History of Czechia

Prehistoric Era

The territory of modern-day Czechia has been inhabited since the Paleolithic period, with archaeological evidence dating back approximately 30,000 years. Significant Paleolithic sites include Dolní Věstonice in Moravia, where the famous Venus of Dolní Věstonice—a ceramic figurine dated to 29,000-25,000 BCE—was discovered. This small (11 cm) nude female figure is one of the oldest known pieces of fired pottery in the world.

The Neolithic period (5500-4300 BCE) brought agricultural practices to the region, with the Linear Pottery culture being prominent. During the Bronze Age (2300-800 BCE), the Únětice culture flourished, known for their distinctive metal artifacts and burial practices. The subsequent Iron Age saw the Celtic Boii tribe settle in the region around the 4th century BCE, giving Bohemia its name—Boiohaemum, meaning "home of the Boii."

Roman Period and Migration Era

During the 1st century BCE, the Romans established trade relations with the region, though they never fully conquered it. The boundary of the Roman Empire, the Limes Romanus, ran just south of Moravia. Archaeological findings, including Roman coins and artifacts, demonstrate extensive trade connections.

Around the 1st century CE, Germanic tribes, particularly the Marcomanni led by King Maroboduus, established a powerful kingdom in Bohemia. This period saw conflicts with Rome, including the Marcomannic Wars (166-180 CE) during the reign of Emperor Marcus Aurelius.

The Migration Period (4th-6th centuries) brought significant demographic changes as Germanic tribes moved westward, creating a power vacuum that was gradually filled by Slavic peoples arriving from the east. These early Slavs established agricultural settlements and developed a distinct material culture.

Early Slavic Period and Samo's Kingdom

The first documented Slavic state in the region was Samo's Kingdom (623-658), established by a Frankish merchant named Samo who united several Slavic tribes to defend against Avar and Frankish aggression. After successfully defeating the Frankish king Dagobert I at the Battle of Wogastisburg in 631, Samo ruled over a large territory until his death, after which his realm disintegrated.

Great Moravian Empire

In the early 9th century, two significant Slavic principalities emerged in the region: Moravia and the Principality of Nitra. Prince Mojmír I united these territories around 833, creating the Great Moravian Empire, the first major Slavic state in Central Europe.

Under Rastislav (846-870) and Svatopluk I (871-894), Great Moravia expanded its territory and influence. Recognising the political implications of religious affiliation, Rastislav requested Byzantine Emperor Michael III to send missionaries who would spread Christianity in the Slavic language, rather than in Latin used by Frankish missionaries.

In 863, brothers Cyril and Methodius arrived from Constantinople. They created the Glagolitic alphabet, the first script designed for Slavic languages, and translated religious texts, laying the foundation for Slavic literary culture. Despite their Eastern Orthodox origins, they received papal approval for their mission, though tensions with Frankish clergy remained.

Svatopluk I expanded the empire to include parts of present-day Slovakia, Poland, Hungary, and eastern Austria. However, after his death in 894, internal conflicts and Magyar invasions led to the empire's collapse by 907. Despite its relatively short existence, Great Moravia left a lasting cultural legacy, particularly in ecclesiastical architecture and the development of Slavic literacy.

Přemyslid Dynasty and the Formation of the Bohemian State

According to legend, the Přemyslid dynasty was founded by Přemysl the Ploughman, who married the prophetess Libuše. The first historically documented Přemyslid was Duke Bořivoj I (c. 852-889), who converted to Christianity and established Prague Castle around 880.

His grandson, Wenceslas I (Václav in Czech, c. 907-935), became the patron saint of Bohemia after being murdered by his brother Boleslav I. Despite this fratricide, Boleslav I (935-972) proved an effective ruler who strengthened the Bohemian state and expanded its territory.

The reign of Boleslav II (972-999) saw the establishment of the Prague Bishopric in 973, granting Bohemia ecclesiastical independence. During this period, the Slavník family emerged as powerful rivals to the Přemyslids until their massacre at Libice in 995.

The 11th century was marked by dynastic struggles and conflicts with neighbouring Poland and the Holy Roman Empire. Bretislav I (1034-1055) codified the principle of seniority succession to prevent inheritance disputes, though this system eventually broke down.

Vratislav II (1061-1092) received the royal title in 1085 from Emperor Henry IV for his support during the Investiture Controversy, though this title was personal rather than hereditary. The 12th century saw continued power struggles and the gradual integration of Bohemia into the political structures of the Holy Roman Empire.

The Golden Age of Přemyslid Rule

The 13th century marked the apex of Přemyslid power. Přemysl Otakar I (1197-1230) secured the hereditary royal title through the Golden Bull of Sicily (1212), granted by Emperor Frederick II. This document confirmed Bohemia's special status within the Empire and guaranteed the right of Bohemian nobles to elect their king.

His son, Wenceslas I (1230-1253), encouraged German immigration, urban development, and mining, significantly strengthening the kingdom's economy. Silver mining, particularly in Kutná Hora, made Bohemia one of Europe's wealthiest kingdoms.

Přemysl Otakar II (1253-1278), known as the "Iron and Golden King," expanded Bohemian territory to the Adriatic Sea. His ambitions led to conflict with Rudolf of Habsburg, resulting in Otakar's defeat and death at the Battle of Marchfeld in 1278.

After a period of instability, Wenceslas II (1283-1305) restored Bohemian power and briefly acquired the Polish crown. His son, Wenceslas III, was assassinated in 1306, ending the male Přemyslid line.

Luxembourg Dynasty

After a brief interregnum, John of Luxembourg (1310-1346) gained the Bohemian throne through marriage to Elisabeth Přemyslovna. Though often absent from Bohemia pursuing his chivalric and diplomatic activities across Europe, John expanded Bohemian influence and died heroically at the Battle of Crécy in 1346 despite being blind.

His son, Charles IV (1346-1378), was one of the most significant Czech rulers. Educated in France and Italy, he made Prague a cultural and political centre of Europe. His achievements include:

• Founding Charles University in Prague in 1348, the first university in Central Europe
• Issuing the Golden Bull of 1356, which codified the electoral process for the Holy Roman Emperor
• Commissioning Prague's New Town (Nové Město) with its wide streets and large squares
• Building the Charles Bridge, St. Vitus Cathedral, and Karlštejn Castle
• Acquiring Brandenburg, Lusatia, and parts of the Upper Palatinate for the Bohemian Crown

Under Charles IV, Prague became the third-largest city in Europe after Constantinople and Paris, with approximately 40,000 inhabitants. The period saw flourishing Gothic architecture, literature, and art, with notable figures like architect Peter Parler creating masterpieces that still define Prague's skyline.

Charles's son, Wenceslas IV (1378-1419), faced numerous challenges, including conflicts with the nobility and the Western Schism in the Catholic Church. His half-brother, Sigismund, temporarily imprisoned him in 1402-1403, weakening royal authority.

Hussite Revolution

The early 15th century witnessed profound religious and social upheaval in Bohemia. Jan Hus (c. 1370-1415), a theologian and rector of Charles University, preached against ecclesiastical corruption and advocated for church reform. Influenced by the English theologian John Wycliffe, Hus criticised indulgences, emphasised scripture over church authority, and delivered sermons in Czech rather than Latin.

Despite holding a promise of safe conduct, Hus was arrested at the Council of Constance, tried for heresy, and burned at the stake on 6 July 1415. His execution sparked outrage in Bohemia, leading to the Hussite movement.

The First Defenestration of Prague in 1419, when Hussite protesters threw Catholic town councillors from the windows of the New Town Hall, marked the beginning of the Hussite Wars (1419-1434). The Hussites, led by military innovator Jan Žižka, developed effective tactics including the use of war wagons (vozová hradba) that successfully repelled five papal crusades.

The Hussites split into moderate Utraquists, who mainly demanded communion in both kinds (bread and wine) for the laity, and radical Taborites, who sought more fundamental social and religious reforms. This division culminated in the Battle of Lipany in 1434, where moderate Hussites defeated the radicals.

The religious compromise reached in the Compacts of Basel (1436) allowed Utraquism in Bohemia, making it the first European country with a legally recognised non-Catholic confession. King Sigismund was finally accepted as king but died shortly after in 1437, ending the Luxembourg dynasty in the male line.

Interregnum and George of Poděbrady

After brief reigns by Albert of Habsburg (1437-1439) and his posthumous son Ladislaus the Posthumous (1453-1457), the Bohemian estates elected George of Poděbrady (1458-1471) as king—the only Hussite monarch and the last ethnic Czech to rule until the establishment of Czechoslovakia in 1918.

George, known as the "Hussite King," maintained religious peace in Bohemia and even proposed a revolutionary plan for European unity and collective security, anticipating later international organisations. However, Pope Pius II eventually declared him a heretic, and Matthias Corvinus of Hungary invaded Bohemia, claiming its crown.

Jagiellon Dynasty

After George's death, the Polish prince Vladislaus II Jagiellon (1471-1516) was elected king. His reign saw diminished royal power and increased influence of the nobility, codified in the Vladislaus Land Ordinance of 1500. The period also witnessed cultural flourishing, with late Gothic and early Renaissance styles appearing in architecture and art.

Vladislaus's son, Louis II (1516-1526), inherited both the Bohemian and Hungarian crowns but died at the Battle of Mohács against the Ottoman Turks in 1526, ending the Jagiellon dynasty.

Habsburg Rule

Following Louis's death, the Bohemian estates elected Ferdinand I of Habsburg (1526-1564) as king, beginning nearly 400 years of Habsburg rule. Ferdinand centralised administration and strengthened royal authority, though he respected Bohemia's religious diversity.

His grandson, Rudolf II (1576-1612), moved the imperial court to Prague, making it a centre of late Renaissance culture, science, and occultism. Rudolf's court attracted figures like astronomers Tycho Brahe and Johannes Kepler, and artists like Giuseppe Arcimboldo. The emperor himself was a significant patron and collector of art and curiosities.

Religious tensions increased during this period. In 1609, Rudolf was forced to issue the Letter of Majesty, guaranteeing religious freedoms to both Catholics and Protestants. However, his successor, Matthias, began restricting these freedoms, leading to growing discontent.

Thirty Years' War and Habsburg Absolutism

The Second Defenestration of Prague in 1618, when Protestant nobles threw two Catholic royal officials from the windows of Prague Castle, triggered the Bohemian Revolt against Habsburg rule. The rebels deposed Ferdinand II and elected Frederick V of the Palatinate as king, but their forces were decisively defeated at the Battle of White Mountain on 8 November 1620.

The consequences were severe:

• Twenty-seven leaders of the rebellion were executed in Prague's Old Town Square in 1621
• Extensive confiscation of Protestant nobles' property
• Forced re-Catholicisation of the population
• The Renewed Land Ordinance of 1627 made Catholicism the sole legal religion, established hereditary Habsburg succession, and elevated German as an official language alongside Czech

The Thirty Years' War (1618-1648) devastated the Czech lands. The population declined from about 3 million to 800,000 due to war, disease, and emigration. Many Czech Protestants, including the educator John Amos Comenius, fled into exile.

The late 17th and early 18th centuries saw the spread of Baroque culture, with magnificent churches, monasteries, and palaces built across the country. Notable architects included Christoph Dientzenhofer and his son Kilian Ignaz Dientzenhofer, who designed many of Prague's iconic Baroque structures.

Enlightened Absolutism

The War of Austrian Succession (1740-1748) and the Seven Years' War (1756-1763) brought further hardship as Prussian and Austrian armies repeatedly crossed the Czech lands. Prussia's Frederick the Great occupied Prague twice and permanently annexed most of Silesia, historically part of the Bohemian Crown lands.

Maria Theresa (1740-1780) and her son Joseph II (1780-1790) implemented significant reforms:

• Abolition of torture (1776) and significant reduction in the use of the death penalty
• Compulsory elementary education (1774)
• Religious tolerance through the Patent of Toleration (1781)
• Abolition of serfdom (1781)
• Administrative centralisation and germanisation

These reforms modernised the state but also intensified germanisation, as German became the sole administrative language and the primary language of education and culture among the upper classes.

National Revival

The late 18th and 19th centuries saw the Czech National Revival, a cultural movement aimed at revitalising Czech language and culture. Key figures included:

• Josef Dobrovský (1753-1829), who codified modern Czech grammar
• Josef Jungmann (1773-1847), who expanded Czech vocabulary and translated world literature
• František Palacký (1798-1876), historian who provided a national historical narrative
• Journalist Karel Havlíček Borovský (1821-1856)
• Composers Bedřich Smetana (1824-1884) and Antonín Dvořák (1841-1904), who incorporated Czech folk elements into classical music

Cultural institutions like the National Museum (1818) and the National Theatre (1881) became symbols of national identity. The revival initially focused on scholarly and cultural activities but gradually developed political dimensions.

Industrial Revolution and Political Awakening

The Czech lands, particularly Bohemia, became the industrial heartland of the Habsburg Empire. By the mid-19th century, the region produced over 60% of the empire's manufactured goods. Key industries included textiles, glass, sugar refining, and heavy machinery.

The 1848 Revolution briefly raised hopes for greater autonomy. The Slavic Congress in Prague, attended by delegates from various Slavic nations within the Habsburg Empire, advocated for federalisation. However, the revolution was suppressed, and the subsequent period of neo-absolutism (1851-1860) saw renewed centralisation and germanisation.

The Austrian defeat in the 1866 Austro-Prussian War led to the Austro-Hungarian Compromise of 1867, which restructured the empire as a dual monarchy but left Czechs dissatisfied as they received no similar recognition. Czech politicians boycotted the imperial parliament for many years in protest.

By the late 19th century, Czech society had developed a complex political spectrum:

• The Old Czech Party, led by František Palacký and František Ladislav Rieger, advocated for Czech historical rights within the empire
• The Young Czech Party pursued more liberal policies
• The Social Democratic Party addressed the concerns of the growing working class
• Agrarian, Catholic, and National Socialist parties emerged to represent various constituencies

Czech-German tensions increased as Germans feared losing their privileged position. Language ordinances requiring bilingualism in the civil service provoked German protests, while Czechs resented continued discrimination.

First World War and Independence

World War I accelerated the disintegration of Austria-Hungary. Initially, Czech politicians like Karel Kramář hoped for reform within the empire or looked to Russia for support. However, as the war progressed, the idea of complete independence gained traction.

Tomáš Garrigue Masaryk, a philosophy professor and politician, along with his collaborators Edvard Beneš and Milan Rastislav Štefánik, established the Czechoslovak National Council abroad to advocate for independence. Masaryk secured support from the Allied powers, while Czechoslovak Legions fighting against Austria-Hungary and later in Russia gained international recognition.

On 28 October 1918, as Austria-Hungary collapsed, Czechoslovakia declared independence in Prague. The new state united the Czech lands (Bohemia, Moravia, and Czech Silesia) with Slovakia and Carpathian Ruthenia in a multinational republic.

First Czechoslovak Republic (1918-1938)

The First Republic, with Masaryk as president (1918-1935), established itself as a parliamentary democracy with universal suffrage, including women's right to vote. Despite economic challenges and ethnic tensions, it maintained democratic institutions when many neighbouring countries succumbed to authoritarianism.

Economically, Czechoslovakia ranked among the world's ten most industrialised nations, with the Škoda Works in Plzeň, the Baťa shoe company in Zlín, and arms manufacturing being particularly significant. Land reform redistributed property from primarily German and Hungarian aristocrats to Czech and Slovak smallholders.

The country's multinational character presented challenges. Germans, constituting about 23% of the population and concentrated in border regions (Sudetenland), often felt marginalised despite having minority rights and political representation. Slovaks, too, increasingly demanded greater autonomy.

Cultural life flourished, with Prague becoming a centre of avant-garde art, architecture, and literature. The interwar period saw the development of Czech functionalist architecture, represented by buildings like the Tugendhat Villa in Brno, designed by Mies van der Rohe.

Munich Agreement and Nazi Occupation

The rise of Nazi Germany posed an existential threat to Czechoslovakia. Following the Anschluss of Austria in March 1938, Hitler targeted the Sudetenland, using the German minority's grievances as a pretext. Despite having modern fortifications and a well-equipped army, Czechoslovakia was abandoned by its allies at the Munich Conference (29-30 September 1938), where Britain, France, Italy, and Germany agreed to the annexation of the Sudetenland without Czechoslovak participation.

President Edvard Beneš resigned and went into exile. The truncated "Second Republic" lasted only six months before Hitler occupied the Czech lands on 15 March 1939, establishing the Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia. Slovakia became a nominally independent puppet state.

The Nazi occupation was brutal:

• The Gestapo, led by Reinhard Heydrich until his assassination in 1942, targeted resistance members and intellectuals
• The Jewish population (about 118,000 in the Protectorate) was nearly exterminated, with over 80,000 murdered in the Holocaust
• The village of Lidice was completely destroyed in retaliation for Heydrich's assassination, with all male inhabitants executed and women and children sent to concentration camps
• Tens of thousands of Czechs were used as forced labourers in Germany

Resistance took various forms, from intelligence gathering for the Allies to sabotage and armed uprising in the final days of the war. The Czechoslovak government-in-exile, led by Beneš in London, gained Allied recognition and planned for post-war restoration.

Post-War Czechoslovakia and Communist Takeover

After liberation in May 1945, Czechoslovakia was restored but with significant changes. Carpathian Ruthenia was ceded to the Soviet Union. About 3 million ethnic Germans were expelled from the country based on the principle of collective guilt, fundamentally altering the demographic composition of the Czech borderlands.

The post-war republic operated as a limited democracy with only six approved political parties. In the 1946 elections, the Communist Party of Czechoslovakia (KSČ) emerged as the largest party with 38% of the vote, and its leader, Klement Gottwald, became prime minister in a coalition government.

Growing Cold War tensions and communist pressure led to a political crisis in February 1948. When non-communist ministers resigned in protest against communist control of the police, President Beneš, under immense pressure, accepted a new communist-dominated government. The February Coup (known as "Victorious February" in communist historiography) marked the beginning of four decades of communist rule.

Communist Era (1948-1989)

The communist regime quickly consolidated power through purges, show trials, and nationalisation of private property. The 1950s saw political trials modelled on Soviet examples, with former communist officials like Rudolf Slánský accused of high treason and Titoism. Eleven of the fourteen party leaders tried in November 1952 were sentenced to death.

The economy was committed to comprehensive central planning and the abolition of private ownership. Czechoslovakia became a Soviet satellite state, joining Comecon in 1949 and the Warsaw Pact in 1955. The country saw rapid development of heavy industry, with industrial growth of 170% between 1948 and 1957.

In 1960, a new constitution declared the victory of socialism and renamed the country the Czechoslovak Socialist Republic (ČSSR). However, by the early 1960s, the economy became severely stagnant, prompting the introduction of limited market reforms in 1965 under the New Economic Model.

Political reforms came later to Czechoslovakia than other Eastern Bloc countries. In January 1968, Alexander Dubček replaced Antonín Novotný as First Secretary of the Communist Party, ushering in the period known as the Prague Spring. Dubček introduced "socialism with a human face", including greater freedom of speech and media, economic liberalisation, and the federalisation of Czechoslovakia.

However, these reforms were cut short on 21 August 1968 when Warsaw Pact troops invaded Czechoslovakia. The subsequent period of "normalisation" saw the reversal of many Prague Spring reforms and the purging of reformists from the Communist Party.

The 1970s and 1980s were characterised by economic stagnation and political repression. However, opposition to the regime grew, particularly after the formation of Charter 77, a human rights initiative co-founded by playwright Václav Havel.

The communist regime in Czechoslovakia finally collapsed in November 1989 during the Velvet Revolution, a peaceful mass protest movement. Havel became the country's first non-communist president in over four decades, marking the end of 41 years of communist rule in Czechoslovakia.