CZECHOSLOVAK REGION, HISTORY OF

history of Bohemia and Moravia and of Slovakia from prehistoric times to their federation in 1918 and dissolution in 1993. The modern states of the Czech Republic and Slovakia came into being on Jan. 1, 1993, with the dissolution of the Czechoslovak federation. Czechoslovakia itself had been formed in 1918 at the end of World War I, following the collapse of the Austro-Hungarian empire. Prior to that, the region consisted of three historical lands: Bohemia and Moravia in the west (often called the Czech Lands) and Slovakia in the east, which before World War I was a part of Hungary inhabited primarily by Slovaks. This region lay across the great ancient trade routes of Europe, and, by virtue of its position at the heart of the continent, it was one in which the most varied of traditions and influences encountered each other. The Czechs and Slovaks traditionally shared many cultural and linguistic affinities, but they nonetheless developed distinct national identities. The emergence of separatist tendencies in the early 1990s following the loosening of Soviet hegemony over eastern Europe led, by the end of 1992, to the breakup of the federation. Additional reading General works No satisfactory full-length history of the Czechoslovak region is available in any of the Western languages. The studies by R.W. Seton-Watson, A History of the Czechs and Slovaks (1943, reprinted 1965); and S. Harrison Thomson, Czechoslovakia in European History, 2nd ed., enlarged (1953, reprinted 1965), remain the standard works on the history up to World War II but are somewhat outdated. More recent works are William V. Wallace, Czechoslovakia (1976); Norman Stone and Eduard Strouhal (eds.), Czechoslovakia: Crossroads and Crises, 191888 (1989), a collection of essays on various events; and Jaroslav Krejc, Czechoslovakia at the Crossroads of European History (1990). Standard works published before the end of the 1960s are found in Paul L. Horecky (ed.), East Central Europe: A Guide to Basic Publications (1969). The historical regions to 1914 Francis Dvornik, Byzantine Missions Among the Slavs: SS. Constantine-Cyril and Methodius (1970), illuminates the early medieval period of the region. The history of the region under Habsburg rule is found in Robert Joseph Kerner, Bohemia in the Eighteenth Century: A Study in Political, Economic, and Social History, with Special Reference to the Reign of Leopold II, 17901792 (1932, reprinted 1969); and R.J.W. Evans, The Making of the Habsburg Monarchy, 15501700: An Interpretation (1979, reissued 1991), and Rudolf II and His World: A Study in Intellectual History, 15761612 (1973, reissued 1984). Czechoslovakia The formation of the Czechoslovak federation is addressed in Roman Szporluk, The Political Thought of Thomas G. Masaryk (1981); Z.A.B. Zeman, The Masaryks: The Making of Czechoslovakia (1976, reissued 1990), and The Break-Up of the Habsburg Empire, 19141918: A Study in National and Social Revolution (1961, reprinted 1977); D. Perman, The Shaping of the Czechoslovak State: Diplomatic History of the Boundaries of Czechoslovakia, 19141920 (1962); and Victor S. Mamatey and Radomr Luza (eds.), A History of the Czechoslovak Republic, 19181948 (1973).Czechoslovakia's fate during World War II is presented in Theodore Prochzka, Sr., The Second Republic: The Disintegration of Post-Munich Czechoslovakia, October 1938March 1939 (1981); Vojtech Mastny, The Czechs Under Nazi Rule: The Failure of National Resistance, 19391942 (1971); Peter G. Stercho, Diplomacy of Double Morality: Europe's Crossroads in Carpatho-Ukraine, 19191939 (1971); and F. Nemec and V. Moudry, The Soviet Seizure of Subcarpathian Ruthenia (1955, reprinted 1981).The period leading up to and including the Soviet invasion of 1968 is covered in Hans Renner, A History of Czechoslovakia Since 1945 (1989), which focuses in particular on the events of 1968; Z.A.B. Zeman, Prague Spring (1969); H. Gordon Skilling, Czechoslovakia's Interrupted Revolution (1976); Zdenek Mlynr, Nightfrost in Prague: The End of Humane Socialism (1980; originally published in Czech, 1978); I. William Zartman, Czechoslovakia: Intervention and Impact (1970); and Galia Golan, The Czechoslovak Reform Movement: Communism in Crisis, 19621968 (1971), and Reform Rule in Czechoslovakia: The Dubcek Era, 19681969 (1973). William Shawcross, Dubcek, rev. and updated ed. (1990), is also useful. The dissident role played by writers and journalists is examined in Frank L. Kaplan, Winter into Spring: The Czechoslovak Press and the Reform Movement, 19631968 (1977); and A. French, Czech Writers and Politics, 19451969 (1982).Events in the decade after the Soviet intervention are detailed in Vladimir V. Kusin, From Dubcek to Charter 77: A Study of Normalization in Czechoslovakia, 19681978 (1978). Bernard Wheaton and Zdenek Kavan, The Velvet Revolution: Czechoslovakia, 19881991 (1992), describes the popular revolution of 1989 and subsequent events. Z.A.B. Zeman Czechoslovakia Postwar Czechoslovakia Provisional regime (194548) President Bene returned to Prague on May 18, 1945, after seven years of exile, with the intention of restoring in Czechoslovakia the liberal democratic regime that he had been forced to abandon in 1938. It would not be an exact replica but an improved version adapted to the new circumstances. The problem of minorities was resolved by large-scale expulsions of the Germans and Hungarians from Czechoslovakia. The country was to remain a republic whose president would retain considerable constitutional and executive power; a government based on the electoral performance of the political parties would run the country by means of a professional civil service, while the judiciary would enforce laws passed by parliament (the National Assembly). In his search for improvement, Bene decided to limit the number of political parties to six; subsequently two additional parties were permitted in Slovakia, but too late for the election in 1946. In the autumn of 1945 Bene nominated a Provisional National Assembly, which reelected him president and confirmed in office the government that he had appointed in April. Its premier, Fierlinger, was a Social Democrat. The vice premier was Gottwald, and the leaders of all the other political parties also held vice premierships. A general election was to be held to legitimize the provisional regime as well as to test the nation's acceptance of this new order, in compliance with the agreement of the Great Powers at Yalta. On May 26, 1946, the Communist Party of Czechoslovakia won a great victory in the general election, polling 2,695,293 votes38.7 percent of the total. The noncommunist parties were not alarmed, however, because in combination they had a decisive majority. Gottwald became premier, and the communists controlled all the key ministries, including interior (Vclav Nosek), information (Vclav Kopeck), agriculture (Julius Duri), and finance (Julius Dolansk). Foreign affairs were administered by Jan Masaryk, and General Ludvk Svoboda remained minister of defense. Thus the provisional system had been endorsed by an overwhelming majority of the Czechoslovak people; provided the political parties, grouped in a coalition called the National Front, continued to work harmoniously, the provisional regime would be finalized in 1948, when the Constituent Assembly was to produce a constitution and the next general election was to be held. From the beginning, however, collaboration between the communists and noncommunists was difficult, and it only became worse. While all parties agreed that the program of postwar economic recovery should continue, and while a two-year plan was launched to carry it out, they began to differ as to the means to be employed. The noncommunists wanted no further nationalizations or land confiscations, no special taxes, raises in pay for the civil service, and, above all, economic aid from the United States by way of the Marshall Plan. When in 1947 the idea of Marshall Plan aid had to be abandoned because of pressure from the Soviet Union, the Czechoslovak coalition partners realized that long-term cooperation was impossible, and each party thought of how to resolve the conflict in its own favour. Gottwald and the communists, while mistrusting their coalition partners, still thought in purely Czechoslovak terms when they announced their strategy: gain an absolute majority (51 percent) in the next election. They organized their party in such a way as to achieve this aim and more: they wanted to be able to mobilize their membership at any given time to exert pressure within the system. Their opponents were disunited, with no common tactics or organization; they had only a common desire to defeat the communists within the system. After blocking communist policies within the government throughout 1947, they were eagerly waiting for the coming election to defeat the communists decisively. The crisis between the two factions came over the question of who was to control the police during the elections. In February 1948 a majority at a cabinet meeting adopted a resolution ordering the minister of the interior (a communist) to stop the practice of packing the police force with communists. The minister ignored the instruction and was supported by Gottwald. On February 20 most of the noncommunist ministers resigned, hoping to force Gottwald to resign as well. He did not. Instead, communists seized the ministries held by resigning ministers and the headquarters of the parties now in opposition. Mass demonstrations of communist-led workers took place, and columns of workers armed with rifles paraded through the streets of Prague. In the capital and in the provinces, action committees of communists and of men and women nominated by communists were set up, and authorities were ordered to cooperate with them. President Bene yielded. On February 25 a new government was formed in which the communists held the key posts, left-wing Social Democrats were well represented, and the other parties were nominally represented by individual members chosen not by the parties themselves but by the communists. The Provisional National Assembly overwhelmingly endorsed the new government and its program. Most of the noncommunist political leaders fled the country; thousands of intellectuals and managers also escaped, in some cases shooting their way out; many ordinary people also went to the West to avoid living under communism. On March 10 the body of Jan Masaryk was found beneath a window of the Foreign Ministry. Overnight the Communist Party had come to be the only organized body left to run the country. More than a million noncommunists joined it to help Gottwald, who, overwhelmed by the power he so suddenly possessed, continued to cherish a dream of the Czechoslovak way to communism. People's democracy As had happened in the past and was to happen in the future, the Czechs and Slovaks became so self-centred after momentous events that they forgot the world around them. Gottwald also chose to ignore foreign affairs, even the expanding Soviet hegemony in eastern Europe, and plunged into domestic reforms. Industry was now completely nationalized, and the confiscation of agricultural land was further extended. A new constitution was promulgated on May 9; since it was based on the Soviet model, Bene refused to sanction it and resigned (he died three months later). Under a new electoral law and with a single list of candidates, a general election was held on May 30, and the new National Assembly elected Gottwald president. His friend Antonn Zpotock succeeded him as premier, while the Communist Party itself was headed by Rudolf Slnsk. Throughout the autumn of 1948, the National Assembly, now a pliant tool of the party, passed reform laws, preparing the administrative reorganization and drawing up a five-year economic plan. But it all proved to be in vain. Gottwald went on a holiday to the Crimea, where the Soviet premier Joseph Stalin told him what would happen in Czechoslovakia. Stalin's will subsequently was imposed on the country. Czechoslovakia had to adopt the Soviet model of government: the Communist Party substituted itself for the state. Gottwald and his communists seemed incapable of running the country along Soviet lines and rooting out subversion. Josip Broz Tito's break with Stalin in Yugoslavia prompted Moscow to tighten discipline within the socialist camp; in autumn 1949 Soviet advisers were sent to Czechoslovakia. Gottwald had initiated a campaign against the Christian, especially the Roman Catholic, church in June, interning Catholic archbishops and bishops and isolating the church from Rome. Monasteries and religious orders were dissolved, and a state office for church affairs was set up to bring churches under communist control. Soviet security advisers helped prepare the trials of the clergy who refused to cooperate with the communist authorities, and an effort was made to organize a group of collaborationist clergy. A series of purges began in 1950, with noncommunists charged with various antistate activities. In June, Milada Horkov, a former member of the National Assembly, and other politicians from the right to the left were tried for espionage, and several, including Horkov, were sentenced to death. Gottwald also was under pressure to uncover ideological opponents in his own party, whose leaders the Soviet advisers now began to scrutinize. Evidence of nationalistic deviationism and Titoism was found, and a purge of the Communist Party of Czechoslovakia followed. In 1950 Vladimr Clementis, the foreign minister, was dismissed from office, as were Gustav Husk, the Slovak regional premier, and several other Slovaks; all were accused of bourgeois nationalism. In February 1951 Clementis, Husk, and several others were arrested, and in December 1952 Clementis was executed. Ten other high party officials, one of whom was the first secretary, Rudolf Slnsk, also were killed. The 10most of whom, including Slnsk, were Jewishwere accused of leading an antistate conspiracy. Altogether, some 180 politicians were killed in these purges, while thousands were held in prisons and concentration camps. In March 1953, a few days after Stalin's death, Gottwald unexpectedly died. Antonn Zpotock succeeded Gottwald as president, while Vilim irok became premier. Both wanted to return to a less repressive way of government, but the widespread rioting that followed a monetary reform (which effectively deprived the farmers and better-paid workers of all their savings) in May 1953 gave the diehard faction, led by Antonn Novotn, the new first secretary, an excuse to check Zpotock's and irok's initiative. Novotn formally became first secretary of the party in September 1953, and in 1954 he and his faction appealed to the Soviet Union to stop the reform attempts. The Czechoslovak leadership was invited to Moscow, and President Zpotock was told to adhere to collective leadership, which in practice meant abandoning power to Novotn. Events in Poland and Hungary in 1956 further justified Novotn's caution in the eyes of the Soviet authorities, and in 1957, when Zpotock died, Novotn was able once again to combine the party secretaryship with the presidency. His factionmostly mediocre apparatchiksbecame supreme and remained so until 1968. Novotn kept Stalinism alive. Show trials continued until 1955, after which administrative sanctions began to be employed. Terror and administrative sanctions, however, could not solve problems, either in the economy or in cultural life, and the bullying of the Novotn faction resulted only in hopeless distortions. In 1958 an industrial reform was carried through, but it failed to resolve long-term problems. Under the first three five-year plans, industrial production was much increased, but by the early 1960s stagnation had set in and production began to fall. Production costs were high, fuel supplies were short, the quality of goods was poor, and absenteeism was widespread. In agriculture the situation was worse: collectivized agriculture produced less in 1960 than had been produced in the prewar years. The educational system was reorganized on the Soviet model, and in the arts Socialist Realism became the norm; both were stultified. In July 1960, at a conference of the Communist Party of Czechoslovakia, a new constitution was approved, becoming law in the same month. It laid down that education and all cultural policy are carried out in the spirit of scientific Marxism-Leninism, and it limited personal property to consumer goods and savings acquired through work. The country's official title of people's republic was changed to socialist republic. Czechoslovakia The republic to 1945 Struggle for independence World War I increased the estrangement between the Germans and the Czechs within the Czech Lands. The Germans lent full support to the war effort of the Central Powers, but among the Czechs the war was unpopular. Opposition to the war, however, was uncoordinated, because Czech political leaders were unable to agree on a program. In December 1914 Masaryk, a representative in the Vienna parliament, left Prague to organize activities that could not be developed at home because of political persecution and the suspension of civil rights. After staying some months in neutral countries, Masaryk moved to London. In 1915 he had been joined in Switzerland by a former student, Edvard Bene, and by Josef Drich, a member of the conservative Czech Agrarian Party. Masaryk at first had rather vague notions of the tasks ahead of him, but he eventually opted for a program of political union of the Czechs and Slovaks. A young Slovak astronomer, Milan Rastislav tefnik, offered his support. Masaryk established contacts with the Czechs and Slovaks living in Allied and neutral countries, especially the United States. In 1916 a Czechoslovak National Council was created under Masaryk's chairmanship. Its members were eager to maintain contacts with the leaders at home in order to avoid disharmony, and an underground organization called the Maffia served as a liaison between them. At home the influence of the military increased. The press was heavily censored, public meetings were forbidden, and those suspected of disloyalty were imprisoned. Among those arrested were the pro-Russian Young Czech leader Karel Kramr and the economist Alois Ran. Dissatisfaction among the Czech soldiers on the Eastern Front became more articulate in 1915, and whole units often went over to the Russian side. Francis Joseph died in November 1916 and was succeeded by Charles I. The new emperor called the parliament to session in Vienna and granted amnesty to political prisoners. Charles's reforms, although in many respects gratifying, called for more intensive activities abroad in order to convince the Allied leaders that partial concessions to the Czechs were inadequate to the problems of postwar reconstruction. The position of the Slovaks was not improving, and the Hungarian government showed no inclination to reorganize the kingdom in accordance with the principle of nationality. Two major events coincided with Charles's new course in home affairs and with his discreet exploration of the chances of a separate peace: the Russian Revolution (March 1917) and the U.S. declaration of war on Germany. In May 1917 Masaryk left London for Russia to speed up organization of a Czechoslovak army. While small units of volunteers had been formed in the Allied countries during the early part of the war, thousands of prisoners of war were now released from Russian camps and trained for service on the Allied side. A Czechoslovak brigade participated in the last Russian offensive and distinguished itself at Zborov (Ukraine) in July 1917. From the United States came moral encouragement, but U.S. President Woodrow Wilson's early statements pertaining to the peace aims were rather hazy. Several weeks after the United States declared war on Austria-Hungary, President Wilson promulgated his celebrated Fourteen Points (January 1918), the 10th of which called for the freest opportunity of the autonomous development of the peoples of Austria-Hungary. After the Russian Revolution, Czechoslovak troops became involved in struggles between the Bolsheviks and the conservative forces for the control of the Siberian railroad. Their achievements, noticed favourably by the Western governments and press, gave the Czechoslovak cause wide publicity and helped its leaders to gain official recognition. Masaryk left Russia for the United States, where, in May 1918, he gained solid support from Czech and Slovak organizations. A declaration favouring political union of the Czechs and Slovaks was issued at Pittsburgh, Pa., on May 31, 1918 (called the Pittsburgh Convention). Throughout 1918, dealings with the Allies progressed more successfully. Added to the favourable publicity of the Siberian campaigns were increased activities at home to get the struggle for independence endorsed by the Allied governments. A demand for a sovereign state within the historic frontiers of the Bohemian lands and of Slovakia was made in Prague at the Epiphany Convention (January) and repeated later with more vigour. In May not only the Czechs but also the Slovaks made statements to which Masaryk and his collaborators could point when pressing for an official recognition. The anti-Austria resolution, adopted at the Congress of Oppressed Nationalities at Rome (April), helped in disarming conservative circles in the Allied countries who opposed a total reorganization of the Danubian region. After several encouraging statements came the recognition by France of the Czechoslovak National Council as the supreme body controlling Czechoslovak national interests; the other Allies soon followed the French initiative. On September 28 Bene signed a treaty whereby France agreed to support the Czechoslovak program in the postwar peace conference. To preclude a retreat from the earlier Allied declarations, the National Council constituted itself as a provisional government (October 14). Four days later, Masaryk and Bene issued a declaration of independence simultaneously in Washington, D.C., and Paris. Events were moving rapidly toward total collapse of the Habsburg monarchy. The last attempt to avert it, the manifesto issued by Charles on October 16, brought no positive results. After that, Vienna had no choice but to accept Wilson's terms. The surrender note, signed by Count Gyula Andrssy, the last foreign minister, was accepted as a sanction of the idea of independence. The Prague National Committee proclaimed a republic on October 28, and, two days later, the Slovak National Council at Turciansky Svt Martin acceded to the Prague proclamation. Establishment of Czechoslovakia Despite all efforts to maintain contacts between the leaders abroad and those at home, the early years of the republic were hindered by differences of opinion and occasional frictions. Masaryk returned to Prague on December 21. Bene stayed in Paris and was joined by Karel Kramr, who had been prime minister since November. The Slovak leader tefnik decided to return home but died in an airplane crash in May 1919. Masaryk and Bene conducted foreign relations, and the leaders of five major parties controlled home affairs. Of the many tasks facing the new government, negotiations at the postwar peace conference, though complicated by dissensions among the Great Powers, were the least onerous. The frontiers separating Bohemia and Moravia from Germany and Austria were approved, with minor rectifications, in favour of the republic. The Slovak boundary also was satisfactory. The dispute over the Duchy of Teschen strained the relations with Poland; the partition of the duchy in 1920 was opposed by powerful Polish groups, and the Polish senate did not ratify the treaty. The northeastern counties of prewar Hungary (Carpathian Ruthenia) were attached to the new state. The area was inhabited by Slavic peoples, the majority of whom were keenly aware of their kinship with the Ukrainians. Consolidation of internal affairs proceeded slowly. The winter of 191819 was critical. The most urgent task of the new government was to replace the wartime economy with a new system. The network of railroads and highways had to be adjusted to the new shape of the republic, which stretched from the Cheb (Eger) region in western Bohemia to the Carpathians in the east. The new country's first minister of finance, Alois Ran, saved the Czechoslovak currency from catastrophic inflation, and his death in February 1923, after he was shot by a young revolutionary, was a shock to the new republic. In the chaotic conditions prevailing in central Europe after the armistice, a parliamentary election appeared to be impossible. The Czech and Slovak leaders agreed on the composition of the National Assembly. The Assembly's main function was the drafting of a constitution. The new, democratic constitution was adopted on Feb. 29, 1920, and was modeled largely on that of the French Third Republic. Supreme power was vested in a bicameral National Assembly. The Chamber of Deputies and the Senate had the right to elect, in a joint session, the president of the republic for a term of seven years. The Cabinet was made responsible to the Assembly. Fundamental rights of the citizens, irrespective of ethnic origin, religion, and social status, were defined generously. Some parties, however, saw a contradiction between the constitutional guarantee of equal rights for all citizens and the intention to create a state of the Czechs and Slovaks. Large segments of the population gave wholehearted support to the republic; the most resolute opposition, however, came from an ethnic minority that soon came to be known as the Sudeten Germans. The age-old antagonism between Germans and Slavs, accentuated during the war, prevented cooperation during the opening stages of the republic. The Germans issued protests against the constitution but participated, nevertheless, in parliamentary and other elections. In 1925 two German partiesthe Agrarian and Christian Socialistjoined the government majority, thus breaking a deadlock. Disagreement with the trend toward centralism was the main source of dissatisfaction among the Slovak Populists, a clerical party headed by Andrej Hlinka. Calls for Slovak autonomy were counterbalanced by other parties seeking closer contacts with the corresponding Czech groups; the most significant contribution to that effort was made by the Agrarians under Milan Hodza and by the Social Democrats under Ivan Drer. The strongest single party in the opening period, the Social Democracy, was split in 1920 by internal struggles; in 1921 its left wing constituted itself as the Czechoslovak section of the Comintern. After the separation of the communists, the Social Democracy yielded primacy to the Agrarians. The Republicans, as the peasant party was called officially, became the backbone of government coalitions until the disruption of the republic; from its ranks came Antonn vehla (prime minister 192129) and his successors. The historical regions to 1914 Habsburg rule (15261914) Reigns of Ferdinand I and Maximilian II Ferdinand I of Habsburg, the husband of Louis's sister Anne, presented his claims to the vacant throne. He made substantial concessions to the Bohemian magnates and was elected king in October 1526; the coronation took place in February 1527. Ferdinand also ruled in other countries and, beginning in 1531, he assisted his brother, the emperor Charles V, in imperial affairs. After Charles's resignation (1558) Ferdinand was elected emperor. He considered Bohemia his most precious possession. Early in his reign, Ferdinand was frequently absent, but when he was in Bohemia, he endeavoured to dilute his precoronation pledges and curtail the privileges of the estates. He was obliged by the coronation oath to observe the Compacts and to treat the Utraquists as equal to the Catholics. But since 1517 Bohemia had been open to ideas emanating from Wittenberg and other Reformation centres. Lutheranism had adherents among the Utraquists and among the German-speaking inhabitants of Bohemia and Moravia. The Unity of the Czech Brethren resisted successfully repeated attempts at its extermination; although not protected by the Compacts, the Unity increased in numbers and was shielded by sympathetic landowners, some of whom became members. The teachings of radical reformers also had echoes in Ferdinand's domains. An opportunity to settle controversial problems arose in 1547. During the Schmalkaldic War (154647), between the Habsburgs and the Protestant Schmalkaldic League, the estates of Bohemia pursued an inconsistent policy, and, after the Habsburg victory at Mhlberg (April 1547), Ferdinand moved quickly against them. The high nobility and the knights suffered comparatively mild losses, but the royal boroughs virtually lost their political power and were subordinated more rigidly to the royal chamber. Another target of the king's wrath was the Unity; significantly, Ferdinand's vindictive policy did not apply to Moravia, the estates of which were more cooperative during the Schmalkaldic War than were those of Bohemia. After 1547 the Unity flourished in Moravia, and its members, driven from Bohemia, moved to Moravia or emigrated to Poland. The Diet of 1549 approved Ferdinand's request that his firstborn son, Maximilian, be accepted as the future king. Ferdinand also resumed his scheme of religious reunion on the basis of the Compacts, but he soon realized that few Utraquists adhered to that outdated document. The majority, called Neo-Utraquists by modern historians, professed Lutheran tenets as formulated by Martin Luther's associate Philipp Melanchthon. Disheartened by the meagre results of his policy, Ferdinand turned toward the Catholic party to consolidate its organization. He introduced the newly founded and militant Society of Jesus (Jesuits) into Bohemia (1556) and obtained from Rome consecration of Antonn Brus of Mohelnice as archbishop (1561). Shortly before his death, Ferdinand succeeded in getting from Pius IV a sanction of the communion in both kinds, but the pope insisted on so many restrictions that his bull satisfied only the Utraquist extreme right. Maximilian II (ruled 156476) was reluctant to grant free exercise of the Lutheran faith, which the majority of the estates requested in 1571. After several years of futile efforts, the estates adopted a more flexible policy. Both the Czech Neo-Utraquists and the German-speaking Lutherans came together and prepared a summary of their faith, known as the Bohemian Confession, which agreed in the main points with the Augsburg Confession. The Brethren cooperated with the adherents of the Bohemian Confession but preserved both their doctrine and their organization. In 1575 Maximilian II approved the Bohemian Confession, but only orally; it was commonly assumed that his oldest son, Rudolf, who was present at the session, would respect his father's pledge. The Counter-Reformation in Bohemia The early stage of Rudolf II's long reign (15761612) was simply an extension of Maximilian's regime. But in 1583 Rudolf transferred his court from Vienna to Prague, bringing with him the high offices and foreign envoys. The Bohemian capital became once more an imperial residence and a lively political and cultural centre. Rudolf, brought up in Spain, had sympathy only for the Roman Catholic faith. Because the crown possessions were too small to yield adequate income, he depended mostly on the estates, whose majority was Protestant; only the provincial diets had the power to approve increased taxation and to grant subsidies for interminable wars against the Turks. The Catholic party, stronger among the lords than among the lesser nobility and burghers, came under the influence of militant elements, trained in Jesuit schools, and listened attentively to the papal nuncios and Spanish ambassadors. Because of its long antipapal tradition and its political prominence, Bohemia had an important place in the strategy of the Counter-Reformation. The Catholics singled out the Unity as their first target. Although numerically weak, the Brethren exercised a strong influence on Czech religious life and developed lively literary activities (in Rudolf's reign they produced a translation of the Bible from the original languages, which was printed in a hamlet of Kralice on the domains of the lords of Zerotn and which came to be known as the Kralice Bible). The Catholics sought to create a breach between the majority party of the Bohemian Confession and the Unity. By a succession of new appointments, Catholic radicals about 1600 occupied the key positions in the provincial administration of Bohemia; their head, Zdenek VojtehH of Lobkovice, served as the supreme chancellor and enjoyed Rudolf's confidence. In 1602 Rudolf issued a rigid decree against the Unity, which was enforced not only in the royal boroughs but also on the domains of fervent Catholic lords. The Brethren and also the more resolute adherents of the Bohemian Confession realized that the days of peaceful coexistence were gone. They closed ranks under the leadership of Vclav Budovec of Budov, a prominent member of the Unity. Dissatisfaction with Rudolf's regime was growing rapidly in other Habsburg domains. His younger brother, Matthias, made contacts with the Austrian and Hungarian opposition; the Moravian estates, headed by Karel the Elder of Zerotn, joined Matthias. In 1608 rebel forces advanced to Bohemia; Rudolf was unable to resist them, and he made peace and transferred to Matthias the dissatisfied provinces. The Protestant estates of Bohemia used Rudolf's weakness for their own purposes. In July 1609, Rudolf reluctantly issued a charter, known as the Majestt (Letter of Majesty), that granted freedom of worship to the Catholics and to the party of the Bohemian Confession, with which the Brethren closely cooperated. Some passages of the charter were vague, and so the Protestant and Catholic estates concluded an agreement stipulating that future conflicts should be settled by negotiation. The Catholic radicals, too weak to upset the agreement, were unwilling to accept the Majestt as the final word in religious controversies. In 1611 Rudolf was deposed, and Matthias was crowned king of Bohemia. Because he was childless, the question of succession was debated both in the court circles and among the estates. In 1617 Matthias presented his nephew Ferdinand of Styria to the Diet of Bohemia as his successor. The resolute faction among the Protestant nobility was caught unprepared and acquiesced in Ferdinand's candidacy, and he was accepted and crowned in St. Vitus' Cathedral. Opposition grew quickly to Ferdinand, who was suspected of cooperation with the irreconcilable opponents of the Majestt. In the spring of 1618 the Protestant estates decided on an action. Two governors of Bohemia, William Slavata and Jaroslav Martinic, were accused of violation of the Majestt; after an improvised trial they, together with the secretary of the royal council, were thrown from the windows of the Royal Chancellery in Hradcany Castle (May 23, 1618) but escaped with only minor injuries. This act of violence, usually referred to as the Defenestration of Prague, sparked a rebellion in Bohemia. The estates replaced the board, or royal governors, with 30 directors, who assembled troops for defensive purposes and gained allies in the predominantly Lutheran Silesia and in the Lusatias; the estates of Moravia were reluctant to join. The death of Matthias (March 1619) changed the situation profoundly. The directors refused to admit Ferdinand II into Bohemia. In Moravia the militant Protestant party overthrew the provincial government, elected 30 directors, and made an accord with Bohemia. At a general assembly of representatives of all five provinces, a decision was made to form a federal system. Ferdinand II was deposed, and Frederick V, elector of the Rhine Palatinate and a son-in-law of James I, king of England and Scotland, was offered the crown. He accepted and early in November 1619 was crowned king according to an improvised Protestant rite. Frederick's chances for success were slight; the population of Bohemia, especially the peasantry, was unenthusiastic in its support of the rebellion. Frederick received some financial help from the Netherlands, but German Protestant princes hesitated to become involved in a conflict with the Habsburgs, among whose allies were not only Catholic Bavaria but also Lutheran Saxony. In late summer 1620 Maximilian I of Bavaria coordinated the Catholic forces; the short battle on the White Mountain, at the gates of Prague (Nov. 8, 1620), had a decisive effect and delivered Bohemia to Ferdinand II. Frederick and his chief advisers fled from Bohemia. Fighting continued in 1621 at some isolated places and in Moravia, but no one succeeded in pushing back Ferdinand's troops. In imposing penalties, the victorious Ferdinand treated Bohemia more harshly than he did the incorporated provinces. In June 1621, 27 leaders (3 lords, 7 knights, and 17 burghers) were executed. Landowners who had participated in any manner in the rebellion had much of their property confiscated. The upper estates and the royal boroughs were ruined; they ceased to function as centres of economic and cultural activities. Ferdinand rescinded the Majestt and declared his intention to promote the program of re-Catholicization of Bohemia and Moravia. The Jesuits, banned in 1618 by the directors, returned triumphantly and acted as the vanguard in the systematic drive against the non-Catholics, including the moderate Utraquists. The historical regions to 1914 The late Middle Ages (13101526) The early Luxembourg dynasty After a four-year struggle for the throne, the Bohemian magnates decided for John of Luxembourg, son of Henry VII, the king of the Romans. John, only 14, married Elizabeth (Elika), the second daughter of Wenceslas II. John confirmed the freedoms that the Bohemian and Moravian nobles had usurped during the interregnum and pledged not to appoint aliens to high offices. Nevertheless, a group of advisers, headed by Archbishop Petr of Aspelt, followed John to Prague and tried to uphold the royal authority. In the resulting conflict, a powerful aristocratic faction scored a decisive victory in 1318. Its leader, Jindrich of Lpa, virtually ruled over Bohemia until his death in 1329. John found satisfaction in tournaments and military expeditions, and he attached to Bohemia some adjacent territories; the extension of suzerainty over the Silesian principalities was his most significant achievement. He was assisted late in his reign by his oldest son, Wenceslas, who was brought up at the French royal court, where he changed his name to Charles. Charles endeavoured to raise the prestige of the monarchy but was hindered by John's jealousy and by lack of cooperation among the nobility. In 1346 both John, then blind, and Charles joined the French in an expedition against the English. John fell at Crcy, in France. John and Charles benefited from friendly relations with the popes at Avignon. In 1344 Clement VI elevated the see of Prague and made Arnot of Pardubice its first archbishop. Clement VI also promoted the election, in 1346, of Charles as the king of the Romans. In Bohemia, Charles ruled by hereditary right. To raise the prestige of the monarchy, he cooperated with the nobility and the hierarchy. He made Bohemia the cornerstone of his power and, by a series of charters (1348), settled relations between Bohemia, Moravia, and other portions of his patrimony. He acquired several territories in the vicinity at opportune times by purchase or other peaceful means. At the end of his reign, four incorporated provinces existed in union with Bohemia: Moravia, Silesia, Upper Lusatia, and Lower Lusatia. Charles also confirmed earlier documents defining the position of Bohemia in relation to the empire. In 1355 he was crowned emperor in Rome as Charles IV. After consultation with the electors, Charles issued the Golden Bull, which remedied some of the political problems of the empire, especially the election of the emperor. Under Charles, Prague became headquarters of the imperial administration. By the foundation of a new district (nov mesto), Charles facilitated expansion of the city as well as a rapid increase in its population; about 30,000 people lived there by the latter part of his reign. In 1348 he founded in Prague a university with four traditional divisions (theology, law, medicine, and liberal arts); its members were grouped into four nations (Boh