1929-1939







Czechoslovakia 1918-1929


Establishment . The foundation of the Czechoslovak state had been decided upon by representatives of the country's Czech, Slovak and Ruthenian population groups (Pittsburgh Agreement, May 31st 1918). Independence was declared on October 28th 1918.
Yet the country was home to significant other ethnic groups, foremost the Sudeten Germans, themselves forming the clear majority in the mountain fringe surrounding the Czech lands, and also forming significant minorities in the country's cities, a Hungarian minority along the Hungarian border, a strong Jewish community with center in Prague, and a small Polish minority in certain border areas. Of these, the Sudeten Germans in 1918 sought their area attached to German Austria - they sent delegates to German-Austria's first parliament. The Hungarians sought annexion of their areas (where they formed the majority) into what was left of Hungary.
The federalist constitution of 1920 provided a (future) degree of autonomy for the Czech-majority regions of Bohemia and of Moravia-Silesia, for Slovakia and for Carpatho-Ruthenia, but left the Sudeten Germans, the Hungarians, the Jews and Poles within Czechoslovakia without regional autonomy.

Administration . Tomas Garrigue Masaryk held the presidency from 1918 to 1935. The office of PM was held by Karel Kramar 1918-1919, Vlastimil Tusar 1919-1920, Jan Cerny 1920-1921, Edvard Benes 1921-1922, Antonin Svehla 1922-1926, Jan Cerny 1926, Antonin Svehla 1926-1929. A provisional constitution was adopted in 1918, a permanent constitution in 1920.

Foreign Policy . Nascent Czechoslovakia had come into existence with the support of France, Imperial Russia (where the Czecho-Slovak Legion had been formed during World War I), the United Kingdom and the United States of America. Czechoslovakia would cultivate strong political ties with France until 1939.
Czechoslovakia found itself a neighbour of hostile states. In Hungary the cession of territory forced upon Hungary by the Treaty of Trianon was widely resented, and the Hungarian government strove for a revision; Czechoslovakia and Hungary were in a state of war 1918-1919, Hungarian troops in May 1919 proceeding to occupy much of Slovakia. The Romanian defeat of Hungary in August 1918 resulted in a regime change in Hungary and the evacuation of Slovakia by Hungarian troops. Hungary, throughout the Interbellum, maintained her claim on Slovakia.
Representatives of the majority German-speaking districts of Bohemia and Moravia-Silesia in 1918 had opted for German-Austria.
In Germany the conditions of the dictated Treaty of Versailles were as unpopular as the Treaty of Trianon was in Hungary. The German government pursued the policy of accepting the territorial changes in the west (Alsace-Lorraine etc.) as permanent, but seeking border revisions in the east.
As the political situation was in a flux, Czechoslovakia in 1920-1921 joined the Little Entente, a defensive alliance, with the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes, and with Romania.
Poland and Czechoslovakia disputed the possession of Teschen (Cieszyn) in what used to be Austrian Silesia. In 1919 Czechoslovak troops occupied the city and surroundng area, and it was annexed into Czechoslovakia. Poland in 1934 would reiterate her claim on the area.
Czechoslovakia did not establish diplomatic relations with the USSR until 1934.
Czechoslovakia was a founder-member of the League of Nations.

Political History . Political-strategic interests prevailed; the German and Hungarian minorities now regarded themselves under foreign rule, similar as the Czechs have felt under Austrian and the Slovaks under Hungarian rule in previous decades. The (mostly German speaking) Jewish community had felt more alien in the Czechoslovak state, which regarded itself a Slavic state; this feeling of lack of political orientation is expressed in the writings of Franz Kafka, a Prague Jew.

Czechoslovakia emerged as a role-model democracy. In 1919 Czechoslovakia pledged herself to respect the rights of ethnic minorities, such as having their children educated in their native language. A constitution was passed in 1920, which was federalist, in 1928 establishing regional assemblies for Bohemia, Moravia-Silesia, Slovakia and Carpatho-Ruthenia. In 1921, universal womanhood suffrage was introduced.
The Czechoslovak political leadership, while having made concessions to federalism, essentially viewed Czechs and Slovaks as being one nationality. Politicians demanding a higher degree of autonomy for Slovakia, autonomy for the areas with a German or Hungarian majority were regarded, and in part treated, as subversives. A law was passed which declared political parties not supporting the Czechoslovak state illegal.

The Economy . Inflation was a problem in 1918-1919; in 1919 a currency reform was implemented, the Koruna currency introduced. State revenue increased from 1.95 billion Koruna in 1919 to 11.31 billion Koruna in 1929 (IHS p.817). Unemployment figures were at 72,000 in 1921, 207,000 in 1923, 49,000 in 1925, 42,000 in 1929 (IHS p.159).
Most of the industrial enterprises of Austria-Hungary were located in the Czech lands, and inherited by Czechoslovakia. Slovakia was home to a number of industries, but much less industrialized than the Czech lands; Carpatho-Ruthenia's economy, in 1918, was entirely agricultural. Of these industrial enterprises, only a fraction were owned by Czechs or Slovaks. The most famous enterprise were the Skoda factories in Plzen.
A land reform was implemented (1919-1935), in which landed estates held by nobles, the church etc. was taken over by the Czechoslovak state, parcelled and handed out to peasants.

Social History . The census of 1921 counted 13.612 million inhabitants of Czechoslovakia, the census of 1930 14.73 million (IHS p.3).

Cultural History . Regular radio broadcasting began in 1923.
Czechoslovak athletes participated in the Summer Olympics held at Brussels 1920, Paris 1924 and Amsterdam 1928.






EXTERNAL
LINKS 		Articles Tomas Garrigue Masaryk, Karel Kramar, Vlastimil Tusar, Jan Cerny, Edvard Benes, Antonin Svehla, History of Czechoslovakia 1918-1938, Pittsburgh Agreement, Polish-Czechoslovak Border Conflicts, Czechoslovakia at the 1920 Summer Olympics, Czechoslovakia at the 1924 Summer Olympics, Czechoslovakia at the 1928 Summer Olympics, Czechoslovak National Ice Hockey Team, from Wikipedia
History of Czechoslovakia, from Library of Congress, Country Studies
History of Karpatho-Ukraine (Rutheno-Carpathia) from Genealogie Netz , focussing on the ethnically German population
1918-1938 : The rise and fall of interwar Czechoslovakia, from Czech History
Gallery (ed.), Geschichte Verstehen, Die Entwicklung der Deutsch-Tschechischen Beziehungen in den Böhmischen Ländern 1848-1948, in German
Vladimir Bako, Two Concepts of Nation and two Forms of Nationalism, in : Tibor Pichler, Jana Gaparkova (ed.), Language, Values and the Slovak Nation, posted by CRVP
DOCUMENTS Propaganda Postcard : Hultschin Territory, from Propaganda Postcards of the Great War by Paul Hageman and Jerry Kosanovich
Banknotes of Czechoslovakia, from Ron Wise's World Paper Money and from Currency Museum
Narodni shromazdeni ceskoslovenske (1918-, Protocolls of the Czech Parliament), from Czech Parliament, in Czech
Law on Preliminary Czechoslovak Constititution, 1918, posted by Verfassungen.de, in German
Czechoslovak Constitution of 1920, posted by Verfassungen.de, in German
REFERENCE IHS : B.R. Mitchell, International Historical Statistics. Europe 1750-1988, NY : Stockton Press 1992 [G]
Article : Czechoslovakia, in : Statesman's Yearbook 1919 pp.672-677, 1924 pp.779-788, 1925 pp.790-799, 1926 pp.766-775, 1928 pp.777-786, 1929 pp.770-778 [G]
Article : Czechoslovakia, in : Americana Annual 1927 pp.238-241, 1928 pp.213-216 [G]
Article : Czecho-Slovakia, in : New International Year Book 1918 p.164, 1919 pp.184-188, 1920 pp.175-177, 1921 pp.181-183, 1923 pp.188-190, 1925 pp.190-192, 1928 pp.203-204 [G]
Stephen Graham, Europe - Whither Bound ? Being Letters of Travel from the Capitals of Europe in the Year 1921 (Toronto 1922), chapter IX : Prague, posted online by Gutenberg Library Online


This page is part of World History at KMLA
First posted in 2000, last revised on October 17th 2007

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