The biggest event in the history of modern Europe was the collapse of Czechoslovakia. The reasons for this lie in the political, military and economic situation in the state. Decades separate the Czech Republic and Slovakia from the date of the split. But at present, this issue is the subject of close study by historians, political scientists and other experts.
1968: prerequisites for the breakup
The collapse of Czechoslovakia occurred in 1993. However, the prerequisites for this event were laid much earlier. On the night of August 20-21, 1968, formations of the Soviet Army, the GDR, Bulgaria, Hungary and Poland, with a total number of 650 thousand military men, invaded Czechoslovakia and occupied the state. The leadership of the country (Dubcek, Chernik and Svoboda) was arrested. The leaders who remained at large abandoned collaborationism. The civilian population tried to show resistance, approximately 25 citizens died in the midst of anti-Soviet demonstrations. The leadership of the USSR sought to create a pro-Soviet government on the territory of Czechoslovakia. Under these conditions, the autonomy of Slovakia increased within the bordersnew federal state, which was proclaimed with the advent of 1969.
Revolution in Czechoslovakia in 1989
By the end of the 1980s. In Czechoslovakia, the dissatisfaction of the population with the autocracy of the Communist Party intensified. In 1989, many demonstrations were held in Prague from January to September, which were dispersed by the police. The main protesting force was the students. On September 17, 1989, a large number of them took to the streets, and many were beaten by policemen, universities were closed at that time. This event was the impetus for decisive action. The intellectuals and students went on strike. The union of all opposition - the "Civil Forum" - on November 20 under the leadership of Vaclav Havela (photo below) called for a mass protest. At the end of the month, about 750,000 demonstrators took to the streets of Prague and demanded the resignation of the government. The goal was achieved: unable to withstand the pressure, Gustav Husak left the presidency, many officials resigned. The events of the peaceful change of leadership in Czechoslovakia later became known as the "Velvet Revolution". The events of 1989 predetermined the collapse of Czechoslovakia.
Elections 1989-1990
The post-communist elites of the formed parts of the state have chosen a course towards an independent existence. In 1989, at the end of December, the Federal Assembly elected Vaclav Havel as President of Czechoslovakia, and Alexander Dubcek as chairman. The Assembly became a representative body due to the resignation of a large number ofco-optation and communist political movements "Civil Forum" and "Public Against Violence".
Havel Vaclav arrived in Moscow in February 1990 and received an apology from the Soviet government for the events of 1968, when Soviet troops carried out an armed invasion. In addition, he was assured that the military forces of the USSR would be withdrawn from Czechoslovakia at the end of July 1991.
In the spring of 1990, the Federal Assembly passed a number of legislative acts allowing the organization of private enterprise, and generally agreed to the implementation of the privatization of state-owned industrial enterprises. In early June, free elections were held, in which 96% of the total number of voters came. The candidates of the political movements "Civil Forum" and "Public Against Violence" dressed with great advantage. They received more than 46% of the popular vote and a large part in the Federal Assembly. In second place in terms of the number of votes received were the Communists, who were chosen by 14% of citizens. The third place was taken by a coalition consisting of groups of Christian Democrats. On July 5, 1990, for a two-year presidential term, the new Federal Assembly re-elected Havel Vaclav, and Alexander Dubcek (photo below) as chairman respectively.
Split of the "Society Against Violence" movement
The collapse of Czechoslovakia was confirmed in March 1991, when there was a split in the political movement"Public against violence", as a result of which most of the separated groups formed the "Movement for a Democratic Slovakia" party. Soon a split arose in the ranks of the "Civil Forum" with the formation of three groups, one of which was the "Civil Democratic Party". Negotiations between the heads of Slovakia and the Czech Republic were resumed in June 1991. By that time, the leadership of the "Civil Democratic Party" had come to the conclusion that the meeting would not produce positive results, so they turned to the "velvet divorce" scenario.
Hyphen war
The end of the communist regime in 1989 hastened the events that triggered the collapse of Czechoslovakia. The leaders from the Czech side wanted the name of the state to be written together, while their opponents - the Slovaks - insisted on a hyphenated spelling. Paying tribute to the national feelings of the Slovak people, in April 1990 the Federal Assembly approved the new official name of Czechoslovakia: the Czech and Slovak Federal Republic (CSFR). The parties managed to come to a compromise, since in the Slovak language the name of the state could be written with a hyphen, and in Czech it could be written together.
Czechoslovak Forest
The collapse of Czechoslovakia was also influenced by the results of negotiations between the prime ministers of the national governments of Slovakia and the Czech Republic - Vladimir Meciar and Vaclav Klaus. The meeting took place in the city of Brno at Villa Tugendhat in1992. According to the memoirs of its participant Miroslav Macek, V. Klaus took a chalk, a blackboard and drew a vertical line, indicating that at the top there is a vertical state, and at the bottom - division. Between them there was a wide scale, including federation and confederation. The question arose, on what part of this scale was a meeting possible? And this place was the bottom point, which meant "divorce". The discussion did not end until W. Klaus came to the conclusion that those conditions that are diplomatically favorable for the Slovaks are in no way considered acceptable to the Czechs. The collapse of Czechoslovakia was obvious. Villa Tugendhat has become a kind of Belovezhskaya Pushcha for this state. There were no further negotiations on the preservation of the federation. As a result of the diplomatic meeting, a constitutional act was signed, which secured the legal right to transfer the main ruling powers to the republics.
Velvet Divorce
The year of the collapse of Czechoslovakia was approaching. General elections in the republic were held in June 1992. The "Movement for a Democratic Slovakia" gained more votes in Slovakia, and the "Civil Democratic Party" - in the Czech Republic. A proposal was made to create a confederation, but it did not find support from the "Civil Democratic Party".
Slovak sovereignty was proclaimed on July 17, 1992 by the Slovak National Council. President Havel Vaclav resigned. In the autumn of 1992, most of the statepower was transferred to the republics. The Federal Assembly at the end of November 1992, with a margin of only three votes, approved the Law, which proclaimed the termination of the existence of the Czechoslovak Federation. Despite the confrontation both on the part of the majority of Slovaks and Czechs, at midnight on December 31, 1992, both parties came to the decision to dissolve the federation. The collapse of Czechoslovakia took place in a year that became the starting point in the history of two newly created states - the Slovak Republic and the Czech Republic.
After the split
The state was peacefully divided into 2 independent parts. The disintegration of Czechoslovakia into the Czech Republic and Slovakia had a contradictory effect on the further development of the two states. In a short period of time, the Czech Republic was able to put into effect cardinal reforms in the economy and create effective market relations. This was the determining factor that allowed the new state to become a member of the European Union. In 1999, the Czech Republic joined the ranks of the North Atlantic military bloc. Economic transformations in Slovakia were more complex and slower, the issue of its entry into the European Union was resolved with complications. And only in 2004 she joined it and became a member of NATO.
