Czechoslovakia

A central European country formed from pieces of the multi-ethnic Austro-Hungarian empire at the end of WWI in 1918. Czechoslovakia encompassed regions historically inhabited by different ethnic groups: the Czech provinces of Bohemia and Moravia, Slovakia, the Sudetenland with many ethnic Germans, as well as Hungarians in the southeastern parts of the country, and Rusyns in Carpatho-Ruthenia, which today belongs to Ukraine. Tensions between these ethnic groups would contribute to the country’s instability in later years. During the interwar years, Czechoslovakia was a democratic republic. At the Munich Conference in September 1938, Hitler demanded the Sudetenland region of Czechoslovakia along the border with Germany, and it was granted to him through the Munich Accords on condition that he and Germany would make no further demands for expansion. This set off the partition of Czechoslovakia, as its neighboring states on all sides moved to annex parts of country. Poland annexed parts of Silesia and Hungary claimed territory along the southeastern border. In March 1939, Germany occupied Czech lands and created the Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia under Nazi control. In response, the Slovak region formed a pro-Nazi government under Jozef Tiso. Although nominally independent, Tiso’s government was essentially a client state of Germany. Hungary was later awarded the former Czech region of Carpathian Ruthenia, completing the partition of Czechoslovakia. After World War II, Czechoslovakia was re-constituted as a nation. Its borders were the same as they had been before WWII, excluding the region of Carpathian Ruthenia, which was ceded to Ukraine. Czechoslovakia fell under Soviet influence and was a communist state from 1948 until 1989. In 1992, Czechoslovakia was split once more—this time into two countries: the Czech Republic and Slovakia.