Czechoslovakia as a model of political and economic development

1918: Having bet on a victory of the Allies, the Czechs and the Slovaks obtain the creation of a Czechoslovakian State. The Republic of Czechoslovakia was created in 1919 after the Great War and the collapse of the Habsburgs.

• It became a model of democracy and economic development

The country fell under the domination of Germany (Munich Agreements). The country was taken over by Nazi Germany in 1938 and an oppressive occupation continued until Hitler's defeat in 1945. Shortly afterwards, the Communists invaded, repressing the national spirit.

The communist period and its heritage

- The communist ideals rapidly left place to the imposition, if needed by the force (the Prague Spring in 1968), of the institutions, the laws and the Soviet economic model. In 1968 the “Prague Spring” uprising was ruthlessly put down by Soviet troops.

• The legacy is forty years of heritage of negation of political, religious, media and movement freedoms

- The doubtful "Czech economic miracle" of the 1980's and the social and economic bankruptcy of the system.

Communism was eventually rejected in 1989, followed by the break-up of the Soviet Union. In 1993, Czechoslovakia split into two countries: the Czech Republic to the west, and Slovakia to the east.