A rough timeline of Czech history
Not at all boring. People were thrown out of windows more than once!
Source: adapted/edited by me from a handout from Backroads
BC to 600 AD: Tribal times
- BC-600 AD: Celtic tribes, then later Germanic tribes, and then later the Slavs arrived from the east. The slavic tribes eventually united to keep out people from today's Hungary.
- 800s AD: The Great Moravian Empire (Bohemia + parts of today's Poland and Hungary). Slavonic script (Cyrillic alphabet still in use in Russia and Bulgaria) was created and religious texts were translated (dawn of Eastern Christianity)
- 906 AD: Hungarian invasion (collapse of Moravian Empire)
- 973 AD: City of Prague founded as Roman Catholic Bishopric at a crossing point of the Vltava river (old Slavic word, práh means "ford" or "rapid")
The Kingdom of Bohemia (aka Czech Kingdom)
- 1085: First Czech king subordinate to Holy Roman Empire and German king (This king's son would become known as Saint Wenceslas or "Good King Wenceslas" although he was technically only a Duke.)
- 13th century: the Czech kingdom expanded from the North Sea to the Mediterranean
- 1306: Death of Wenceslas III, last member of Premyslid dynasty
Golden Age #1 - The Luxembourg Dynasty / King Charles IV
- 1310: the Czech throne was taken by John of Luxembourg, leading to the Golden Age of their history under the rule of his son Charles IV.
- 1350-ish: The Kingdom of Bohemia was incorporated into the Holy Roman Empire.
- 1355: Under the rule of Charles IV, Prague became the imperial capital of most of Europe.
Protestant Movement
- 1400-ish: A priest named John Huss (aka. Jan Hus) started speaking out against the corruption of the Roman Catholic Church.
- 1415: Huss was burned at the stake
- 1419: Protestant followers of Huss threw Catholic leaders out a window, kicking off a series of religious wars. (aka. The First Defenstration)
- 1458: A Protestant was elected king, allowing Catholics and Protestants to live peacefully side-by-side.
Golden Age #2 - The Hapsburg Dynasty / Austro-Hungarian Empire
- 1526: Bohemia and Moravia fell under control of the Austrian Hapsburg monarchy (until 1918). The Catholic religion was reinstated in the country.
- 1583: Holy Roman Emporer Rudolf II moved his court back to Prague (from Vienna).
- 1618: Rudolf's successor Matthias attempted to deprive the Protestants of their freedoms. On May 23 several of Matthias' governors were thrown out a window of the Prague Castle (aka. The Second Defenstration)
- 1620: Czech people tried to revolt against Austria. On November 8, the revolt was defeated harshly at the Battle of the White Mountain. The Thirty Years War spread across Europe. The following year, Protestant leaders were executed on the Old Town Square and all religions except Catholic were banned. The Czech language and national consciousness were suppressed for the next 150 years. The official language was German.
Enlightened Reforms, National Revival, & Industrial Revolution
- 1781: the Edict of Tolerance, passed in 1781 which granted Protestants almost equal status with Catholics. Other decrees lifted restrictions on Jews and opened up communities, trades, and educational opportunities previously barred to them. These reforms started the process of abolishing the Prague Jewish ghetto.
- 1840: Empress Maria Theresa undertook reforms in the social, legal, and religious spheres which were continued after her death by her son, Joseph II.
- 1800s: Czech language, culture, and national identity come back to life while the Industrial Revolution begins the building of factories.
- 1845: First railway between Vienna and Prague
- 1883: The National Theater opened performing in the Czech language
World War 1 & The Czechoslovak Republic
- 1914: Francis Ferdinand was assassinated, leading to the end of the Hapsburg dynasty and kicking off World War 1.
- 1918: On October 28, Czech and Slovakia lands proclaimed the establishment of independent Czechoslovakia following the fall of the Austro-Hungarian empire at the conclusion of World War 1.
World War 2 & The Munich Pact
- 1930s: German inhabitants of the Czech border areas called the Sudetenland wanted autonomy from Czechoslovakia. The Sudetenland was ceded to Hitler by Germany, Britain, France, and Italy through the Munich Pact (leaving little recourse for the less powerful Czechoslovakian state).
- 1939: On March 15, Czechoslovakia was invaded by Hitler's army.
- 1940: President Benes established a government in exile in London.
- 1945: A national uprising against the German occupation begins in Prague on May 5. On May 9 the western territories of the Czech Republic were liberated by the American army lead by General Patton. That same day, Soviet troops entered Prague. By October of this year, Benes was restored as President. He ordered the expulsion of 2.5 million Sudeten Germans and over 500,000 ethnic Hungarians.
Communist Era
- 1946: In May, national elections resulted in a communist-socialist government.
- 1948: In March, fraudulent elections saw communists secured in power. A harsh Stalinist regime was imposed. On May 9 a new constitution established the People's Democratic Republic of Czechoslovakia.
- 1955: Czechoslovakia joined the Warsaw Pact (securing position of USSR in Eastern Europe territorially and ideologically).
Prague Spring & Communism Continued
- 1968: In January, Alexander Dubcek became the communist party leader and launched a program of reforms which sought to liberalize the country such as loosening restrictions on speech, decentralizing industry, and restoring democratic processes. These reforms were known as the Prague Spring.
- The USSR and Warsaw Pact countries were not happy with Dubcek's reforms. 7500 tanks, 1000 planes, and 500,000 soldiers invaded Czechoslovakia on August 20, 1968 to impose censorship and oust the liberal leaders.
- 1969: The conditions prevailing before Dubcek's reforms were reinstated immediately. Communism would persist for almost 20 more years.
Velvet Revolution
- 1977: Charter 77 human rights group was founded by a group of artists reacting to the arrest of a psychedelic rock band, the Plastic People of the Universe. This can be seen as the first public action of a newly-emergent Czechoslovak dissident movement.
- 1987: Mikhail Gorbachev visited Czechoslovakia, raising hopes of imminent reforms.
- 1988: In August, mass demonstrations marked the 20th anniversary of the 1968 invasion by Warsaw Pact/USSR.
- 1989: Police brutality against protestors sparked further protests. There were numerous protests against human and civil rights violations.
- In October the communist regime of East Germany fell.
- On November 17 a peaceful student protest in Prague was violently put down by police, resulting in widespread mass protests and strikes in favor of free elections.
- On November 19 an anti-government coalition formed and called for the resignation of communist party leaders and the introduction of democracy.
- On November 25-27 there were massive demonstrations and a general strike.
- On November 29 the Communist constitutional hold on political power was abolished.
- 1990: The first free parliamentary elections were held since 1946, won by Civic Forum and its allies. Vaclav Havel was publicly elected President. Soviet forces completed their withdrawal after more than 20 years of occupation.
Velvet Divorce
- 1993: On January 1, Czechoslovakia split into two separate countries, the Czech Republic and Slovakia. This peaceful transition is called the "Velvet Divorce."
- 1998: Czech Republic was invited to (and subsequently joined) NATO.
- 2004: On May 1, Czech Republic joined the European Union.
- 2008: On January 1, Czech Republic acceded to the Schengen agreement which removed internal borders with other Schengen area countries, allowing travel throughout the area without border checks.