View source for Czechoslovakia

{{Short description|Country in Europe from 1918 to 1992}}
{{Hatnote group|
{{About-distinguish|the former country in Central Europe|Czech Republic{{!}}Czechia|Slovakia}}
{{For|the band with the same name|Czechoslovakia (band)}}
}}
{{redirect|RČS||RCS (disambiguation){{!}}RCS}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=July 2021}}
{{Use American English|date=June 2020}}
{{Infobox country
| conventional_long_name = Czechoslovakia
| native_name            = ''Československo''{{efn|In other recognized languages of Czechoslovakia:{{blist | {{langx|de|link=no|Tschechoslowakei}}| {{langx|hu|Csehszlovákia}} | {{langx|pl|Czechosłowacja}} | {{langx|rue|Чеськословеньско}}, {{lang|rue-latn|Cheskoslovensko}} | {{langx|yi|טשעכאסלאוואקיי}}, {{lang|yi-latn|Tshekhaslavakey}}}}}}
| image_flag             = Flag of the Czech Republic.svg
| common_name            = Czechoslovakia
| life_span              = 1918–1939<br />(1939–1945: [[Czechoslovak government-in-exile|government-in-exile]])<br />1945–1992
| p1                     = Austria-Hungary
| image_p1               = {{flagicon|Austria-Hungary}}
| s1                     = Czech Republic
| flag_s1                = Flag of the Czech Republic.svg
| s2                     = Slovakia
| flag_s2                = Flag of Slovakia.svg
| image_coat             = Lesser coat of arms of Czechoslovakia.svg
| image_map              = Czechoslovakia location map.svg
| image_map_caption      = Czechoslovakia during the [[interwar period]] and the [[Cold War]]
| national_motto         = {{nowrap|'[[Pravda vítězí]]{{\}}[[Pravda víťazí]]' <br />([[Czech language|Czech]]{{\}}[[Slovak language|Slovak]], 1918–1990)<br />'Die Wahrheit siegt' ([[German language|German]])<br />'Az Igazság győzedelmeskedik' ([[Hungarian language|Hungarian]])<br />'Veritas vincit' ([[Latin]], 1990–1992)<br />'Truth prevails'}}
| anthem                 = '[[Kde domov můj|{{lang|cs|Kde domov můj|nocat=y}}{{\}}{{lang|hu|Hol van hazám|nocat=y}}]]' (Czech / Hungarian) <br>and {{native phrase|sk|'[[Nad Tatrou sa blýska]]'|nolink=yes|italic=no}}<br />{{center|[[File:Czechoslovakia anthem.ogg]]}}
| capital                = [[Prague]]
| largest_city           = capital
| coordinates            = {{coord|50|05|N|14|25|E|region:CZ|display=it}}
| official_languages     = [[Czechoslovak language|Czechoslovak]], after 1948 [[Czech language|Czech]]{{·}}[[Slovak language|Slovak]]
| recognised_languages   = {{hlist|German|[[Hungarian language|Hungarian]]|[[Rusyn language|Rusyn]]|[[Polish language|Polish]]}}
| demonym                = Czechoslovak
| government_type        = {{nowrap|[[First Czechoslovak Republic|First Republic]]<br />(1918–38)<br />[[Second Czechoslovak Republic|Second Republic]]<br />(1938–39)<br />[[Czechoslovak government-in-exile|Government-in-exile]]<br />(1939–45)<br />[[Third Czechoslovak Republic|Third Republic]]<br />(1945–48)<br />[[Czechoslovak Socialist Republic|Socialist Republic]]<br />(1948–89)<br />[[Czech and Slovak Federative Republic|Federative Republic]]<br />(1990–92)}}<hr>
{{Collapsible list
|title = Details
|bullets = yes
|[[Unitary state|Unitary]] [[parliamentary republic]] {{Clear}}(1918–1938, 1945–1948)
|[[Federal state|Federal]] authoritarian [[parliamentary republic]] ([[rump state]]){{Clear}}(1938–1939)
|[[Government-in-exile]]{{Clear}}(1939–1945)
|[[Unitary state|Unitary]] [[Marxist-Leninist]] [[single-party]] [[socialist republic]]{{Clear}}(1948–1969)
|[[Federal republic|Federal]] [[Marxist-Leninist]] [[single-party]] [[socialist republic]]{{Clear}}(1969–1989)
|[[Federal republic|Federal]] [[parliamentary republic]]{{Clear}}(1989–1992)
}}
| title_leader           = [[List of Presidents of Czechoslovakia|President]]
| leader1                = [[Tomáš Masaryk|Tomáš G. Masaryk]]
| year_leader1           = 1918–1935
| leader2                = [[Edvard Beneš]]
| year_leader2           = {{nowrap|1935–1938{{·}}1945–1948}}
| leader3                = [[Emil Hácha]]
| year_leader3           = 1938–1939
| leader4                = [[Klement Gottwald]]
| year_leader4           = 1948–1953
| leader5                = [[Antonín Zápotocký]]
| year_leader5           = 1953–1957
| leader6                = [[Antonín Novotný]]
| year_leader6           = 1957–1968
| leader7                = [[Ludvík Svoboda]]
| year_leader7           = 1968–1975
| leader8                = [[Gustáv Husák]]
| year_leader8           = 1976–1989
| leader9                = [[Václav Havel]]
| year_leader9           = 1989–1992
| title_representative   = [[Communist Party of Czechoslovakia|KSČ General Secretary / First Secretary]]
| representative1        = [[Klement Gottwald]]
| year_representative1   = 1948–1953
| representative2        = [[Antonín Novotný]]
| year_representative2   = 1953–1968
| representative3        = [[Alexander Dubček]]
| year_representative3   = 1968–1969
| representative4        = [[Gustáv Husák]]
| year_representative4   = 1969–1987
| representative5        = [[Miloš Jakeš]]
| year_representative5   = 1987–1989
| title_deputy           = [[List of Prime Ministers of Czechoslovakia|Prime Minister]]
| deputy1                = [[Karel Kramář]]
| year_deputy1           = 1918–1919 (first)
| deputy2                = [[Jan Stráský]]
| year_deputy2           = 1992 (last)
| legislature            = Revolutionary National Assembly (1918–1920)<br />[[National Assembly (Czechoslovakia)|National Assembly]] (1920–1939)<br />[[Interim National Assembly (Czechoslovakia)|Interim National Assembly]] (1945–1946)<br />[[Constituent National Assembly (Czechoslovakia)|Constituent National Assembly]] (1946–1948)<br />[[National Assembly (Communist Czechoslovakia)|National Assembly]] (1948–1969)<br />[[Federal Assembly (Czechoslovakia)|Federal Assembly]] (1969–1992)
| era                    = 
| event_start            = [[First Czechoslovak Republic|Proclamation]]
| date_start             = 28 October
| year_start             = 1918
| event1                 = [[Munich Agreement]]
| date_event1            = 30 September 1938
| event2                 = [[German occupation of Czechoslovakia|Partition]]
| date_event2            = 14 March 1939
| event3                 = [[Third Czechoslovak Republic|Re-establishment]]
| date_event3            = 10 May 1945
| event4                 = [[1948 Czechoslovak coup d'état|Coup d'état]]
| date_event4            = 25 February 1948
| event5                 = [[Warsaw Pact invasion of Czechoslovakia|Soviet occupation]]
| date_event5            = 21 August 1968
| event6                 = [[Velvet Revolution]]
| date_event6            = 17 – 28 November 1989
| event_end              = [[Dissolution of Czechoslovakia|Dissolution]]
| date_end               = 1 January
| year_end               = 1993
| cctld                  = [[.cs]]
| calling_code           = [[+42]]
| HDI                    = 0.897
| HDI_ref                = <ref>{{Cite web|url=http://hdr.undp.org/sites/default/files/reports/221/hdr_1992_en_complete_nostats.pdf |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20221009/http://hdr.undp.org/sites/default/files/reports/221/hdr_1992_en_complete_nostats.pdf |archive-date=2022-10-09 |url-status=live|title=Human Development Report 1992|website=hdr.undp.org}}</ref>
| HDI_year               = 1990 formula
| iso3166code            = CS
| currency               = [[Czechoslovak koruna]]
| drives_on              = left (Pre 1939) right [[Switch to right-hand traffic in Czechoslovakia|(Post 1939)]]
| footnotes              = Calling code +42 was withdrawn in the winter of 1997. The number range was divided between the [[:Czech Republic]] ([[+420]]) and [[:Slovak Republic]] ([[+421]]).
| footnotes2             = Current [[ISO 3166-3]] code is "CSHH".
| today                  = {{Plainlist|
* [[Czech Republic]]
* [[Slovakia]]
* [[Ukraine]]
}}
}}
'''Czechoslovakia'''<ref name=covenant>{{cite web|title=THE COVENANT OF THE LEAGUE OF NATIONS.|url=http://avalon.law.yale.edu/imt/parti.asp|access-date=12 April 2011|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110520113738/http://avalon.law.yale.edu/imt/parti.asp|archive-date=20 May 2011|url-status=live}}</ref> ({{IPAc-en|ˌ|tʃ|ɛ|k|oʊ|s|l|oʊ|ˈ|v|æ|k|i|.|ə|,_|ˈ|tʃ|ɛ|k|ə|-|,_|-|s|l|ə|-|,_|-|ˈ|v|ɑː|-|audio=LL-Q1860 (eng)-Vealhurl-Czechoslovakia.wav}} {{respell|CHEK|oh|sloh|VAK|ee|ə|,_|CHEK|ə|-|,_|-|slə|-|,_|-|VAH|-}};<ref>{{citation|last=Wells|first=John C.|year=2008|title=Longman Pronunciation Dictionary|edition=3rd|publisher=Longman|isbn=978-1-4058-8118-0}}</ref><ref>{{citation|last=Roach|first=Peter|year=2011|title=Cambridge English Pronouncing Dictionary|edition=18th|place=Cambridge|publisher=Cambridge University Press|isbn=978-0-521-15253-2}}</ref> [[Czech language|Czech]] and {{langx|sk|Československo}}, ''Česko-Slovensko'')<ref name="KulturaSlova">{{cite web|url=http://juls.savba.sk/ediela/ks/1990/6/ks1990-6.lq.pdf|title=Ján Kačala: Máme nový názov federatívnej republiky (The New Name of the Federal Republic), In: Kultúra Slova (official publication of the Slovak Academy of Sciences Ľudovít Štúr Institute of Linguistics) 6/1990 pp. 192–197|access-date=5 April 2010|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110819043026/http://juls.savba.sk/ediela/ks/1990/6/ks1990-6.lq.pdf|archive-date=19 August 2011|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{IPA|cs|ˈtʃɛskoslovɛnsko}}, {{IPA|sk|ˈtʂeskɔslɔʋenskɔ}}.</ref> was a [[landlocked country]] in [[Central Europe]],<ref>{{cite web |title=Milestones: 1961–1968 – Office of the Historian |url=https://history.state.gov/milestones/1961-1968/soviet-invasion-czechoslavkia |website=history.state.gov |access-date=27 January 2021}}</ref> 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 [[First Vienna Award|Hungary]] and [[Trans-Olza|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 [[Slovak state|Slovakia]] proclaimed its independence and [[Carpathian Ruthenia]] became part of [[Kingdom of Hungary (1920–1946)|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 [[Czechoslovak government-in-exile|a government-in-exile]] and sought recognition from the [[Allies of World War II|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 Soviet Socialist Republic|Ukrainian SSR]] (a republic of the [[Soviet Union]]). The [[Communist Party of Czechoslovakia|Communist Party]] seized power in a [[1948 Czechoslovak coup d'état|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, [[Warsaw Pact invasion of Czechoslovakia|invaded Czechoslovakia]]. In 1989, as [[Marxist–Leninist]] governments and [[communism]] were [[Revolutions of 1989|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 [[Dissolution of Czechoslovakia|peacefully split]] into the two [[sovereign state]]s of the [[Czech Republic]] and [[Slovakia]].<ref>Rozdělení Československa, Vladimír Srb, Tomáš Veselý {{ISBN|80-968533-5-X}}</ref>

==Characteristics==
;Form of state
*1918–1937: A [[democratic republic]] championed by [[Tomáš Masaryk]].<ref>{{cite web |title=16. Czechoslovakia (1918–1992) |url=https://uca.edu/politicalscience/dadm-project/europerussiacentral-asia-region/czechoslovakia-1918-1992/ |website=uca.edu |access-date=27 January 2021}}</ref>
*1938–1939: After the annexation of [[Sudetenland]] by [[Nazi Germany]] in 1938, the region gradually turned into a state with loosened connections among the Czech, Slovak, and Ruthenian parts. A strip of southern Slovakia and [[Carpathian Ruthenia]] was redeemed by Hungary, and the [[Trans-Olza]] region was [[Teschen conflict|annexed by Poland]].
*1939–1945: The remainder of the state was dismembered and became split into the '''[[Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia]]''' and the '''[[Slovak Republic (1939–1945)|Slovak Republic]]''', while the rest of Carpathian Ruthenia was occupied and annexed by Hungary. A [[Czechoslovak Government-in-Exile|government-in-exile]] continued to exist in London, supported by the United Kingdom, United States and their [[Allies of World War II|Allies]]; after the [[German invasion of Soviet Union]], it was also recognized by the [[Soviet Union]]. Czechoslovakia adhered to the [[Declaration by United Nations]] and was a founding member of the United Nations.
*1946–1948: The country was governed by a [[National Front (Czechoslovakia)|coalition government]] with [[Communist Party of Czechoslovakia|communist]] ministers, including the prime minister and the minister of interior. [[Carpathian Ruthenia]] was ceded to the Soviet Union.
*1948–1989: The country became a [[Marxist-Leninist state]] under [[Soviet sphere of influence|Soviet domination]] with a [[command economy]]. In 1960, the country officially became a socialist republic, the '''[[Czechoslovak Socialist Republic]]'''. It was a [[satellite state]] of the Soviet Union.
*1989–1990: Czechoslovakia formally became a [[federal republic]] comprising the '''[[Czech Socialist Republic]]''' and the '''[[Slovak Socialist Republic]]'''. In late 1989, the communist rule came to an end during the [[Velvet Revolution]] followed by the re-establishment of a democratic [[parliamentary republic]].<ref name="czechuniversities.com">{{cite web |title=A Brief History of the Czech Republic – Live & Study – Czech Universities |url=https://www.czechuniversities.com/article/a-brief-history-of-the-czech-republic |website=czechuniversities.com |access-date=27 January 2021}}</ref>
*1990–1992: Shortly after the Velvet Revolution, the state was renamed the '''[[Czech and Slovak Federative Republic]]''', consisting of the [[Czech Republic]] and the [[Slovak Republic]] (Slovakia) until the [[Dissolution of Czechoslovakia|peaceful dissolution]] on 31&nbsp;December 1992.<ref name="czechuniversities.com"/>

;Neighbours<ref>{{cite web |title=Czechoslovakia |url=https://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/czechoslovakia |website=www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org |access-date=27 January 2021}}</ref>
*[[Austria]] 1918–1938, 1945–1992
*Germany (both predecessors, [[West Germany]] and [[East Germany]], were neighbors between 1949 and 1990)
*[[Hungarian People's Republic|Hungary]]
*[[People's Republic of Poland|Poland]]
*[[Kingdom of Romania|Romania]] 1918–1938
*[[Soviet Union]] 1945–1991
*[[Ukraine]] 1991–1992 ([[Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic|Soviet Union member]] until 1991)
;Topography
The country was of generally irregular terrain. The western area was part of the north-central European uplands. The eastern region was composed of the northern reaches of the [[Carpathian Mountains]] and lands of the [[Danube River]] basin.

;Climate
The weather was characterized by mild to cold winters and mild to warm summers, influenced by the Atlantic Ocean from the west, the Baltic Sea from the north, and Mediterranean Sea from the south. The country was situated in the transition zone between the [[Oceanic climate|oceanic]] and [[continental climate]] types.<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Beck |first1=Hylke E. |last2=McVicar |first2=Tim R. |last3=Vergopolan |first3=Noemi |last4=Berg |first4=Alexis |last5=Lutsko |first5=Nicholas J. |last6=Dufour |first6=Ambroise |last7=Zeng |first7=Zhenzhong |last8=Jiang |first8=Xin |last9=van Dijk |first9=Albert I. J. M. |last10=Miralles |first10=Diego G. |date=2023-10-23 |title=High-resolution (1 km) Köppen-Geiger maps for 1901–2099 based on constrained CMIP6 projections |journal=Scientific Data |language=en |volume=10 |issue=1 |page=724 |doi=10.1038/s41597-023-02549-6 |issn=2052-4463 |pmc=10593765 |pmid=37872197|bibcode=2023NatSD..10..724B }}</ref>

==Names==
{{See also|Hyphen War|Name of the Czech Republic}}
*1918–1938: '''[[First Czechoslovak Republic|Czechoslovak Republic]]''' (abbreviated ČSR), or Czechoslovakia, before the formalization of the name in 1920, also known as Czecho-Slovakia or the Czecho-Slovak state<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.pitt.edu/~votruba/qsonhist/spellczechoslovakia.html|title=Czecho-Slovakia or Czechoslovakia|access-date=29 March 2009|last=Votruba|first=Martin|work=Slovak Studies Program|publisher=University of Pittsburgh |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131015043127/http://www.pitt.edu/~votruba/qsonhist/spellczechoslovakia.html|archive-date=15 October 2013}}</ref>
*1938–1939: '''[[Second Czechoslovak Republic|Czecho-Slovak Republic]]''', or Czecho-Slovakia
*1945–1960: '''[[Third Czechoslovak Republic|Czechoslovak Republic]]''' (ČSR), or Czechoslovakia
*1960–1990: '''[[Czechoslovak Socialist Republic]]''' (ČSSR), or Czechoslovakia
*1990: '''Czechoslovak Federative Republic''' (ČSFR)
*1990–1992: '''[[Czech and Slovak Federative Republic]]''' (ČSFR), or Czechoslovakia

==History==
{{main|History of Czechoslovakia|History of the Czech lands|History of Slovakia}}
{{History of Czechoslovakia}}

===Origins===
{{main|Origins of Czechoslovakia}}
[[File:Tomáš Garrigue Masaryk 1925.PNG|thumb|[[Tomáš Garrigue Masaryk]], founder and first president]]
[[File:Czech Troops.jpg|thumb|[[Czechoslovak Army|Czechoslovak troops in Vladivostok]] (1918)]]
[[File:28. říjen 1918.jpg|thumb|[[Czechoslovak declaration of independence]] rally in Prague on Wenceslas Square, 28 October 1918]]

The area was part of the [[Austria-Hungary|Austro-Hungarian Empire]] until it collapsed at the end of [[World War I]]. The new state was founded by [[Tomáš Garrigue Masaryk]],<ref>{{cite AV media|year=1933|title=Czechs Celebrate Republic's Birth, 1933/11/06 (1933)|url=https://archive.org/details/1933-11-06_Czechs_Celebrate_Republics_Birth|publisher=[[Universal Newsreel]]|access-date=22 February 2012|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140407122843/https://archive.org/details/1933-11-06_Czechs_Celebrate_Republics_Birth|archive-date=7 April 2014}}</ref> who served as its first president from 14&nbsp;November 1918 to 14&nbsp;December 1935. He was succeeded by his close ally [[Edvard Beneš]] (1884–1948).

The roots of Czech nationalism go back to the 19th century, when philologists and educators, influenced by [[Romanticism]], promoted the [[Czech language]] and pride in the [[Czech people]]. Nationalism became a mass movement in the second half of the 19th century. Taking advantage of the limited opportunities for participation in political life under Austrian rule, Czech leaders such as historian [[František Palacký]] (1798–1876) founded various patriotic self-help organizations which provided a chance for many of their compatriots to participate in communal life before independence. Palacký supported [[Austro-Slavism]] and worked for a reorganized federal [[Austrian Empire]], which would protect the Slavic speaking peoples of Central Europe against Russian and German threats.

An advocate of democratic reform and Czech autonomy within Austria-Hungary, Masaryk was elected twice to the ''[[Reichsrat (Austria)|Reichsrat]]'' (Austrian Parliament), from 1891 to 1893 for the [[Young Czech Party]], and from 1907 to 1914 for the [[Czech Realist Party]], which he had founded in 1889 with [[Karel Kramář]] and [[Josef Kaizl]].

During [[World War I]] a number of Czechs and Slovaks, the [[Czechoslovak Legions]], fought with the [[Allies of World War I|Allies]] in France and Italy, while large numbers deserted to Russia in exchange for its support for the independence of Czechoslovakia from the Austrian Empire.<ref>PRECLÍK, Vratislav. Masaryk a legie (Masaryk and legions), váz. kniha, 219 str., vydalo nakladatelství Paris Karviná, Žižkova 2379 (734 01 Karviná) ve spolupráci s Masarykovým demokratickým hnutím (Masaryk Democratic Movement, Prague), 2019, {{ISBN|978-80-87173-47-3}}, pp. 8 – 52, 57 – 120, 124 – 128, 140 – 148, 184 – 190</ref> With the outbreak of World War I, Masaryk began working for Czech independence in a union with Slovakia. With Edvard Beneš and [[Milan Rastislav Štefánik]], Masaryk visited several Western countries and won support from influential publicists.<ref>Z. A. B. Zeman, ''The Masaryks: The Making of Czechoslovakia'' (1976)</ref> The [[Czechoslovak National Council]] was the main organization that advanced the claims for a Czechoslovak state.<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Fenwick|first=Charles G.|date=1918|title=Recognition of the Czechoslovak Nation|url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/1945847|journal=The American Political Science Review|volume=12|issue=4|pages=715–718|doi=10.2307/1945847|jstor=1945847|s2cid=146969818 |issn=0003-0554|url-access=subscription}}</ref>

===First Czechoslovak Republic===
{{main|First Czechoslovak Republic}}
[[File:Masaryk a Štefánik.jpg|thumb|A monument to [[Tomáš Garrigue Masaryk]] and [[Milan Rastislav Štefánik|Milan Štefánik]]—both key figures in early Czechoslovakia]]

====Formation====
[[File:Czechoslovakia01.png|thumb|Czechoslovakia in 1928]]
The [[Bohemian Kingdom]] ceased to exist in 1918 when it was incorporated into Czechoslovakia. Czechoslovakia was founded in October 1918, as one of the successor states of the Austro-Hungarian Empire at the end of [[World War I]] and as part of the [[Treaty of Saint-Germain-en-Laye (1919)|Treaty of Saint-Germain-en-Laye]]. It consisted of the present-day territories of [[Bohemia]], [[Moravia]], parts of [[Silesia]] making up present-day [[Czech Republic]], [[Slovakia]], and a region of present-day [[Ukraine]] called [[Carpathian Ruthenia]]. Its territory included some of the most industrialized regions of the former Austria-Hungary.
{{see also|Ethnic minorities in Czechoslovakia}}

==== Ethnicity ====
[[File:Czechoslovakia 1930 linguistic map - created 2008-10-30.svg|thumb|Linguistic map of Czechoslovakia in 1930]]

The new country was a multi-ethnic state, with Czechs and Slovaks as ''constituent peoples''. The population consisted of [[Czechs]] (51%), [[Slovaks]] (16%), [[Germans]] (22%), [[Hungarians]] (5%) and [[Rusyns]] (4%).<ref>"The War of the World", [[Niall Ferguson]] Allen Lane 2006.</ref> Many of the Germans, Hungarians, Ruthenians and Poles<ref name="pp">{{cite web |url=http://www.praguepost.com/articles/2005/07/06/playing-the-blame-game.php |title=Playing the blame game |date=6 July 2005 |access-date=30 June 2008 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080630084718/http://www.praguepost.com/articles/2005/07/06/playing-the-blame-game.php |archive-date=30 June 2008 }}, ''[[Prague Post]]'', 6 July 2005</ref> and some Slovaks, felt oppressed because the political elite did not generally allow political autonomy for minority ethnic groups.{{citation needed|date=December 2017}} This policy led to unrest among the non-Czech population, particularly in German-speaking [[Sudetenland]], which initially had proclaimed itself part of the [[Republic of German-Austria]] in accordance with the [[self-determination]] principle.

The state proclaimed the official ideology that there were no separate Czech and Slovak nations, but only one nation of Czechoslovaks (see [[Czechoslovakism]]), to the disagreement of Slovaks and other ethnic groups. Once a unified Czechoslovakia was restored after World War II (after the country had been divided during the war), the conflict between the [[Czechs]] and the [[Slovaks]] surfaced again. The governments of Czechoslovakia and other Central European nations deported ethnic Germans, reducing the presence of minorities in the nation. Most of the Jews had been killed during the war by the Nazis.

{|cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" style="width:25em;text-align:right;"
|-
! colspan="3" style="text-align:center;"|
----
Ethnicities of Czechoslovakia in 1921<ref>Škorpila F. B.; Zeměpisný atlas pro měšťanské školy; Státní Nakladatelství; second edition; 1930; Czechoslovakia</ref>
----
|-
|style="width:50%;text-align:left;"| [[Czechs]] and [[Slovaks]]
|style="width:25%;"| 8,759,701
|style="width:25%;"| 64.37%
|-
|align="left"| [[Germans]] || 3,123,305 || 22.95%
|-
|align="left"| [[Hungarian people|Hungarians]] || 744,621 || 5.47%
|-
|align="left"| [[Ruthenians]] || 461,449 || 3.39%
|-
|align="left"| [[Jews]]|| 180,534 || 1.33%
|-
|align="left"| [[Polish people|Poles]] || 75,852 || 0.56%
|-
|align="left"| Others || 23,139 || 0.17%
|-
|align="left"| Foreigners || 238,784 || 1.75%
|-
!align="left"| Total population !!align="right"| 13,607,385
|-
|colspan="3" style="text-align:center;"|
----
|}

{|cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" style="width:25em;text-align:right;"
|-
! colspan="3" style="text-align:center;"|
----
Ethnicities of Czechoslovakia in 1930<ref>{{cite web|url=http://rozhledy2010.blogspot.sk/2011/04/ceskoslovensko-1930-scitani2.html|title=Československo 1930 (Sčítání)(2).|year=2011|access-date=2 December 2014|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160304074355/http://rozhledy2010.blogspot.sk/2011/04/ceskoslovensko-1930-scitani2.html|archive-date=4 March 2016|url-status=live}}</ref>
----
|-
|style="width:50%;text-align:left;"| [[Czechs]] and [[Slovaks]]
|style="width:25%;"| 10,066,000
|style="width:25%;"| 68.35%
|-
|align="left"| [[Germans]] || 3,229,000 || 21.93%
|-
|align="left"| [[Ruthenians]] || 745,000 || 5.06%
|-
|align="left"| [[Hungarian people|Hungarians]] || 653,000 || 4.43%
|-
|align="left"| Jews|| 354,000 || 2.40%
|-
|align="left"| [[Polish people|Poles]] || 76,000 || 0.52%
|-
|align="left"| [[Romanians]] || 14,000 || 0.10%
|-
|align="left"| Foreigners || 239,000 || 1.62%
|-
!align="left"| Total population !!align="right"| 14,726,158
|-
|colspan="3" style="text-align:center;"|
----
|}
''<small>*Jews identified themselves as Germans or Hungarians (and Jews only by religion not ethnicity), the sum is, therefore, more than 100%.</small>''

=== Interwar period ===
During the period between the two world wars Czechoslovakia was a democratic state. The population was generally literate, and contained fewer alienated groups. The influence of these conditions was augmented by the political values of Czechoslovakia's leaders and the policies they adopted. Under [[Tomas Masaryk]], Czech and Slovak politicians promoted progressive social and economic conditions that served to defuse discontent.

Foreign minister Beneš became the prime architect of the Czechoslovak-Romanian-Yugoslav alliance (the "[[Little Entente]]", 1921–38) directed against Hungarian attempts to reclaim lost areas. Beneš worked closely with France. Far more dangerous was the German element, which after 1933 became allied with the Nazis in Germany.

Czech-Slovak relations came to be a central issue in Czechoslovak politics during the 1930s.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Teich |first1=Mikuláš |last2=Kováč |first2=Dušan |last3=Brown |first3=Martin |title=Slovakia in History |date=2011 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |location=Cambridge |isbn=978-0-521-80253-6 |page=159 }}</ref> The increasing feeling of inferiority among the Slovaks,<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/nazis-take-czechoslovakia|title=Nazis take Czechoslovakia|website=HISTORY|date=5 November 2009 |language=en|access-date=12 February 2020}}</ref>{{Failed verification|date=November 2022}}  who were hostile to the more numerous Czechs, weakened the country in the late 1930s. Slovakia became autonomous in the fall of 1938, and by mid-1939, Slovakia had become independent, with the [[Slovak Republic (1939–1945)|First Slovak Republic]] set up as a [[satellite state]] of Nazi Germany and the far-right [[Slovak People's Party]] in power .<ref>{{cite book |last1=Teich |first1=Mikuláš |last2=Kováč |first2=Dušan |last3=Brown |first3=Martin |title=Slovakia in History |date=2011 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |location=Cambridge |isbn=978-0-521-80253-6 |pages=175–177 }}</ref>

After 1933, Czechoslovakia remained the only democracy in central and eastern Europe.<ref>{{Cite book|title=Handbook on Policing in Central and Eastern Europe|editor1=Gorazd Mesko |editor2=Charles B. Fields |editor3=Branko Lobnikar |editor4=Andrej Sotlar}}</ref>

===Munich Agreement, and Two-Step German Occupation===
{{main|German occupation of Czechoslovakia}}
[[File:Czechoslovakia 1939.SVG|thumb|The partition of Czechoslovakia after [[Munich Agreement]]]]
[[File:Bundesarchiv Bild 146-1972-039-44, Heydrich-Attentat.jpg|thumb|The car in which [[Reinhard Heydrich]] was fatally injured in 1942]]
[[File:Czechoslovak Republic (1939).svg|thumb|Territory of the [[Second Czechoslovak Republic]] (1938–1939)]]

In September 1938, [[Adolf Hitler]] demanded control of the [[Sudetenland]]. On 29&nbsp;September 1938, Britain and France ceded control in the [[Appeasement]] at the [[Munich Conference]]; France ignored the military alliance it had with Czechoslovakia. During October 1938, [[Nazi Germany]] occupied the Sudetenland border region, effectively crippling Czechoslovak defences.

The [[First Vienna Award]] assigned a strip of southern Slovakia and Carpathian Ruthenia to Hungary. Poland [[Teschen conflict|occupied]] Zaolzie, an area whose population was majority Polish, in October 1938.

On 14 March 1939, the remainder ("rump") of Czechoslovakia was dismembered by the proclamation of the [[Slovak State]], the next day the rest of [[Carpathian Ruthenia]] was occupied and annexed by Hungary, while the following day the German [[Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia]] was proclaimed.

The eventual goal of the German state under Nazi leadership was to eradicate Czech nationality through assimilation, deportation, and extermination of the Czech intelligentsia; the intellectual elites and middle class made up a considerable number of the 200,000 people who passed through concentration camps and the 250,000 who died during German occupation.<ref>''Universities in the Nineteenth and Early Twentieth Centuries'' (1800–1945), Walter Rüegg Cambridge University Press (28 October 2004), page 353</ref> Under {{Lang|de|[[Generalplan Ost]]}}, it was assumed that around 50% of Czechs would be fit for [[Germanization]]. The Czech intellectual elites were to be removed not only from Czech territories but from Europe completely. The authors of {{lang|de|Generalplan Ost|italic=no}} believed it would be best if they emigrated overseas, as even in [[Siberia]] they were considered a threat to German rule. Just like Jews, Poles, Serbs, and several other nations, Czechs were considered to be [[untermenschen]] by the Nazi state.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.dac.neu.edu/holocaust/Hitlers_Plans.htm |title=HITLER'S PLANS FOR EASTERN EUROPE Selections from Janusz Gumkowski and Kazimierz Leszczynski POLAND UNDER NAZI OCCUPATION |access-date=13 February 2014|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120717012554/http://www.dac.neu.edu/holocaust/Hitlers_Plans.htm|archive-date=17 July 2012}}</ref> In 1940, in a secret Nazi plan for the Germanization of the Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia it was declared that those considered to be of racially Mongoloid origin and the Czech intelligentsia were not to be Germanized.<ref>{{cite web| url= http://www.nizkor.org/hweb/imt/nca/nca-01/nca-01-13-spoliation-02.html| title= Nazi Conspiracy & Aggression Volume I Chapter XIII Germanization & Spoliation Czechoslovakia| access-date= 27 September 2015| archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20150928022926/http://www.nizkor.org/hweb/imt/nca/nca-01/nca-01-13-spoliation-02.html| archive-date= 28 September 2015| url-status= dead| df= dmy-all}}</ref>

The deportation of Jews to concentration camps was organized under the direction of [[Reinhard Heydrich]], and the fortress town of [[Theresienstadt concentration camp|Terezín]] was made into a ghetto way station for Jewish families. On 4&nbsp;June 1942 Heydrich died after being wounded by an assassin in [[Operation Anthropoid]]. Heydrich's successor, Colonel General [[Kurt Daluege]], ordered mass arrests and executions and the destruction of the villages of [[Lidice]] and [[Ležáky]]. In 1943 the German war effort was accelerated. Under the authority of [[Karl Hermann Frank]], German minister of state for Bohemia and Moravia, some 350,000 Czech laborers were dispatched to the Reich. Within the protectorate, all non-war-related industry was prohibited. Most of the Czech population obeyed quiescently up until the final months preceding the end of the war, while thousands were involved in the [[resistance movement]].

For the Czechs of the Protectorate Bohemia and Moravia, [[Occupation of Czechoslovakia|German occupation]] was a period of brutal oppression. Czech losses resulting from political persecution and deaths in concentration camps totaled between 36,000 and 55,000. The Jewish populations of [[Bohemia]] and [[Moravia]] (118,000 according to the 1930 census) were virtually annihilated. Many Jews emigrated after 1939; more than 70,000 were killed; 8,000 survived at Terezín. Several thousand Jews managed to live in freedom or in hiding throughout the occupation.

Despite the estimated 136,000 deaths at the hands of the Nazi regime, the population in the Reichsprotektorate saw a net increase during the war years of approximately 250,000 in line with an increased birth rate.<ref>"Vaclav Havel – A Political Tragedy in 6 Acts" by John Keane, published 2000, page 54</ref>

On 6 May 1945, the third US Army of General Patton entered [[Plzeň]] from the south west. On 9&nbsp;May 1945, Soviet Red Army troops entered [[Prague]].

===Third and Fourth Republics===
{{main|Third Czechoslovak Republic|History of Czechoslovakia (1948–1989)|Czechoslovak Socialist Republic}}
[[File:Coat of arms of Czechoslovakia (1960–1990).svg|thumb|upright|Socialist [[Coat of arms of Czechoslovakia|coat of arms]] in 1960–1989]]
After World War II, pre-war Czechoslovakia was reestablished, with the exception of Sub[[carpathian Ruthenia]], which was annexed by the [[Soviet Union]] and incorporated into the [[Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic]]. The [[Beneš decrees]] were promulgated concerning ethnic Germans (see [[Potsdam Agreement]]) and ethnic Hungarians. Under the decrees, [[citizenship]] was abrogated for people of German and Hungarian [[ethnic origin]] who had accepted German or Hungarian citizenship during the occupations. In 1948, this provision was cancelled for the Hungarians, but only partially for the Germans. The government then confiscated the property of the Germans and [[Expulsion of Germans after World War II|expelled about 90% of the ethnic German population]], over 2&nbsp;million people. Those who remained were [[Collective accountability|collectively accused]] of supporting the Nazis after the [[Munich Agreement]], as 97.32% of Sudeten Germans had voted for the [[NSDAP]] in the December 1938 elections. Almost every decree explicitly stated that the sanctions did not apply to antifascists. Some 250,000 Germans, many married to Czechs, some antifascists, and also those required for the post-war reconstruction of the country, remained in Czechoslovakia. The Beneš Decrees still cause controversy among nationalist groups in the Czech Republic, Germany, Austria and Hungary.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.law.nyu.edu/eecr/vol11num1_2/special/rupnik.html|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130515002848/http://www.law.nyu.edu/eecr/vol11num1_2/special/rupnik.html|url-status=dead|title=East European Constitutional Review|archive-date=15 May 2013|access-date=8 April 2020}}</ref>

Following the expulsion of the ethnic German population from Czechoslovakia, parts of the former [[Sudetenland]], especially around Krnov and the surrounding villages of the Jeseníky mountain region ([[Nízký Jeseník]] and [[Hrubý Jeseník]]) in northeastern Czechoslovakia, were settled in 1949 by Communist refugees from [[Northern Greece]] who had left their homeland as a result of the [[Greek Civil War]]. These [[Greeks in the Czech Republic|Greeks]] made up a large proportion of the town and region's population until the late 1980s/early 1990s. Although defined as "Greeks", the Greek Communist community of Krnov and the Jeseníky region actually consisted of an ethnically diverse population, including [[Greek Macedonians]], [[Slavo-Macedonians|Macedonians]], [[Vlachs]], [[Pontic Greeks]] and Turkish speaking [[Urums]] or [[Caucasus Greeks]].<ref name="autogenerated1&quot;">{{Cite web |date=2020-12-17 |title=The Story of Greeks in Czechia |url=https://english.radio.cz/story-greeks-czechia-8703203 |access-date=2022-10-24 |website=Radio Prague International}}</ref>

[[File:Spartakiáda - 1960.JPG|thumb|left|''[[Spartakiad (Czechoslovakia)|Spartakiad]]'' in 1960]]

[[Carpathian Ruthenia]] (Podkarpatská Rus) was occupied by (and in June 1945 formally ceded to) the Soviet Union. In the 1946 parliamentary election, the [[Communist Party of Czechoslovakia]] was the winner in the [[Czech lands]], and the [[Democratic Party (Slovakia, 1944)|Democratic Party]] won in Slovakia. In [[1948 Czechoslovak coup d'état|February 1948 the Communists seized power]]. Although they would maintain the fiction of political pluralism through the existence of the [[National Front (Czechoslovakia)|National Front]], except for a short period in the late 1960s (the [[Prague Spring]]) the country had no [[liberal democracy]]. Since citizens lacked significant electoral methods of registering protest against government policies, periodically there were street protests that became violent. For example, there were riots in the town of [[Plzeň uprising of 1953|Plzeň in 1953]], reflecting economic discontent. Police and army units put down the rebellion, and hundreds were injured but no one was killed. While its economy remained more advanced than those of its neighbors in Eastern Europe, Czechoslovakia grew increasingly economically weak relative to Western Europe.<ref name=":0">{{cite journal |last=Mares |first=Vaclav |title=Czechoslovakia under Communism |journal=Current History |date=June 1954|volume=26 |issue=154 |pages=347–354 |doi=10.1525/curh.1954.26.154.347 |s2cid=249083197 }}</ref>

The currency reform of 1953 caused dissatisfaction among Czechoslovak laborers. To equalize the wage rate, Czechoslovaks had to turn in their old money for new at a decreased value. The banks also confiscated savings and bank deposits to control the amount of money in circulation.<ref name=":0" /> In the 1950s, Czechoslovakia experienced high economic growth (averaging 7% per year), which allowed for a substantial increase in wages and living standards, thus promoting the stability of the regime.<ref>Chris Harman, ''A People's History of the World'', 1999, p 625</ref>

[[File:Czechoslovakia.png|thumb|Czechoslovakia after 1969]]

In 1968, when the reformer [[Alexander Dubček]] was appointed to the key post of First Secretary of the Czechoslovak Communist Party, there was a brief period of liberalization known as the [[Prague Spring]]. In response, after failing to persuade the Czechoslovak leaders to change course, five other [[Warsaw Pact invasion of Czechoslovakia|members of the Warsaw Pact invaded]]. Soviet tanks rolled into Czechoslovakia on the night of 20–21&nbsp;August 1968.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.upi.com/Archives/Audio/Events-of-1968/N.-Korea-Seize-U.S.-Ship/|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110831120907/http://www.upi.com/Audio/Year_in_Review/Events-of-1968/N.-Korea-Seize-U.S.-Ship/12303153093431-9/#title|url-status=dead|title=N. Korea Seize U.S. Ship - 1968 Year in Review - Audio - UPI.com|archive-date=31 August 2011|website=UPI|access-date=8 April 2020}}</ref> [[General Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union|Soviet Communist Party General Secretary]] [[Leonid Brezhnev]] viewed this intervention as vital for the preservation of the Soviet, socialist system and vowed to intervene in any state that sought to replace [[Marxism-Leninism]] with [[Capitalism (Marxism)|capitalism]].<ref>John Lewis Gaddis, ''The Cold War: A New History'' (New York: The Penguin Press), 150.</ref>

In the week after the invasion, there was a spontaneous campaign of [[civil resistance]] against the occupation. This resistance involved a wide range of acts of non-cooperation and defiance: this was followed by a period in which the Czechoslovak Communist Party leadership, having been forced in Moscow to make concessions to the Soviet Union, gradually put the brakes on their earlier liberal policies.<ref>Philip Windsor and [[Adam Roberts (scholar)|Adam Roberts]], ''Czechoslovakia 1968: Reform, Repression and Resistance'' (London: Chatto & Windus, 1969), pp. 97–143.</ref>

Meanwhile, one plank of the reform program had been carried out: in 1968–69, Czechoslovakia was turned into a federation of the [[Czech Socialist Republic]] and [[Slovak Socialist Republic]]. The theory was that under the federation, social and economic inequities between the Czech and Slovak halves of the state would be largely eliminated. A number of ministries, such as education, now became two formally equal bodies in the two formally equal republics. However, the centralized political control by the Czechoslovak Communist Party severely limited the effects of federalization.

The 1970s saw the rise of the dissident movement in Czechoslovakia, represented among others by [[Václav Havel]]. The movement sought greater political participation and expression in the face of official disapproval, manifested in limitations on work activities, which went as far as a ban on professional employment, the refusal of higher education for the dissidents' children, police harassment and prison.

During the 1980s, Czechoslovakia became one of the most tightly controlled Communist regimes in the [[Warsaw Pact]] in resistance to the mitigation of controls notified by Soviet president [[Mikhail Gorbachev]].

===After 1989===
{{main|History of Czechoslovakia (1989–1992)}}
[[File:Foundation of the Visegrád Group.tiff|thumb|The [[Visegrád Group]] signing ceremony in February 1991]]

In 1989, the [[Velvet Revolution]] restored democracy.<ref name="czechuniversities.com"/> This occurred around the same time as the fall of communism in Romania, Bulgaria, Hungary, East Germany and Poland.

The word "socialist" was removed from the country's full name on 29&nbsp;March 1990 and replaced by "federal".

[[Pope John Paul II]] made a [[List of pastoral visits of Pope John Paul II|papal visit]] to Czechoslovakia on 21 April 1990, hailing it as a symbolic step of reviving Christianity in the newly-formed post-communist state.

[[Czechoslovakia in the Gulf War|Czechoslovakia participated in the Gulf War]] with a small force of 200 troops under the command of the U.S.-led coalition.

In 1992, because of growing [[nationalist]] tensions in the government, Czechoslovakia was [[dissolution of Czechoslovakia|peacefully dissolved]] by parliament. On 31 December 1992, it formally separated into two independent countries, the [[Czech Republic]] and the [[Slovak Republic]].<ref name="czechuniversities.com"/>

{{Czechoslovakia timeline}}

== Government and politics ==
{{main|History of Czechoslovakia (1918–1938)|Politics of Communist Czechoslovakia}}
After World War II, a political monopoly was held by the [[Communist Party of Czechoslovakia]] (KSČ). The leader of the KSČ was ''[[de facto]]'' the most powerful person in the country during this period. [[Gustáv Husák]] was elected first secretary of the KSČ 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 the KSČ. All political parties, as well as numerous mass organizations, were grouped under umbrella of the [[National Front (Czechoslovakia)|National Front]]. Human rights activists and religious activists were severely repressed.
[[File:Národní muzeum - FS.JPG|thumb|upright|[[Federal Assembly (Czechoslovakia)|Federal Assembly]] in Prague]]

===Constitutional development===<!--This section is linked from [[Constitution of Czechoslovakia]]-->
{{main|Constitutional Court of Czechoslovakia}}
[[File:Herb Czechosłowacji (1990-1992).svg|thumb|upright|Federative [[Coat of arms of Czechoslovakia|coat of arms]] in 1990–1992]]

Czechoslovakia had the following constitutions during its history (1918–1992):
*Temporary constitution of 14 November 1918 (democratic): see [[History of Czechoslovakia (1918–1938)]]
*The [[Czechoslovak Constitution of 1920|1920 constitution]] (The Constitutional Document of the Czechoslovak Republic), democratic, in force until 1948, several amendments
*The Communist 1948 [[Ninth-of-May Constitution]]
*The Communist [[1960 Constitution of Czechoslovakia|1960 Constitution of the Czechoslovak Socialist Republic]] with major amendments in 1968 ([[Constitutional Law of Federation]]), 1971, 1975, 1978, and 1989 (at which point the leading role of the Communist Party was abolished). It was amended several more times during 1990–1992 (for example, 1990, name change to Czecho-Slovakia, 1991 incorporation of the human rights charter)

=== Heads of state and government ===
{{See also|Communist Party of Czechoslovakia#Leaders{{!}}Leaders of the Communist Party of Czechoslovakia}}
*[[List of presidents of Czechoslovakia]]
*[[List of prime ministers of Czechoslovakia]]

===Foreign policy===
<!--{{See also|:Category:Foreign relations of Czechoslovakia}}-->

====International agreements and membership====
In the 1930s, the nation formed a military alliance with France, which collapsed in the [[Munich Agreement]] of 1938. After [[World War II]], an active participant in Council for Mutual Economic Assistance ([[Comecon]]), [[Warsaw Pact]], United Nations and its specialized agencies; signatory of [[conference on Security and Cooperation in Europe]].<ref>Ladislav Cabada and Sarka Waisova, ''Czechoslovakia and the Czech Republic in World Politics'' (Lexington Books; 2012)</ref>

==== International relations ====
Between 1948 and 1949, Czechoslovakia formed a relationship with Israel through their military support during the War of 1948. Israel bought approximately US$144 million worth of weapons and ammunition.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Taterová |first=Eva |title=The Contribution of Czechoslovakia to Creation of the Independent State of Israel - Časopis politické vedy |url=https://politickevedy.fpvmv.umb.sk/25500/the-contribution-of-czechoslovakia-to-creation-of-the-independent-state-of-israel |access-date=2025-03-13 |website=politickevedy.fpvmv.umb.sk |language=sk |doi=10.24040/politickevedy.2023.26.4.108-129}}</ref>

===Administrative divisions===
{{main|Administrative divisions of Czechoslovakia}}
*1918–1923: Different systems in former Austrian territory ([[Bohemia]], [[Moravia]], a small part of [[Silesia]]) compared to former Hungarian territory (Slovakia and [[Ruthenia]]): three lands (''země'') (also called district units (''kraje'')): Bohemia, Moravia, Silesia, plus 21 counties (''župy'') in today's Slovakia and three counties in today's Ruthenia; both lands and counties were divided into districts (''[[okres]]y'').
*1923–1927: As above, except that the Slovak and Ruthenian counties were replaced by six (grand) counties (''(veľ)župy'') in Slovakia and one (grand) county in Ruthenia, and the numbers and boundaries of the ''okresy'' were changed in those two territories.
*1928–1938: Four lands (Czech: ''země'', Slovak: ''krajiny''): Bohemia, Moravia-Silesia, Slovakia and Sub-Carpathian Ruthenia, divided into districts (''okresy'').
*Late 1938 – March 1939: As above, but Slovakia and Ruthenia gained the status of "autonomous lands". Slovakia was called ''Slovenský štát'', with its own currency and government.
*1945–1948: As in 1928–1938, except that Ruthenia became part of the Soviet Union.
*1949–1960: 19 regions (''kraje'') divided into 270 ''okresy''.
*1960–1992: 10 ''kraje'', [[Prague]], and (from 1970) [[Bratislava]] (capital of Slovakia); these were divided into 109–114 okresy; the kraje were abolished temporarily in Slovakia in 1969–1970 and for many purposes from 1991 in Czechoslovakia; in addition, the Czech Socialist Republic and the Slovak Socialist Republic were established in 1969 (without the word ''Socialist'' from 1990).

==Population and ethnic groups==
{{main|Demographics of Czechoslovakia}}

==Economy==
{{main|Economy of Czechoslovakia}}
Before World War II, the economy was about the fourth in all industrial countries in Europe.{{citation needed|date=March 2021}}{{clarify|reason=This is absurd. "Fourth in all industrial countries" would mean that it had a larger industry than either Germany, USSR, Britain or France. A clearly ridiculous claim.|date=March 2021}} The state was based on strong economy, manufacturing cars ([[Škoda Auto|Škoda]], [[Tatra (company)|Tatra]]), trams, aircraft ([[Aero Vodochody|Aero]], [[Avia Motors|Avia]]), ships, ship engines ([[Škoda Works|Škoda]]), cannons, shoes ([[Bata Shoes|Baťa]]), turbines, guns ([[Zbrojovka Brno]]). It was the industrial workshop for the Austro-Hungarian empire. The Slovak lands relied more heavily on agriculture than the Czech lands.

After World War II, the economy was centrally planned, with command links controlled by the communist party, similarly to the [[Soviet Union]]. The large metallurgical industry was dependent on imports of iron and non-ferrous ores.
*Industry: [[Extractivism|Extractive industry]] and manufacturing dominated the sector, including machinery, chemicals, food processing, metallurgy, and textiles. The sector was wasteful in its use of energy, materials, and labor and was slow to upgrade technology, but the country was a major supplier of high-quality machinery, instruments, electronics, aircraft, airplane engines and arms to other socialist countries.
*Agriculture: Agriculture was a minor sector, but collectivized farms of large acreage and relatively efficient mode of production enabled the country to be relatively self-sufficient in the food supply. The country depended on imports of grains (mainly for livestock feed) in years of adverse weather. Meat production was constrained by a shortage of feed, but the country still recorded high per capita consumption of meat.
*Foreign Trade: Exports were estimated at US$17.8&nbsp;billion in 1985. Exports were machinery (55%), fuel and materials (14%), and manufactured consumer goods (16%). Imports stood at an estimated US$17.9&nbsp;billion in 1985, including fuel and materials (41%), machinery (33%), and agricultural and forestry products (12%). In 1986, about 80% of foreign trade was with other socialist countries.
*Exchange rate: Official, or commercial, the rate was crowns (Kčs) 5.4 per US$1 in 1987. Tourist, or non-commercial, the rate was Kčs 10.5 per US$1. Neither rate reflected purchasing power. The exchange rate on the [[black market]] was around Kčs 30 per US$1, which became the official rate once the currency became convertible in the early 1990s.
*Fiscal year: Calendar year.
*Fiscal policy: The state was the exclusive owner of means of production in most cases. Revenue from state enterprises was the primary source of revenues followed by [[turnover tax]]. The government spent heavily on social programs, subsidies, and investment. The budget was usually balanced or left a small surplus.

==Resource base==
{{main|Resource base of Communist Czechoslovakia}}
After World War II, the country was short of energy, relying on imported [[crude oil]] and natural gas from the Soviet Union, domestic [[Lignite|brown coal]], and [[nuclear power|nuclear]] and [[hydroelectric energy]]. Energy constraints were a major factor in the 1980s.

==Transport and communications==
{{main|Transport in Czechoslovakia}}
{{expand section|date=September 2016}}
Slightly after the foundation of Czechoslovakia in 1918, there was a lack of essential infrastructure in many areas – [[paved road]]s, [[railways]], [[bridge]]s, etc. Massive improvement in the following years enabled Czechoslovakia to develop its industry. [[Prague]]'s civil airport in [[Ruzyně]] became one of the most modern terminals in the world when it was finished in 1937. [[Tomáš Baťa]], a Czech entrepreneur and visionary, outlined his ideas in the publication "Budujme stát pro 40 milionů lidí", where he described the future [[motorway]] system. Construction of the first motorways in Czechoslovakia begun in 1939, nevertheless, they were stopped after German occupation during [[World War II]].

==Society==
{{main|Society of Communist Czechoslovakia}}

==Education==
{{main|Education in Czechoslovakia}}
[[Education]] was free at all levels<ref>{{cite book |last1=Murphy |first1=Thomas K. |title=Czechoslovakia: Behind the Curtain Life, Work and Culture in the Communist Era |date=2018 |publisher=McFarland |page=27}}</ref> and compulsory from ages 6 to 15. The vast majority of the population was [[Literacy|literate]]. There was a highly developed system of [[apprenticeship]] training and [[vocational school]]s supplemented general [[secondary school]]s and institutions of [[higher education]].

==Religion==
{{main|Religion in Czechoslovakia}}
In 1991, 46% of the population were [[Roman Catholics]], 5.3% were [[Lutheranism|Evangelical Lutheran]], 30% were [[Atheist]], and other religions made up 17% of the country, but there were huge differences in [[religious practice]]s between the two [[constituent republic]]s; see [[Czech Republic]] and [[Slovakia]].

==Health, social welfare and housing==
{{main|Health and social welfare in Communist Czechoslovakia}}
After [[World War II]], [[Universal healthcare|free health care]] was available to all citizens. National health planning emphasized [[Preventive healthcare|preventive medicine]]; factory and local health care centres supplemented [[hospital]]s and other inpatient institutions. There was a substantial improvement in [[Rural healthcare|rural health care]] during the 1960s and 1970s.

==Mass media==
{{main|Mass media in Communist Czechoslovakia}}
During the era between the World Wars, Czechoslovak democracy and liberalism facilitated conditions for free publication. The most significant daily newspapers in these times were Lidové noviny, Národní listy, Český deník and Československá Republika.

During [[Communist rule]], the [[mass media]] in Czechoslovakia were controlled by the [[Communist party|Communist Party]]. Private ownership of any publication or agency of the mass media was generally forbidden, although churches and other organizations published small periodicals and newspapers. Even with this information monopoly in the hands of organizations under KSČ control, all publications were [[Censorship|reviewed]] by the government's Office for Press and Information.

==Sports==
{{see also|Czechoslovakia at the Olympics}}
[[File:Elftal van Tsjecho-Slowakije, Bestanddeelnr 919-7616.jpg|thumb|Czechoslovak national football team in 1966]]
The [[Czechoslovakia national football team]] was a consistent performer on the international scene, with eight appearances in the [[FIFA World Cup]] Finals, finishing in second place in 1934 and 1962. The team also won the [[UEFA European Football Championship|European Football Championship]] in 1976, came in third in 1980, and won the [[Football at the Summer Olympics|Olympic gold]] in [[Football at the 1980 Summer Olympics|1980]].

Well-known football players such as [[Jan Koller]], [[Pavel Nedvěd]], [[Antonín Panenka]], [[Milan Baroš]], [[Tomáš Rosický]], [[Vladimír Šmicer]], [[Petr Čech]], [[Ladislav Petráš]], [[Marián Masný]], [[Ján Pivarník]], [[Ján Mucha]], [[Róbert Vittek]], [[Peter Pekarík]], and [[Marek Hamšík]] were all born in Czechoslovakia.

The [[International Olympic Committee]] code for Czechoslovakia is TCH, which is still used in historical listings of results.

The [[Czechoslovak national ice hockey team]] won many medals from the world championships and Olympic Games. [[Peter Šťastný]], [[Jaromír Jágr]], [[Dominik Hašek]], [[Peter Bondra]], [[Petr Klíma]], [[Marián Gáborík]], [[Marián Hossa]], [[Miroslav Šatan]] and [[Pavol Demitra]] all come from Czechoslovakia.

[[Emil Zátopek]], winner of four Olympic gold medals in [[Athletics (sport)|athletics]], is considered one of the top athletes in Czechoslovak history.

[[Věra Čáslavská]] was an Olympic gold medallist in gymnastics, winning seven gold medals and four silver medals. She represented Czechoslovakia in three consecutive Olympics.

Several accomplished professional [[tennis]] players including [[Jaroslav Drobný]], [[Ivan Lendl]], [[Jan Kodeš]], [[Miloslav Mečíř]], [[Hana Mandlíková]], [[Martina Hingis]], [[Martina Navratilova]], [[Jana Novotná]], [[Petra Kvitová]], [[Daniela Hantuchová]], [[Barbora Krejčíková]], [[Markéta Vondroušová]] and [[Karolína Muchová]] were born in Czechoslovakia (or what became the Czech Republic in 1993).

==Culture==
*Czech Republic{{\}}Slovakia
*[[List of Czechs]]{{\}}[[List of Slovaks]]
*[[International Women's Day|MDŽ (International Women's Day)]]
*[[Jazz in dissident Czechoslovakia]]

==Postage stamps==
*[[Postage stamps and postal history of Czechoslovakia]]
*[http://www.shutterstock.com/pic-22619653/stock-photo-slovakia-mail-postage-stamps.html Czechoslovakia stamp reused by Slovak Republic after 18 January 1939 by overprinting country and value]

==See also==
*[[Effects on the environment in Czechoslovakia from Soviet influence during the Cold War]]
*[[Former countries in Europe after 1815]]
*[[List of former sovereign states]]
*[[Operation Barium]]

==Notes==
{{notelist}}

==References==
{{reflist}}

==Sources==
*{{cite web|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070304093927/http://www.czech.cz/en/basic-facts/history/all-about-czech-history/the-first-czechoslovak-republic/ |archive-date=4 March 2007 |title=The First Czechoslovak Republic |website=The official website of the Czech Republic |url=http://www.czech.cz/en/basic-facts/history/all-about-czech-history/the-first-czechoslovak-republic/ }}

==Further reading==
{{refbegin|40em}}
*Heimann, Mary. ''Czechoslovakia: The State That Failed'' (2009). <!--negative tone stressing purported maltreatment of minorities-->
*Hermann, A. H. ''A History of the Czechs'' (1975).
*Kalvoda, Josef. ''The Genesis of Czechoslovakia'' (1986).
*Leff, Carol Skalnick. ''National Conflict in Czechoslovakia: The Making and Remaking of a State, 1918–87'' (1988).
*Mantey, Victor. ''A History of the Czechoslovak Republic'' (1973).
*Myant, Martin. ''The Czechoslovak Economy, 1948–88'' (1989).
*Naimark, Norman, and Leonid Gibianskii, eds. ''The Establishment of Communist Regimes in Eastern Europe, 1944–1949'' (1997)
*Orzoff, Andrea. ''Battle for the Castle: The Myth of Czechoslovakia in Europe 1914–1948'' (Oxford University Press, 2009); [https://www.h-net.org/reviews/showrev.php?id=37344 online review] {{doi|10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195367812.001.0001}} online
*Paul, David. ''Czechoslovakia: Profile of a Socialist Republic at the Crossroads of Europe'' (1990).
*Renner, Hans. ''A History of Czechoslovakia since 1945'' (1989).
*Seton-Watson, R. W. ''A History of the Czechs and Slovaks'' (1943).
*Stone, Norman, and E. Strouhal, eds.''Czechoslovakia: Crossroads and Crises, 1918–88'' (1989).
*Wheaton, Bernard; Zdenek Kavav. "The Velvet Revolution: Czechoslovakia, 1988–1991" (1992).
*Williams, Kieran, "Civil Resistance in Czechoslovakia: From Soviet Invasion to "Velvet Revolution", 1968–89",<br />in [[Adam Roberts (scholar)|Adam Roberts]] and [[Timothy Garton Ash]] (eds.), ''Civil Resistance and Power Politics: The Experience of Non-violent Action from Gandhi to the Present'' (Oxford University Press, 2009).
*Windsor, Philip, and Adam Roberts, ''Czechoslovakia 1968: Reform, Repression and Resistance'' (1969).
*Wolchik, Sharon L. ''Czechoslovakia: Politics, Society, and Economics'' (1990).
{{refend}}

==External links==
{{Commons category|Czechoslovakia}}
{{EB1922 poster}}
*[https://www.questia.com/library/history/european-history/eastern-europe/czechoslovakian-history.jsp Online books and articles] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110401192620/http://www.questia.com/library/history/european-history/eastern-europe/czechoslovakian-history.jsp |date=1 April 2011 }}
*[http://lcweb2.loc.gov/frd/cs/cstoc.html U.S. Library of Congress Country Studies, "Czechoslovakia"]
*English/Czech: [http://www.vyznamenani.net/main.htm Orders and Medals of Czechoslovakia including Order of the White Lion]
*[https://www.britannica.com/place/Czechoslovakia Czechoslovakia by Encyclopædia Britannica]
* Katrin Boeckh: [https://encyclopedia.1914-1918-online.net/article/crumbling_of_empires_and_emerging_states_czechoslovakia_and_yugoslavia_as_multinational_countries/ Crumbling of Empires and Emerging States: Czechoslovakia and Yugoslavia as (Multi)national Countries], in: [https://web.archive.org/web/20191230080030/https://encyclopedia.1914-1918-online.net/home.html 1914-1918-online. International Encyclopedia of the First World War].

'''Maps with Hungarian-language rubrics'''
*[http://terkepek.adatbank.transindex.ro/kepek/netre/163.gif Border changes after the creation of Czechoslovakia]
*[http://terkepek.adatbank.transindex.ro/kepek/netre/166.gif Interwar Czechoslovakia]
*[http://terkepek.adatbank.transindex.ro/kepek/netre/200.gif Czechoslovakia after Munich Agreement]

{{Czechoslovakia topics}}
{{Dissolution of Austria–Hungary}}
{{Council of Europe}}
{{Authority control}}

[[Category:Czechoslovakia| ]]
[[Category:Eastern Bloc]]
[[Category:Former republics]]
[[Category:Geography of Europe]]
[[Category:History of Central Europe]]
[[Category:1918 establishments in Czechoslovakia]]
[[Category:1939 disestablishments in Czechoslovakia]]
[[Category:1945 establishments in Czechoslovakia]]
[[Category:1992 disestablishments in Czechoslovakia]]
[[Category:States and territories established in 1918]]
[[Category:States and territories disestablished in 1939]]
[[Category:States and territories established in 1945]]
[[Category:States and territories disestablished in 1992]]
[[Category:1918 establishments in Europe]]