- Hubert Walas
The Split of Czechoslovakia pt. 1 | Stronger together...
The Czech and Slovak republics, 2 young democracies in the geographic middle of Europe. Just 30 years ago they were on the fringe of the continent, guarding the communist east against the capitalist West. Back then both countries and its peoples were sharing a common history in a single country known as Czechoslovakia. Once together now apart. In this 2 part series, we are going to dive into significant historical events that shaped Czech and Slovak people and finally led up to the division of Czechoslovakia. How did this happen? Why did Czechoslovakia split?
Stronger together…
Czechoslovakia came into existence 1 month before the official end of the 1st world war on October 28th, 1918 thanks to masterful diplomatic maneuvering, military proves of the Czechoslovak legions, and a bit of luck. After establishing itself firmly in the region the 1st Czechoslovak republic was a stable centralized democratic state ruled from Prague, giving it the nickname of the “democratic island of Eastern Europe”. In spite of this, the country was left with a complicated demographic situation owing to a long history of Germanic and Hungarian influence in the region. Although it is called the Czechoslovak republic, by population the most populous nationality within the borders was the Czechs, while the second one was German with Slovak being only the 3rd. This simple demographic fact has made cooperation between Czechs and Slovaks a political necessity, while made easier only by their cultural, historical, and ethnic ties.
Peace or War
The darkest chapter of Czech and Slovak history happened during World War II. Rising tensions with Nazi Germany over the supposedly oppressed German minority within Czechoslovakia lead to a call for mobilization in the Czechoslovak state, the then ally of France and England. The threat of starting another world war over a minor state in central Europe led up to the Munich conference which was held on the 29th of September 1938, between Chamberlain from the UK, from France, Hitler from Germany and Mussolini from Italy with the goal of resolving the conflict peacefully. In breach of several international treaties, the Munich agreement was signed without the presence of representatives from Czechoslovakia.
The Czechoslovak government itself was simply informed about the results and advised to comply with the agreement. Which was to cede the Sudetenland, meaning all areas with over 50% of ethnic Germans, to Germany or face the consequences without its allies. The government conceded. Sensing weakness Poland and Hungary seized their opportunity as well, Poland annexing parts of the northern border regions and Hungary taking the south of the Slovak lands including its second-largest city, Košice. In a matter of months, Czechoslovakia was reduced to only a husk of its former size.
The first cracks
It is when a state is weak and unstable when even minor conflicts come to the foreground. Unfortunately for Czechoslovakia, the one it faced back then was not a minor one and questioned its very character and founding principles. One of those, enshrined within its constitution, was czechoslovakism, most prominently supported and believed by its founders, such as Tomáš Masaryk, republic's 1st president, as well as Edvard Beneš and Milan Štefánik. While today it may describe someone who wishes a restoration of Czechoslovakia, back then it was a political conception, which denied the existence of a separate Slovak culture and nationality. The movement originated from the idea of a Greater Czech nationality with Slovaks being a subculture of it. While in itself a point of conflict with Slovak nationalists, it was only deepened in the subsequent years. Due to previous high hungarisation efforts in Slovakia while under Austria-Hungary, Slovakia lacked an educated workforce. This was solved by Czechs filling most high offices including teacher positions in Slovak schools. Most refused to learn any Slovak, leading to Czech being almost exclusively spoken in all high offices including schools, where even Slovak was taught by Czech teachers. With Slovaks already being in a minority situation, the divide only grew and nationalism gained steady support among the Slovak population.
To the great dismay of Slovak nationalists. The conflicts between Slovak nationalists and czechoslovakists played into the cards of Hitler. With Edvard Beneš the current president, being a hardline czechoslovakist, the opportunity practically offered itself. Hitler in no uncertain terms gave Slovak politicians the option of declaring independence or being reoccupied by Hungary. And so, succumbing to internal and external pressures, Czechoslovakia fell apart with the Slovak state unilaterally declaring independence becoming a clero-fascist satellite under Germany. The rest of Czechoslovakia was quickly occupied by German troops under the Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia.
The decrees
After the 2nd WW, the Czechoslovak republic was restored to its former size and the government in exile headed by Edvard Beneš returned as the legitimate temporary government. The restoration excluded Ruthenia, which became part of Soviet Ukraine under pressure from the USSR. After the humiliation in the years leading up to the war, the prerogative of Czech and Slovak politicians was “Never again”. In the absence of a parliament, the country was ruled by presidential decrees, also known as the Beneš decrees, named after Edvard Beneš, the reinstated president of Czechoslovakia. The most known decrees dealt with the loss of citizenship, deportation, and confiscation of property of about 3 million ethnic Germans and Hungarians. This was made under the pretext of preventing future external and internal conflicts, punishing fascist collaborators, and manage the return of stolen property. The side effect of this decision was the homogenization of the country and a decrease in the dependence of Czechs and Slovaks on each other.
The red tomorrow
In 1946 the first free elections were held, although with strong influence from the USSR two of the most popular and right-leaning parties were banned from participating. Unsurprisingly then, the communist and socialist parties won and formed the new government. The next two years were characterized by a strong push to gain influence and control over key institutions by the Communist party, securing their hold on the police, army, and worker unions. This culminated when the communist party gained complete control over the security forces in February of 1948, later known as Victorious February. In protest, most non-communist ministers resigned their office and in a series of violent and armed protests, the communist party succeeded and took complete control over the state. The 50s or the Stalinist era was an era of totalitarianism, an era best characterized by the expression of “state terror”. In this time, the complete force of the state was used to persecute, imprison, torture, or execute any and all who were deemed by the state as so-called “unreliable citizens”. This included anyone from religious figures, soldiers who served on the western front during the war, landowners, critics, opposition members, up to “unreliable” members of the communist party.
Forced labor camps around uranium mines were created, travel restricted, the whole economy was nationalized and reformed with a strong emphasis on heavy industry especially the arms industry. School curriculums were revised along ideological lines and other similar reforms were undertaken to create a soviet-style state. In a very ironic way the currency was also reformed exchanging the old currency in a ratio of 1 to 5 for small amounts and 1 to 50 for large amounts of money, in relative terms, making the rich 10 times richer than the poor in a matter of days. Protests followed which were suppressed in some instances by opening fire into protesters, many of whom were factory workers. Strong suppression by the state left no room for any secessionist sentiments. Keeping your head down and not standing out of the crowd was a necessity.
Lost hopes
The death of Stalin in 1953 marked a shift in policy in the whole Eastern bloc. Most political prisoners were rehabilitated, some criticism of the regime was tolerated and the repression was toned down. Some years later a new group of politicians came to power in Czechoslovakia, headed by Alexander Dubček, who saw the future of communism in reform. Unlike later Gorbachevs perestrojka, the goal was to honestly inform the population on the state of the country, allow some form of actual democracy and open the economy to some investment and private enterprise. Often called “socialism with a human face”. Unfortunately, these reforms came about 30 years too soon and were viewed as the beginnings of a counter-revolution by communists in Kremlin. Student protests openly criticizing the communist regime in 1967 and 1968, known as the Prague Spring, and the subsequent resignation of the president were the last drop. Although the students were brutally beaten down and the order returned, it was not enough. In august of 1968, Czechoslovakia was invaded by 500.000 soldiers and 6000 tanks of the Warsaw pact, with the upstart politicians being taken to Moscow and made to resign. The soldiers were to stay indefinitely, permanently occupying Czechoslovakia many of the soldiers bringing over their families in the process.
Even the most hardline communists saw it difficult to defend such a move. In a matter of days, the USSR changed in the minds of the people from liberators to occupiers, some even using the expression of “slave and slave master” to describe the new relationship. Large parts of the population joined in protest against the occupying forces. One of the most shocking displays of protests was done by a 20-year-old student of history, Jan Palach, who burned himself alive on Vaclav square in Prague, becoming an eternal symbol of protests against the regime. Unfortunately, there was little to do against the occupying military force even after an outcry from the global international community, both in the west and the east. The communist party also suffered a complete loss of confidence from the population, soon becoming the party of careerists and collaborators, resorting to bribery and intimidation to maintain memberships. If you wanted better pay, a vacation, or better education for your children, then your options were to become a collaborator, spying and reporting on your neighbors, colleagues, friends or even your own family to the secret police, or becoming a party member or both. A common foe strengthened the ties between the Czechs and Slovaks.
Although fighting the red plague, both nations stayed together, but that was about to change.
