Otázka: Czech History
Jazyk: Angličtina
Přidal(a): VeronikaCao
The territory of Bohemia was inhabited from Old Stone Age. Since the 3rd century this area was settled by Celtic tribes. One of them the Boii tribe gave the land its name – Bohemia. The Celts were replaced by the Gallic and Slavic tribes.
Around 630 the Samo’s empire – first political unit – was established, followed by the Great Moravia in 9th century. At that time St. Cyril and Methodius brought Christianity here and created Old Church Slavonic (staroslověnština) – the first Slavic literary language.
In 1212 by the Golden Bull of Sicily Přemysl Otakar I. gained the hereditary royal title and the country became a kingdom. Czech kingdom expanded and was the most prosperous and powerful during the reign of Přemysl Otakar II (13thcentury) and Charles IV (14thcentury)
The Habsburg dynasty ruled the country for almost 400 years (1526-1918). They enforced strong Catholicism and the capital was no longer Prague but Vienna.
After WW1, on October 28, 1918 – Czechoslovakia was declared and the first president was elected His name is Tomáš Garigue Masaryk. But the Czech people could enjoy the freedom and democracy for just 20 years. In September 1938, the leaders of Great Britain, France and Italy met Hitler’s requirement to cede parts of the Czechoslovakian territory to Nazi Germany. And the Munich or ‘about us without us’ agreement was made.
After WWII, restored Czechoslovakia found itself in the immediate sphere of interest of Stalin’s Soviet Union, facilitated the February 1948 rise of Czechoslovak Communists to totalitarian power. The one-party dictatorship took numerous forms. At the beginning, it was accompanied by tragic political purge and trials. Czechoslovakian democratic tradition was all but dead and buried.
After the dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1990s there was again a liberal election and Václav Havel was elected. He was the last Czechoslovakian president and after the peaceful dissolution of Czechoslovakia (on 31 December 1992) sometimes known as the Velvet Divorce, he became the first president of the Czech Republic.
