Czechoslovakia

Czechoslovakia or Czecho-Slovakia/ˌtʃɛkoʊsloʊˈvækiə, -kə-, -slə-, -ˈvɑː-/ (Czech and Slovak: Československo, Česko-Slovensko) was a sovereign state in Central Europe that existed from October 1918, when it declared its independence from the Austro-Hungarian Empire, until its peaceful dissolution into the Czech Republic and Slovakia on 1 January 1993.

From 1939 to 1945, following its forced division and partial incorporation into Nazi Germany, the state did not de facto exist but its government-in-exile continued to operate.

From 1948 to 1990 Czechoslovakia was part of the Marxist–Leninist Warsaw Pact, which was formed in May 1955, and had a command or planned economy. A period of political liberalization in 1968, known as the Prague Spring, was forcibly ended when several other Warsaw Pact countries invaded. In 1989, as Marxist–Leninist governments and communism were ending all over Europe, Czechoslovaks peacefully deposed their government in the Velvet Revolution; state price controls were removed after a period of preparation. In 1993 Czechoslovakia divided into two sovereign states, the Czech Republic and Slovakia.

Czech Republic

The Czech Republic (ⁱ/ˈtʃɛk rᵻˈpʌblɪk/ CHEK-rə-PUB-lik;Czech: Česká republika [ˈt͡ʃɛskaː ˈrɛpuˌblɪka]) is a landlocked country in Central Europe bordered by Germany to the west, Austria to the south, Slovakia to the southeast and Poland to the northeast. The capital and largest city, Prague, has over 1.2 million residents. The Czech Republic includes the historical territories of Bohemia,Moravia, and Czech Silesia.

The Czech state was formed in the late 9th century as the Duchy of Bohemia under the Great Moravian Empire. After the fall of the Empire in 907, the centre of power transferred from Moravia to Bohemia under the Přemyslids. In 1004, the duchy was formally recognized as part of the Holy Roman Empire, becoming the Kingdom of Bohemia in 1212, and reaching its greatest territorial extent in the 14th century. The King of Bohemia ruled not only Bohemia itself, but also other lands, which together formed the so-called Crown of Bohemia, and he had a vote in the election of the Holy Roman Emperor. In the Hussite wars of the 15th century driven by the Bohemian Reformation, the kingdom faced economic embargoes and defeated five crusades proclaimed by the leaders of the Roman Catholic Church and organized mainly by the emperor and princes of the Holy Roman Empire.