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History of Slavonice
Roman authors provide the first clear reference to this area as Boiohaemum, which is Germanic for "the home of the Boii’, who were a Celtic people. As part of the territory often crossed during the major Germanic and Slavic migrations, the area was settled from the 1st century BC by Germanic (probably Suebic) peoples including the Marcomanni. After their migration to the south-west, they were replaced around the 6th century by the Slavic precursors of today's Czechs.
After freeing themselves from the rule of the Avars in the 7th century, Bohemia's Slavic inhabitants came (in the 9th century) under the rule of the Přemyslid dynasty, which continued until 1306. With Bohemia's conversion to Christianity in the 9th century, close relations were forged with the East Frankish kingdom, then part of the so-called Carolingian empire, later the nucleus of the Holy Roman Empire of which Bohemia was an autonomous part from the 10th century.
The first to use the title of "King of Bohemia" was Boleslav I after 940, but his heirs again used the title of Duke. The title of King was granted to the Premyslid dukes Vratislav II (1085) and Vladislav II (1158), and became hereditary (1198) under Ottokar I, whose grandson Ottokar II (king 1253-1278) founded a short-lived empire also covering modern Austria. The mid-13th century saw the beginning of substantial German immigration as the court sought to make good the losses resulting from the brief Mongol invasion of 1241. In 1346, Charles IV became King of Bohemia. In 1348 he founded central Europe's first university in Prague. His reign brought Bohemia to its peak both politically and in total area, resulting in his being the first King of Bohemia to be elected as Holy Roman Emperor.
A national Czech movement against (mainly German) foreign immigrants was promoted by the religious movement of Hussites under the leadership of Jan Hus, a precursor of Martin Luther, who was eventually burned at the stake. When the crusade against heresy was declared by the Pope, it created a period of turmoil in Bohemia called the Hussite Wars. Bohemia was granted freedom of religion in 1436 by so-called Basel Compactates (Peace and Freedom between Catholics and Utraquists (today: Bohemian Church)) but this lasted for only a short time, as in 1462, Pope Pius II declared Basel Compactates invalid. In 1609, Bohemian king Rudolph II, who was titularly a Catholic, was coerced by Bohemian nobility to publish Maiestas Rudolphina, which confirmed the older Confessio Bohemica of 1575. It can be said that there was relative freedom of religion in Bohemia between 1436 and 1620 and in this Bohemia was one of the most liberal countries of the Christian world.
Bohemia was an independent kingdom until centralisation reforms in 1743, when it became a part of the Austrian part of Habsburg empire, and German became the only official language. The Protestant nobility were largely expelled after the Battle of White Mountain in 1620. The ruling classes had largely been German-speaking since the late Middle Ages, and after Bohemia became an Austrian province the German language became increasingly dominant until, in the early 17th century, opposition to Ferdinand II, Holy Roman Emperor as King of Bohemia led to the Thirty Years' War and the selection of an alternative Protestant king, Frederick V, Elector Palatine.
After World War I, Bohemia became the cornerstone of the newly-formed country of Czechoslovakia. Czechoslovakia became a rich and liberal democratic republic, and Tomáš Masaryk was elected as its first president.
The Sudetenland was a microcosm of the struggle between Germans and Slavs over Eastern and Central Europe. Bohemia and Moravia were settled by Celtic Germanic tribes known as the the Boii, the Marcomanni, and the Quadi. The Celts were the major European group dominating Europe north of Greece and Rome. Subsequently a the Czechs, a Slav tribe, invaded the central regions of Bohemia and Moravia. Bohemian dukes in the 12th and 13th centuries invited Germans to help settle their lands. Modern concepts of nationalism had not yet developed. The territories known as the Bohemian Crown (Bohemia and Moravia), including the Sudetenland inhabited by Germans, in 1526 were acquired by the Habsburgs. After World War I, the 6.7 million Czechs mostly in Bohemia and Moravia demanded a state of their own. The Sudeten Germans for the most part wanted to be part of Germany. The peace conference at St. Germain in 1919, however, left the Sudetenland as part of the new independent Czechoslovakia. The situation in the Sudetenland changed in the 1930s with the coming of the worldwide Depression in 1929. The Sudetenland was heavily industrialized. There was massive unemployment as a result of the depression. German's who had lost their jobs in the Depression began to think that they might be better off in Germany.
Czechoslovakia had been created in 1919. The new nation was created out of the old Austro-Hungarian Empire and it contained numerous nationalities - 3,200,000 Germans; 7,450,000 Czechs; 2,300,000 Slovaks; 720,000 Magyars; 560,000 Ruthenes; and 100,000 Poles.
It was almost inevitable that trouble would occur between the various nationalities. This was especially true of the Germans who resented living under the rule of foreigners. The Germans mostly lived in the region on the western border with Germany - the Sudetenland.
In 1931, they created the Sudeten Germans Peoples Party led by Konrad Henlein. Its most pressing demand was for the Sudetenland to be put under Germany control. i.e. that the region should be transferred to Germany. The party had great support among the Sudeten Germans but it was not recognized by the Czech government.
There were many reasons why the Czech government did not agree with the stance of the Sudeten Germans - if the area was handed over to the Germans, would it lead to other nationalities in Czechoslovakia wanting independence? Also, the Sudetenland contained many valuable resources such as lignite, coal and the area was just about the country’s most vital defensive zone as the Sudetenland contained many border fortifications with Germany.
The Sudeten Germans Peoples Party received both verbal and financial support from Hitler. Hitler had constantly talked about putting all Germans into one Reich and that no true German would have to live outside of Germany. In 1938, Hitler ordered his generals to start to make plans for the invasion of Czechoslovakia. He also ordered Henlein and his followers to start to create trouble in the Sudetenland, therefore proving to the outside world that the Czech government was incapable of maintaining order in its own state. Hitler planned to use this chaos to put his army into the Sudetenland to restore law and order.
Hitler's plan was risky not least because the Czech army was strong and professional. The terrain from Germany to the Sudetenland was very steep and it was very likely that the Wehrmacht’s use of Blitzkrieg would have been of no value in such a hilly and wooded area. Likewise the fortifications at the border between Germany and Czechoslovakia would have given many advantages to the defending army.
Also, France had signed an agreement with Czechoslovakia offering support if the country was attacked. However, Hitler could all but guarantee that in 1938, the French would do nothing. The USSR had also given Czechoslovakia a promise of help but the USSR was in internal chaos during this time and unlikely to help Czechoslovakia out. If war did break out, it seemed likely that it would be between Germany and Czechoslovakia. However, victory for the German army could not be guaranteed.
The attitude of the British tended to reflect the view of the majority in Britain at this time. If there was the chance of negotiating a peace, then that chance should be taken. The policy of appeasement has been criticised over the years since 1938, but the fear of war in 1938 was very real. The images shown in the cinemas of the horrors seen in Guernica during the Spanish Civil War terrified many - and Germany had openly displayed the might of the Luftwaffe with its many bombers from 1936 on. It was also German bombers that had caused such devastation in Guernica.
Britain, under Neville Chamberlain, chose to negotiate with Hitler over the Sudenten crisis. Chamberlain knew very well that Czechoslovakia was a land-locked nation and that Britain’s military strength - its navy - could play no part in a conflict here. Britain’s army - though professional - was small. Britain’s air force was far from strong and undergoing change from a bi-planed force to using the new monoplanes which were still not ready for combat.
His military chiefs had advised Chamberlain that over one million people would be killed by bombing raids in just 60 days and that mass graves would be needed as there simply would not be enough wood for timber coffins. Any form of conflict with Germany was fraught with dangers – hence Chamberlain’s desire for a negotiated peace. Many British people supported Chamberlain at the time and before the meetings took place no-one would have known what it would be like negotiating with Hitler. It seemed right that a negotiated settlement should be tried and the attempts to succeed started in September 1938.
The first of three meetings took place at Bertesgaden, near Munich in southern Germany. At this meeting Hitler demanded that the Sudetenland should be handed over to Germany. Without consulting the Czechs, Chamberlain agreed that those areas containing more than 50% Germans within them should be handed back to Germany. Chamberlain managed to get the Czechs and the French to agree to this solution.
On September 22nd, Chamberlain flew to Bad Godesberg to meet Hitler so that the final details of the plan could be worked out. At this meeting Hitler made new demands that took Chamberlain by surprise. Hitler wanted German troops to occupy the Sudetenland. He also demanded that land containing a majority of Poles and Magyars should also be returned to Poland and Hungary. Britain and France rejected these demands and both the French and British governments prepared for war.
At the suggestion of Mussolini, a four-power conference was held to resolve the problems. This was the third meeting which was held at Munich. Germany, Britain, France and Italy were represented - Czechoslovakia was not. Neither was the Soviet Union, which greatly angered its leader, Joseph Stalin.
Without consulting the Czechs, the four powers agreed that the Sudetenland should be given to Germany immediately. The governments of Britain and France made it clear to Czechoslovakia that if the Czechs rejected this solution, they would have to fight Germany by themselves.
On October 1st 1938, the Czech frontier guards left their posts and German troops occupied the Sudetenland. Very shortly afterwards, Polish and Hungarian troops took areas of Czechoslovakia which contained a majority of Poles and Magyars.
Chamberlain had returned to Croydon Airport near London as a hero; the man who saved peace in Europe. His "Piece of Paper" , signed both by Chamberlain and Hitler, was later called a "scrap of paper" by Hitler.
After Munich, Bohemia and Moravia lost about 38 percent of their combined area, as well as about 2.8 million Germans and approximately 750,000 Czechs to Germany. Hungary received 11,882 square kilometers in southern Slovakia and southern Ruthenia; only 53 percent of the population in this territory was Hungarian. Poland acquired Tesin and two minor border areas in northern Slovakia.
Sudetes (sūdē'tēz) , Czech Sudety, Ger. Sudeten, mountain range, along the border of the Czech Republic and Poland, extending c.185 mi (300 km) between the Elbe and Oder rivers. It is continued on the W by the Erzgebirge and on the E by the Carpathians. The Sudetes are divided into several groups. Farthest west, bordering on SE Germany, are the Lusatian (Pol. Luzické) Mts; along the border with SW Poland are, from west to east, the Isergebirge, the Krkonoše (Ger. Riesengebirge), the Adlergebirge, and the Jeseniky mts. The mineral deposits of the Sudetes are varied, but working mines have begun to decline in numbers. Industry flourishes on both slopes of the Sudetes; glass and porcelain, paper, and textiles are the chief products. Home industries have long held an important place in the Sudetes. There are also numerous mineral springs and resorts. The region was largely German-speaking until 1945. However, the term “Sudeten Germans” designated all the German-speaking population in the regions of Czechoslovakia bordering on Germany. The Sudetenland, home of these Germans for centuries, has always been a part of Bohemia. The Sudeten German party, founded by Konrad Henlein in 1934, was an offshoot of the German National Socialist party. In 1938 the party became Hitler's chief instrument in the events leading to the Munich Pact and the annexation of the Sudetenland to Germany. The districts were recovered by Czechoslovakia in 1945, and most of the German population was summarily expelled.
After the War, the Soviets liberated Pague. Units of the American 3rd Army reached western Czecheslovakia. Reprisals aginst Germans began with the arrival of the Red Army. Individuals and groups sought vengence by attacking ethnic Germans. Many wanted their property back that the NAZIs had seized. When President Benes returned from London he issued official decrees which began the expulsion of 2.5 million Sudeten Germans.
After the end of World War II, the Potsdam conference in 1945 determined that Sudeten Germans unable to prove that they were anti-Nazi would have to leave Czechoslovakia (see Expulsion of Germans after World War II). However, as a consequence of immense hostility against all Germans that had grown within Czechoslovakia since its occupation in 1939 more or less all Germans (no matter if they were affiliated with Nazism or not) were expelled and forced to march toward the Austrian and German borders. The number of expelled Germans totalled 3 million of the 3.2 million Germans of Sudetenland. These expulsions and forced resettlements were partly associated with excesses and even murders of Germans; there were 20,000 known deaths resulting from the expulsion. 62,000 people were reported missing by relatives but their deaths could not be verified. The property of practically all Sudeten Germans was confiscated by the newly formed state of Czechoslovakia according to the Beneš decrees.
After World War II, a reconstituted Czechoslovakia fell within the Soviet sphere of influence. In 1968, an invasion by Warsaw Pact troops ended the efforts of the country's leaders to liberalise party rule and create "socialism with a human face" during the Prague Spring. In 1989, Czechoslovakia regained its "freedom" through a peaceful "Velvet Revolution". On January 1, 1993, the country peacefully split in two, creating independent Czech and Slovak republics.
The Czech Republic joined NATO in 1999 and the European Union in 2004.
