Written by: The Editors of Encyclopædia Britannica

Czechoslovakia, Czech and Slovak Československo,  former country in central Europe encompassing the historical lands of Bohemia, Moravia, and Slovakia. Czechoslovakia was formed from several provinces of the collapsing empire of Austria-Hungary in 1918, at the end of World War I. In the interwar period it became the most prosperous and politically stable state in eastern Europe. It was occupied by Nazi Germany in 1938–45 and was under Sovietdomination from 1948 to 1989. On January 1, 1993, Czechoslovakia separated peacefully into two new countries, the Czech Republic and Slovakia.

A brief treatment of the history of Czechoslovakia follows. For full treatment, including a discussion of the region prior to 1918, see Czechoslovak history.

The political union of Czechs and Slovaks after World War I was feasible because the two ethnic groups are closely related in language, religion, and general culture. An independent Czechoslovak state was declared by Tomáš Masaryk, Edvard Beneš, and other leaders on October 28, 1918, and was quickly recognized by France and other Allied opponents ofAustria. Bohemia and Moravia, populated by Czechs, constituted its western portion, while Slovakia occupied the eastern portion. Czechs and Slovaks together accounted for roughly two-thirds of the new country’s population; other nationalities within the state’s borders included Germans, Hungarians, Ruthenians, and Poles.

Under the leadership of Masaryk, who served as president from 1918 to 1935, Czechoslovakia became a stable parliamentary democracy and the most industrially advanced country in eastern Europe. But after the rise to power of Adolf Hitler in Germany in 1933, the significant German minority in the Sudetenland of western Czechoslovakia began to lean toward Hitler’s National Socialism. With the acquiescence of Britain and France, Hitler annexed the German-speaking Sudeten areas of Czechoslovakia in 1938. By 1939 Germany had occupied all of Bohemia and Moravia and turned the two regions into a German protectorate. Slovakia received nominal autonomy, though it was dominated by Germany.

The liberation of Czechoslovakia by Soviet troops during World War IIhelped bolster the Communist Party while hindering the numerous other parties that emerged. Clever maneuvering and unfailing support from the Soviet Union enabled the Communists to stage a virtual coup d’état in 1948, and a people’s republic was formed. Gradually, with Soviet supervision, internal opposition was crushed while the country’s industry was nationalized and its agriculture was collectivized.

In the 1960s a progressively deteriorating economy discredited the government and led to grudgingly granted, and limited, reforms. When these failed, the Communist Party’s leadership passed to the Slovak first secretary, Alexander Dubček, in January 1968. He instituted a more openly reformist program, “socialism with a human face,” that encouraged non-Communists to participate in government and restored a number of civil liberties. The brief period of liberalization became known as the Prague Spring. In August 1968, however, Warsaw Pacttroops invaded the country and seized Dubček, transporting him to Moscow. Upon his return to Czechoslovakia, Dubček saw his reforms rolled back, and hard-line communists restored the country to conformity with Soviet-bloc norms.

The country’s new Communist leaders concentrated on making the state-run economy more productive while also stifling internal political dissent. Czechoslovakia in the 1970s and ’80s was thus one of the more prosperous but also one of the more repressive countries in eastern Europe. In late 1989, however, a wave of democratization swept through eastern Europe with the encouragement of the leader of the Soviet Union, Mikhail Gorbachev. Czechoslovakia’s Communist leadership found itself confronted by mass demonstrations in Prague opposed to its policies, and the party soon gave in to the demands for reform. In December the Communists formed a coalition government with non-Communist opposition groups. A multiparty political system was written into law, the writer and former dissident Václav Havel became the country’s new president, and free elections to the Federal Assembly were held in June 1990, with non-Communists winning resounding majorities.

With the end of Communist rule and the reemergence of true multiparty democracy (the so-called Velvet Revolution), disagreements between the two halves of the country escalated. In particular, Slovaks resisted the Czechs’ preference for rapid privatization of the country’s state-run industries. The results of parliamentary elections in June 1992 highlighted these differences, and talks between Czech and Slovak leaders later that year resulted in the peaceful dissolution of the Czechoslovak federation. As part of the so-called Velvet Divorce, two new countries were created, the Czech Republic and Slovakia, on January 1, 1993.