CZECH REPUBLIC, HISTORY OF

history of the country from its formation in 1993 to the present. For earlier history of the area, including Bohemia and Moravia, as well as Czechoslovakia, see Czechoslovak region, history of. The Czech Republic came into being on Jan. 1, 1993, upon the dissolution of the Czechoslovak federation. At the time of separation, the federation's assets were divided at a ratio of two to one in favour of the Czechs; special agreements were made for a natural-gas pipeline from Russia, the diplomatic service, and the armed forces. The citizens of the former federation also were divided on the basis of new nationality laws, and, immediately after partition, large numbers of Slovaks began applying for Czech citizenship. Vclav Havel, who had served as the first president of Czechoslovakia after the overthrow of the communists, was elected president of the republic in January 1993; since there was as yet no Senate, the election was conducted only by the Chamber of Deputies, thus contravening the republic's new constitution. The government immediately faced the problem of monetary arrangements with Slovakia, and it decided that a monetary union would be unworkable. Although the separation with Slovakia proceeded amicablyquickly dubbed the Velvet Divorce, in a reference to the 1989 Velvet Revolutioncustoms posts were erected along the Czech-Slovak border, and signs of rising national tempers were noted on both sides of the new frontier. Z.A.B. Zeman Additional reading The kingdom of Bohemia in the 14th and 15th centuries, especially the Hussite movement and its aftermath, is discussed in Ruben Ernest Weltsch, Archbishop John of Jenstein (13481400): Papalism, Humanism, and Reform in Pre-Hussite Prague (1968); Howard Kaminsky, A History of the Hussite Revolution (1967); Frederick G. Heymann, John Zizka and the Hussite Revolution (1955, reissued 1969); R.R. Betts, Essays in Czech History (1969); Otakar Odlozilk, The Hussite King: Bohemia in European Affairs, 14401471 (1965); and Jarold Knox Zeman, The Anabaptists and the Czech Brethren in Moravia, 15261628 (1969). Peter Brock, The Political and Social Doctrines of the Unity of Czech Brethren in the Fifteenth and Early Sixteenth Centuries (1957), remains an important work.The development of modern Czech nationalism and of the Czechoslovak state are explored in John F.N. Bradley, Czech Nationalism in the Nineteenth Century (1984); Peter Brock and H. Gordon Skilling (eds.), The Czech Renascence of the Nineteenth Century (1970); Stanley Z. Pech, The Czech Revolution of 1848 (1969); Joseph F. Zacek, Palack: The Historian as Scholar and Nationalist (1970); and Barbara K. Reinfeld, Karel Havlcek (18211856): A National Liberation Leader of the Czech Renascence (1982). The relationship between the Czechs and the Germans is dealt with in Elizabeth Wiskemann, Czechs & Germans: A Study of the Struggle in the Historic Provinces of Bohemia and Moravia, 2nd ed. (1967), a classic work; J.W. Bruegel, Tschechen und Deutsche, 19181938 (1967), and Tschechen und Deutsche, 19391946 (1974), available also in a substantially altered one-volume translation, Czechoslovakia Before Munich: The German Minority Problem and British Appeasement Policy (1973); Gary B. Cohen, The Politics of Ethnic Survival: Germans in Prague, 18611914 (1981); F. Gregory Campbell, Confrontation in Central Europe: Weimar Germany and Czechoslovakia (1975); Ronald M. Smelser, The Sudeten Problem, 19331938: Volkstumspolitik and the Formulation of Nazi Foreign Policy (1975); and Radomr Luza, The Transfer of the Sudeten Germans: A Study of Czech-German Relations, 19331962 (1964). Heinrich Rauchberg, Der nationale Besitzstand in Bhmen, 3 vol. (1905), remains the unacknowledged masterpiece on this subject. Z.A.B. Zeman The economy In many respects, the partition of Czechoslovakia in 1993 represented for the emergent Czech Republic an economizing measure far more effective than any that domestic government policy could hope to accomplish. While the Czech Republic and Slovakia officially shared the status of successors to the federal state, long-standing inequities in economic development gave the Czechs a decided advantage at independence. Rigid compartmentalization under the Czechoslovak planned economy made Slovakia, with its mineral resources and hydroelectric potential, a major producer of armaments for the former communist nations of eastern Europe. The economy of the Czech Republic, on the other hand, was relatively diversified and stable, reflecting both a more amenable geography and the historic predominance of Czechs in the federal administration. Similarly, the transition to a market economy initiated after the so-called Velvet Revolution of 1989 lagged behind in Slovakia. Irrespective of deeper societal factors, these imbalances predisposed Czechs to favour partition, while the Slovaks were divided in their view of the federal partnership as either an obscuring shadow or a sheltering wing. Once the political breach came to seem inevitable, the unprecedented requirements for dividing the economy assumed a somewhat tentative order of priority. At partition, the federal monetary system remained essentially intact, each country identifying its currency supply by means of applied stamps. The rapid economic divergence of the two republics, however, ended the arrangement after only one month, and separate currencies were inaugurated. The historic imbalance in government assets between the two territories made fair apportionment after partition a difficult goal. This was particularly true in the case of military installations and equipment, of which the Czech Republic held the great majority. The bulk of Slovakia's military-industrial component, by contrast, consisted in its armament manufacture, which had declined precipitously with the collapse of communism. Despite its inherent advantages, the Czech economy faced independence at a time when recent emergence from the Soviet bloc, coupled with the rigours of privatization, had caused a dramatic short-term increase in prices and unemployment. The government instituted a value-added tax in its effort to align the economy with Western markets. Francis William Carter Resources Although reserves are limited, bituminous, anthracite, and brown coals are produced in significant quantities. Most of the bituminous coal is derived from the Ostrava-Karvin coalfield, though it is also mined near Kladno, in the Plzen basin, near Trutnov, and near Brno. A high proportion of the bituminous coal is of coking quality. Production of brown coal increased rapidly up to the mid-20th century and has remained fairly static since then, although demand for it was maintained by the delay in conversion to gas heating; open-pit mining methods are used. The main mining areas are in the extreme west around Chomutov, Most, Teplice, and Sokolov. The brown coal is used in thermal power stations, as fuel in the home, and as raw material in the chemical industry. Small quantities of petroleum and natural gas are produced near Hodonn on the Slovak border. Pipelines import Russian oil and natural gas, the latter supplementing existing coal gas supplies. Plans for reducing dependence on Russian oil sources include the building of a pipeline to carry oil from Trieste to the Czech Republic. There has been a slight drop in energy use, and brown coal output also has suffered some decline. Nuclear power plants located in Dukovany and Temeln, as well as nuclear power from Slovakia, have reduced the country's dependence on coal. The Czech Republic has a limited endowment of metallic ores. The area between Prague and Plzen has been important for its iron deposits. Lead and zinc ores are mined near Kutn Hora and Prbram in Bohemia and in the Hrub Jesenk Mountains in the northeast. Uranium is mined near Prbram and around Hamr in northern Bohemia. There is a significant deposit of gold at Mokrsko, in central Bohemia south of Prague. The Ore Mountains of Bohemia yield small quantities of tin. Other mineral resources include graphite near Cesk Budejovice and kaolin near Plzen and Karlovy Vary.