Page 57 - Olympism in Socialism

CZECHOSLOVAKIA

Czechoslovakia, was a sovereign state in
Central Europe, created in October 1918, when it
declared its independence from Austria-Hungary.
In 1938, after the Munich Agreement,
the Sudetenland became part of Germany, while
the country lost further territories
to Hungary and Poland. Between 1939 and 1945
the state ceased to exist, as Slovakia proclaimed
its independence and subsequently the
remaining territories in the east became part
of Hungary, while in the remainder of the Czech
Lands the German Protectorate of Bohemia and
Moravia was proclaimed. In October 1939, after
the outbreak of the Second World War, former
Czechoslovak President, Edvard Beneš formed
a government-in-exile and sought recognition
from the Allies.
After the end of the war, the pre-1938
Czechoslovakia was reestablished, with the
exception of Carpathian Ruthenia, which became
part of the Soviet Union. From 1948 to 1989,
Czechoslovakia was part of the Eastern Bloc with
a command economy. Its economic status was
formalized in membership of Comecon from 1949
and its defense status in the Warsaw Pact of May
1955. A period of political liberalization in 1968,
known as the Prague Spring, was violently ended
when the Soviet Union, assisted by some other
Warsaw Pact countries, invaded Czechoslovakia.
In 1989, as Marxist–Leninist governments
and communism were ending all over Europe,
Czechoslovaks peacefully deposed
their government in the Velvet Revolution; state
price controls were removed after a period of
preparation.

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