Century by Century Break-Down of Czech History
|
Century |
Czech Lands |
Rest of the World |
|
up to 1100s |
Celts, Germanic Tribes, Slavic Tribes, The Great Moravia, Přemyslids, introduction of literacy (Cyril and Methodius), introduction of (western) Christianty, |
Tribes moving around, spread of Christianity over Europe |
|
1200 |
Czech kingdom-Czech rulers obtain hereditary right to the title King, Přemysl Otokar II. Czech king controlling large parts of Central Europe |
Wars, famines, crusades |
|
1300 |
Charles IV., Charles University founded, Bible translated into Czech |
Renaissance starting, 100-year war, Chaucer |
|
1400 |
Burning of Jan Hus, 1st defenestration, Hussite wars, Jiří z Poděbrad's peace mission |
Joan of Arc, America discovered, invention of printing press |
|
1500 |
Polish and Hapsburg rulers, arts and sciences flourish, new translation of Bible sets standard for Czech language |
America being explored, Luther |
|
1600 |
Comenius, 2nd defenestration, big execution, exile, begining of thirty-year war, exile of Czech nobles, germanization |
Shakespeare, revolutions, 30-year war |
|
1700 |
Under the Hapsburgs, baroque and rather dull times |
French revolution, rise of Napoleon, USA gains independence |
|
1800 |
Fighting for more independence, national revival, toying with the idea of panslavism, still under the Hapsburgs, National Theater built (twice) |
Fall of Napoleon, more wars and crystalization of modern nations |
|
1900 |
New republic together with Slovakia, split with Slovakia, WWII, communism, fall of communism, split from Slovakia |
WWI & II, Cold War, crises and conflicts |
20th Century in the Czech Lands
|
Period |
Czech Lands |
Rest of the World |
|
1918 - 1938 |
So-called First Republic, time of economic prosperity and democracy |
recovering from WWI |
|
1938 |
Losing Sudetenland, Slovakia separated |
gathering clouds, Austria Annexed by Germany |
|
1939 |
Protectorate starts: annexed by Germany results: closed University |
Preparing for showdown: non-aggression pact between Russia and Germany, Germany attacks Poland, Brittain and France declare war |
|
1945 |
Prague insurgence (Pražské povstání), end of war, repatriation of Germans from Sudeten Land |
Berlin falls, atomic bomb used in Hiroshima and Nagasaki |
|
1948 |
Communists take over government (having won elections in 1946) |
State of Israel proclaimed, Marshall Plan begins |
|
1950s |
Hard core communism |
McCarthism in USA, Stalin's death, Korean War |
|
1968 |
Following a liberal trend of the 60s so-called Prague spring ends in an invasion by allied forces |
Martin Luther King killed, Vietnam war peaks (10.000th plane shot down), R. Kennedy shot |
|
1970s |
"Normalization", Charter 77 |
Man on Moon, oil shock, end of Vietnam war, war in Cambodia |
|
1989 |
"Velvet" Revolution |
Communism not doing well world wide: fall in Romania, E. Germany, Hungary, Bulgaria and Poland, George Bush becomes president |
|
1993 |
Split with Slovakia |
Bill Clinton becomes president |
The importance of number 8 in modern Czech history
1. 1918 - Foundation of Czechoslovakia after the collapse of the Austro-Hungarian Empire.
2. 1938 - Slovakia breaks off, start of the so-called ‘Second Republic'.
3. 1948 - Communist government takes power for 41 years.
4. 1968 - Prague reforms stopped by invasion of allied armies of East-Bloc countries.
5. 1989 - ‘Velvet' Revolution caused the fall of the communist government.
