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Jan 1, 1085
First Czech King
The Czech people came from a group of West Slavs and settled in Bohemia, Moravia and Silesia during the 6th century a.d. They are legend to have come from a Forefather Čech who settled at Říp Mountain, now in prague. The city of prague was established in 880 a.d., and the first czech king, Vratislav II, was put into power in 1085. Though there was no sign of democracy at the time in this kingdom, this was a step towards czech independence, it signified the recognition of the Czech people. -
Period: Jan 1, 1546 to Jan 1, 1547
The Hamburg Revolt
In 1526, in the Kingdom of Bohemia, Czechs weren’t thought of highly by the Habsburg monarchy which began religiouse wars against the protestants. From 1546-1547, the Czechs revolted against the Habsburgs, but were defeated. Essentialy, the Czechs fought for rights, the kind of rights you would find in a democracy such as freedom of religion, just as other people that revolted did. The defeat of the Czech people ended any hopes of czech recognition for the next couple of centuries. -
A Democracy Rises From the Ashes
During the 1800’s, in the Habsburg Empire, minorities groups such as the Czechs struggled for recognition of their cultural identity within the empire. This is one of the main reasons why the Czechoslovak national council was formed. The Czechoslovak national council achieved its goal of receiving recognition from the allies, and on October 18th, 1918, Czechoslovakia was officially proclaimed as an independent state. The Czechs, for the first time, were part of a democracy in the first republic. -
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The Lone Democracy
From 1918 to 1938, Czechoslovakia was the only democracy in Central Europe. The issue was that the country had problems with its ethnic minorities. These problems led to Czechoslovakia ceding land to other countries. On October 1st, 1938, Czechoslovakia ceded the Sudetenland region of Sudeten Germans to Germany. The end result of this was the second republic of Czechoslovakia, which only lasted until March 16, 1939, when the Nazis officially claimed power over all of Czechoslovakia. -
Woman Suffrage Approval
Woman’s suffrage is approved in Czechoslovakia, in other words, women gained democratic rights including the right to vote. -
Russian Communism Taking Over
Due to the Munich agreement, the people of Czechoslovakia now valued the Russians living in their country as they were against the Nazi’s in the war. For this reason, on the May 1946 election, the Communist Party of Czechoslovakia (KSČ) won. on February 25th, 1948 was the resignation of all non-communist ministers. Czechoslovakia was declared “a people’s democracy” - and remained so until 1960-, thus beginning the communist takeover. -
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The Prague Spring
By 1965, Czechoslovakia made a new model economy, calling for political reform to make Czecheslovakian socialism more democraticized. On April 1968, a new program was adopted, that would “set guidelines for a modern, humanistic socialist democracy that would guarantee, among other things, freedom of religion, press, assembly, speech, and travel”. That spring, troops of countries under the Warsaw Pact invaded Czecheslovakia. The whole event was called “The Prague Spring”. -
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The Velvet Revolution
Starting in early 1988, there were a series of anticommunist demonstrations in Czechoslovakia that led up to a revolution. After a pro-democracy demonstration by university students, a united group called the Civic Forum was formed. Along with it’s Slovak equivalent, Public Against Violencethe Civic Forum easily caused the government to come to the point of collapsing and politicians resigned. On December 29, 1989,after nearly 30 years, democracy was reintroduced into Czechoslovakia. -
The Revival of Elections
June 1990 saw the first free elections in Czechoslovakia since 1946. Obviously the Civic Forum and Public Against Violence easily won in their republics against the communist party. This new parliament made sure that crucial steps were made towards democratic evolution in Czechoslovakia. By November 1990, fair local elections were successfully put in place by the parliament, making basic change needed by the government which would allow the country to more easily proceed into a democratic future -
The Velvet Divorce
The Civic Forum wasn’t doing well in Czechoslovakia as the governing party. By 1992, the Slovakians called for an increase of autonomy. In the June 1992 election, the Civil Democratic Party won in the Czech part of the country, and the Public Against Violence party in Slovakia. After the election, the party leaders agreed to split the country into their own two separate republics in what is known as “The Velvet Divorce”. On January 1, 1993, both new republics were established peacefully. -
The First General Election
The Czech Republic holds the first general election in its history as an independent state. Civic Democratic Party leader, Václav Klaus, is reappointed prime minister in this election. -
President Elected By the People
In February 2012, the Czech senate approves a legislation that lets the Czech president be elected by the people rather than appointed by parliament. Though he is against it, President Václav Klaus signs the bill to have presidential elections in the Czech Republic.
