Czechoslovakia: history, structure and legacy (1918–1992)

Czechoslovakia had several official country names. These were changed several times for ideological reasons. While the provisional constitution of 1918 used the names Czecho-Slovak Republic or Czecho-Slovak State, the constitution of 1920 established the name Czechoslovak Republic (Československá republika) without hyphen. In October 1938, after the Munich Agreement, the name was changed to Czecho-Slovak Republic.

After 1945, the old name Czechoslovak Republic was reverted to, which was retained even after the February coup of 1948. In 1960, the name was changed to Czechoslovak Socialist Republic (Československá socialistická republika). After the fall of the regime in 1989, the name was briefly changed to Czechoslovak Federal Republic, and finally to Czech and Slovak Federal Republic in 1990. The dispute between Czech and Slovak politicians in the early 1990s over hyphenated or non-hyphenated spelling has become known as the Dash War.

Czechoslovakia consisted of the Czech, Slovak and until 1946 the Carpatho-Ukrainian part of the country (Podkarpatská Rus, Karpatoukraine).

The Czech part was formed from the lands of Bohemia, Moravia and Silesia. This in turn consisted of the former Austrian Silesia and the previously Prussian area around Hulchin, but without a strip of territory east of Teschen, which fell to Poland after the Polish-Czechoslovak border war, the so-called Olsagebiet.

The character of the landscape in the different parts of the country was very different. The western area was part of the north-central European uplands.

Czechoslovakia had borders with Austria, Hungary, Ukraine (from 1991, before 1945-1991 with the Soviet Union), Romania (until 1946), Poland and Germany (or 1949-1990 with the German Democratic Republic and the Federal Republic of Germany).

The borders of the Czechoslovak state were still undetermined when it declared independence in 1918. It was not until the Treaties of Saint-Germain in 1919 that the borders of Czechoslovakia were fixed for the time being. Austria still had to cede two small areas of Lower Austria separately in 1920. After the Treaty of Trianon in 1920, the Carpathian Ukraine was annexed to the new state and the border with Hungary was established. In 1920, Germany had to cede the Hultschiner Ländchen (Czech: Hlučínsko) under the Treaty of Versailles. In 1919 a border war broke out with Poland over the disputed Olsa region, which Czechoslovakia won in 1920. The area of Czechoslovakia was then 140,446 km² by 1920. With the Kingdom of Romania, in the course of the Treaty of Sèvres, there was a minor exchange of territory in Carpathian Ukraine (1921); in this exchange, a territory located on the border with the Slovakian part of the country was exchanged for a territory located further east. The new state thus had an area of 140,800 km² from 1921 to 1938, making it about three and a half times the size of Switzerland and, at 820 km long, almost as long as Italy. At its widest point the country measured 250 km and at its narrowest only 80 km.

As a result of the Munich Agreement in 1938, Czechoslovakia lost about 14% of its national territory. Hungary received 11,882 km² of southern Slovakia through the First Vienna Arbitration Award in 1938. Poland acquired the town of Teschen with its surroundings (about 906 km²) and two smaller border areas in northern Slovakia, the regions of Spiš and Orava (226 km²). The total area of territorial losses was 41,442 km² (about a quarter of the national territory). In 1939, Czechoslovakia had only 99,348 km² left.

After the Second World War, the republic was restored to its 1937 borders; near Bratislava, the so-called Bratislava bridgehead was enlarged in 1946 and a 4,400 km² strip of land in the east was acquired at the expense of Hungary. The territory controlled by Czechoslovakia now covered an area of 144,846 km² and represented for the country the largest expansion in its history. In 1946, Carpathian Ukraine was ceded to the Soviet Union under a 1945 agreement. The national territory lost 12,777 km² and until 1992 still comprised 127,876 km².

Czechoslovakia had many raw materials on its territory and possessed the largest uranium deposits in Europe. In the Czech part of the country there was hard coal and lignite, kaolin, clay, graphite, limestone, quartz sand, and uranium at Dolní Rožínka and in Pilsen. Deposits of copper and manganese ore were found in the Slovak Ore Mountains. Lead and zinc ore were found at Kutná Hora and Příbram. Small amounts of mercury, antimony and tin were still present in the Ore Mountains. There were larger reserves of salt in Slovakia and petroleum in the south and in Carpathian Ukraine. Graphite was found near ?eské Bud?jovice and kaolin near Pilsen and Karlovy Vary.

Czechoslovakia was located in the temperate climate zone, with strong differences between the individual parts of the country. The warmest and driest areas were in the south. In the mountains and especially in Carpathian Ukraine, low temperatures prevailed almost all year round. In Vígľaš-Pstruša, now in Slovakia, -41 °C was reached on February 11, 1929. In the flat areas, precipitation was generally concentrated in summer.

Spring usually began in early April and was mild and quite sunny. In the relatively cool summer, cool air came from Eastern Europe. Autumn set in at the end of August. Winter was very cold and dry in Czechoslovakia and the longest season.