous tennis players Ivan Lendl and Martina Navratilova were born in Czechoslovakia. Elmer Valo played in Major League Baseball between 1940 in sports and 1961 in sports. == Culture == See: *Czech Republic, Slovakia *List of Czechs, List of Slovaks *MDZ (International Women's Day in Czechoslovakia, 1948 - 1989) Czechoslovakia Former countries

Czechoslovakia

what of the munitions manufacturing in Czech before Hitler invaded? I've heard that they were the 2nd largest mftr in east/west Europe (Vienna is EAST of Prague)? It would certainly justify the invasion...proximity of course being important as well...--dgd The big armament manufacturer in Czechoslovakia was Skoda. : was it very large? was it in operation before WWII? Skoda eh? ::It gets a big laugh so you remember it. It was a significant plant in Plzen (Pilsen), it took a couple of 300 bomber raids. Tanks made at the plant were used by the Germans in 1939-40 and it was "a leading producer of German armaments during World War II". The firm was established in the late C19. :: -- Well, the Skoda which is now in Wikipedia mostly mentioned is a different factory. Originally, the Skoda company was located in Plzen. It became a huge machine industry factory before WWII. The Skoda in Mlada Boleslav (originally Laurin-Klement) was overtaken by Skoda Plzen. Nowadays, Skoda Plzen produces for example parts for nuclear power plants, locomotives and a lot other stuff, no cars. The cars are made by Skoda Mlada Boleslav, which has a completely different owner now. RE:COMMENT:There is a paragraph missing which would say information about the first years of Czechoslovakia. Also a few words about minorities (german and hungarian)should be added. It is very important to understand the situation before these two countries joined the common nation of Czechoslovakia.Thanx. Martin ---- Isn't the intro paragraph mentioning all the names somewhat ridiculous? --User:Seav 13:33, Dec 1, 2003 (UTC) == Public domain resource == Public domain text (dated 1987) on Czechloslovakia can be found at http://lcweb2.loc.gov/frd/cs/cstoc.html. --User:JiangUser talk:Jiang Very interesting (although slightly outdated). I will try to incorporate it into Czechoslovakia, the Czech Republic and Slovakia. --User:Juro This page is at its 32kB limit. Consider siphoning some off to individual articles (like the lists...) --User:JiangUser talk:Jiang 01:12, 8 Jan 2004 (UTC) No need to crosspost text - it makes it hard to update. Let's just keep all the history in one place - in the daughter articles. --User:JiangUser talk:Jiang 01:28, 8 Jan 2004 (UTC) The Communist leaders must be together with the presidents and prime ministers (on what ever page), because the Communist leaders were the true leaders (and not the other 2) . That is how Communist countries worked and work. Juro And the short version of history was designed for those who have no time to read the long articles (like with the Brasilia or Rumania articles) or need to find quick info for one of the long articles. Now, nobody will be able to read the history. I will put it back later or create a separate History page if I do not hear a good reason. And where are the presidents now ???????????? Juro Yes, a history of Czechoslovakia main article should be created, but it should be at most a summary. The history section on this page should be a one page summary, like in wikipedia:WikiProject Countries. A series table needs to be added to the history articles, like in History of Afghanistan, History of Algeria, etc. We could link on the PM and Presidents list pages "See Communist Party of Czechoslovakia for a list of Communist Party leaders". That will be enough. --User:JiangUser talk:Jiang 04:00, 8 Jan 2004 (UTC) == Neutral? == I think that taking atheism as a bad thing isn't neutral but even offensive. If you look at the context ("the country was characterized by the absence of democracy, the promotion of atheism, and relative economic backwardness compared to Western Europe"), the issue of the promotion of atheism is between 'bad' factors. Apart of that, it isn't even necessary to mention the issue of the promotion of atheism. Many conutries promote religions and it is not explicited nor put as a bad thing. The sentence does not say that atheism is bad or good. It simply says that atheism was promoted. The promotion of atheism is simply a fact, but it is necessary to mention it because it played an important role in the history of that country. User:Juro 03:11, 29 Aug 2004 (UTC) :: Just pay atention to the context, "absence of democracy, the promotion of atheism, and relative economic backwardness". Perhaps you think it is an important fact, but Why then it has to be put between the negative factors? :: The text part in question is supposed to be a very quick summary of all the detailed articles, therefore it is written in the simple "X, Y, W" style. If you really have a problem with that, you can put the atheism at the end of the sentence or to a separate sentence. But I still do not see any reason for this. User:Juro 20:36, 29 Aug 2004 (UTC) :::Listen, we have to be realistic. The article is criticizing the communist regime (wether it is explicit or not), and it gives, as one of the "bad" points of Czechoslovakia being communist, the issue with the promotion of atheism. :::I don't believe in any God, and find the reference to atheism not necessary but despective, that's why I'm claiming this article isn't neutral. == comments... == - Carpathian Ruthenia became part of the Ukraine, not the USSR - the country "came under the influence of the Soviet Union"? This phrase does not appear on the pages regarding Italy, France and so forth, thus it is POV and is removed - absence of democracy? There were elections. Removing. User:Ruy Lopez 02:45, 23 Sep 2004 (UTC) ::If you believe this is POV, check Poland, "Poland used to be a communist state, but democracy was restored in 1990, after the country became independent from the Soviet Union's sphere of influence." == Coats of arms == links to gif files of coats of arms are provided but at a 3rd party server? Are those images sort of (c) protected? == Slovak version of "Czechoslovakia" == I lived in Czechoslovakia for many years but for the first time when I have seen the "hyphenized" name was in 90's when nationalists were comming to the power in Slovakia. From my point of view, it is quite funny. I don't think that today's Slovaks write it with the hyphen, and I know many Slovaks. It is more a darker and ridiculous short history of this country. It does not seem to me to be very useful information. You are wrong. It's the codified form since 1990. It must be and is used in newspapers, on TV and at schools when referring to the country in general. Other forms can be used in historical texts only. Also, there is a distinction between československ� and česko-slovensk� now, the former meaning "referring to Czechoslovakism /anti-Slovakism", the latter meaning "referring to Czechoslovakia" (see for example the Kr�tky slovn�k slovensk�ho jazyka of the Academy of sciences on the web) User:Juro 01:06, 16 Dec 2004 (UTC) :He is right. The hyphenated version was first used before the creation of Czecho(-)slovakia, but then this use faded away as the country became more and more centralized, and the idea of Czechoslovak ethnicity brought forward. Until the velvet revolution, no one ever thought of using hyphenated version (with the exception of Slovak disidents and WWII years). After the velvet revolutions, as a result of "dash war", hyphenated version was made an official Slovak language name, but the days of Czechoslovakia were already numbered. Today, most Slovaks write (and say) the name without hyphen, since it refers to the historical name, witch was, after all, undoubtedly without hyphen (except of a short period since 1990 etcetera....). Hyphen is used by those people (a lot of them, though) who 1) want to make a point, or 2) try to use "correct" Slovak and use KSSJ as a guide (these are those who refuse to say "hmoždinka" or "kľudne") or 3) have something (whatever) against Czechs. :As for KSSJ, it's trying to be too much prescriptive, not descriptive - I know the authors personally, and believe me, the definitions pertaining to Czecho(-)slovakia are very mild compared with their (linguistic) opinions (now I hope no one of them is reading this :-)). :Some real world evidence (from Slovak National Corpus, as usually): lemma "československ�" 5543 times, "česko"+"-"+lemma "slovensk�" 2377 times (and a lot of this - I am not going to count how much though - is about Czech-Slovak sport competitions, since most of the texts are from newspapers and there are a lot of sport pages and a lot of matches between Czech Republic and Slovakia). : User:Rgrg 09:20, 25 Jan 2005 (UTC) (1) What you are saying about the KSSJ authors applies equally to the authors of the Duden, Larousse etc. (but maybe not to those of Oxford - but there is always a difference between "normative" continental dictionaries and English language ones), (2) Do not forget that the hyphenated form is used by the newspapers, the TV and in schoolbooks too, so it's not only the KSSJ...User:Juro 02:30, 28 Jan 2005 (UTC) :(1) of course. This is a long quarrel among linguists if their role should be more prescriptive or more descriptive. Bad is when politics come in. (2) in fact, the corpus consists mostly (~80%) of newspaper texts originated between 1993 and 2001. User:Rgrg 08:00, 28 Jan 2005 (UTC)

Czechoslovakia

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