Czechoslovakia

This article is about the former country in Central Europe. Not to be confused with Czechia or Slovakia. For the band with the same name, see Czechoslovakia (band).
"RČS" and "Rčs" redirect here. For other uses, see RCS (disambiguation).

Czechoslovakia
Československo[a]
1918–1939
(1939–1945 Government-in-exile)
1945–1992
Motto: 'Pravda vítězí / Pravda víťazí'
(Czech / Slovak, 1918–1990)
'Veritas vincit' (Latin, 1990–1992)
'La vérité vaincra' (French, unofficial)
'Truth prevails'
Anthem: 'Kde domov můj' (Czech)
and 'Nad Tatrou sa blýska' (Slovak)
Czechoslovakia during the interwar period and the Cold War
Czechoslovakia during the interwar period and the Cold War
Capital
and largest city
Prague
50°05′N 14°25′E / 50.083°N 14.417°E / 50.083; 14.417
Official languagesCzechoslovak, after 1948 Czech · Slovak
Recognised languages
Demonym(s)Czechoslovak
GovernmentFirst Republic
(1918–38)
Second Republic
(1938–39)
Third Republic
(1945–48)
Socialist Republic
(1948–89)
Federative Republic
(1990–92)
Details
President 
• 1918–1935
Tomáš G. Masaryk
• 1935–1938 · 1945–1948
Edvard Beneš
• 1938–1939
Emil Hácha
• 1948–1953
Klement Gottwald
• 1953–1957
Antonín Zápotocký
• 1957–1968
Antonín Novotný
• 1968–1975
Ludvík Svoboda
• 1976–1989
Gustáv Husák
• 1989–1992
Václav Havel
KSČ General Secretary / First Secretary 
• 1948–1953
Klement Gottwald
• 1953–1968
Antonín Novotný
• 1968–1969
Alexander Dubček
• 1969–1987
Gustáv Husák
• 1987–1989
Miloš Jakeš
Prime Minister 
• 1918–1919 (first)
Karel Kramář
• 1992 (last)
Jan Stráský
LegislatureRevolutionary National Assembly (1918–1920)
National Assembly (1920–1939)
Interim National Assembly (1945–1946)
Constituent National Assembly (1946–1948)
National Assembly (1948–1969)
Federal Assembly (1969–1992)
History 
28 October 1918
30 September 1938
• Partition
14 March 1939
10 May 1945
25 February 1948
21 August 1968
17 – 28 November 1989
1 January 1993
HDI (1990 formula)0.897[1]
very high
CurrencyCzechoslovak koruna
Drives onleft (Pre 1939) right (Post 1939)
Calling code+42
Internet TLD.cs
Preceded by		 Succeeded by
Austria-Hungary Austria-Hungary
Czech Republic
Slovakia
Today part of
Calling code +42 was withdrawn in the winter of 1997. The number range was divided between the Czech Republic (+420) and Slovak Republic (+421).
Current ISO 3166-3 code is "CSHH".

Czechoslovakia[2] (/ˌtʃɛkoʊsloʊˈvæki.ə, ˈtʃɛkə-, -slə-, -ˈvɑː-/ ⓘ CHEK-oh-sloh-VAK-ee-ə, CHEK-ə-, -⁠slə-, -⁠VAH-;[3][4] Czech and Slovak: Československo, Česko-Slovensko)[5][6] was a landlocked country in Central Europe,[7] 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 Hungary and 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 Slovakia proclaimed its independence and Carpathian Ruthenia became part of 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 a government-in-exile and sought recognition from the 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 SSR (a republic of the Soviet Union). The Communist Party seized power in a 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, invaded Czechoslovakia. In 1989, as Marxist–Leninist governments and communism were 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 peacefully split into the two sovereign states of the Czech Republic and Slovakia.[8]


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  1. ^ "Human Development Report 1992" (PDF). hdr.undp.org. Archived (PDF) from the original on 9 October 2022.
  2. ^ "THE COVENANT OF THE LEAGUE OF NATIONS". Archived from the original on 20 May 2011. Retrieved 12 April 2011.
  3. ^ Wells, John C. (2008), Longman Pronunciation Dictionary (3rd ed.), Longman, ISBN 978-1-4058-8118-0
  4. ^ Roach, Peter (2011), Cambridge English Pronouncing Dictionary (18th ed.), Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, ISBN 978-0-521-15253-2
  5. ^ "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" (PDF). Archived (PDF) from the original on 19 August 2011. Retrieved 5 April 2010.
  6. ^ Czech pronunciation: [ˈtʃɛskoslovɛnsko], Slovak pronunciation: [ˈtʂeskɔslɔʋenskɔ].
  7. ^ "Milestones: 1961–1968 – Office of the Historian". history.state.gov. Retrieved 27 January 2021.
  8. ^ Rozdělení Československa, Vladimír Srb, Tomáš Veselý ISBN10809685335x