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A representation of a Czech paratrooper from the mid-1960s

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A representation of a Czech paratrooper from the mid-1960s. He is armed with the RPG-7 anti-tank weapon and wears the 1960s Czechoslovakian 3-colour Sumpfmuster, which is long since obsolete. [Image: Daniel Peterson/The Crowood Press Ltd.]

National flag: Czechoslovakia

Československo

Czechoslovakia
Czechoslovakia

Czechoslovakia was a sovereign state in Central Europe, which existed from October 1918. After the 1938 Munich Agreement forced Czechoslovakia to cede the German-speaking Sudetenland to the German Reich, the still-democratic state briefly existed as a basically non-functioning entity at the mercy of its fascist neighbours. In 1939, Czechoslovakia was invaded by the German Reich and divided into the Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia and the puppet Slovak State. Much of Slovakia and all of Subcarpathian Ruthenia was annexed by Hungary.

After World War II, pre-war Czechoslovakia was more-or-less reestablished, with the exception of Subcarpathian Ruthenia, which was annexed by the Soviet Union as part of the Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic.

The 1946 parliamentary election saw the Communist Party of Czechoslovakia emerge as winner in the Czech lands and, although the Democratic Party won in Slovakia, the Communists seized power in February 1948. Although they would maintain the fiction of political pluralism through the existence of the National Front, except for a short period in the late 1960s (the Prague Spring) the country was characterised by the absence of liberal democracy. While its economy remained more advanced than those of its neighbours in Eastern Europe, Czechoslovakia grew increasingly economically weak relative to Western Europe.

In 1968, in response to a brief period of liberalisation, five Eastern Bloc countries invaded Czechoslovakia. In 1969, Czechoslovakia was turned into a federation of the Czech Socialist Republic and Slovak Socialist Republic. Under the federation, social and economic inequities between the Czech and Slovak halves of the state were largely eliminated. A number of ministries, such as Education, were formally transferred to the two republics. However, centralised political control by the Communist Party severely limited the effects of federalisation.

The 1970s saw the rise of the dissident movement in Czechoslovakia, represented (among others) by Václav Havel. The movement sought greater political participation and expression in the face of official disapproval, which manifested itself through limits on work activities, police harassment and even imprisonment.

On 1 January 1993, Czechoslovakia peacefully split into the Czech Republic and Slovakia.

camouflage patterns of Czechoslovakia

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