Czechoslovakia is located at the heart of Europe. Bordered by Poland on the north, Germany on the north and west, the Soviet Union on the east, and Hungary and Austria on the south, it has long been at the crossroads of East and West. Established as an independent state in 1918, Czechoslovakia was dismembered by Germany prior to and during World War II and ruled from 1948 to 1989 by a Communist government. After the Communists were forced out (November 1989), free multiparty elections legitimated an interim government headed by Vaclav \THavel\t, signaling Czechoslovakia's return to democracy. LAND AND RESOURCES Czechoslovakia's physical features vary a good deal from one part of the country to another. The Czech lands of \TBohemia\t and \TMoravia\t, which constitute the western part of the country, are characterized by the Bohemian Highlands, which are bordered by the \TSudeten\t and the Ore Mountains (Krusne Hory) on the north and the Bohemian Forest (Cesky Les) and Sumava Mountains on the west. East of Moravia is \TSlovakia\t. Its landscape is dominated by the \TCarpathian Mountains\t, which include Gerlach Peak (2,663 m/8,737 ft), the highest point in the country. Approximately 17% of Czechoslovakia has soils unsuitable for farming; only 8% of the soil is of the best quality for cultivation. Drainage Czechoslovakia's drainage is provided by the \TDanube\t, \TElbe\t (Labe), and \TOder\t (Odra) rivers. Tributaries of the Elbe include the Vltava (Moldau), the Berounka, the Ohre, and the Sazava; those of the Danube include the Morava, the Vah, the Hron, and the Ipel. Climate Czechoslovakia lies within a comparatively temperate zone marked by a transition from maritime to continental climate and by substantial variations of temperature and precipitation according to elevation. The mean annual temperature ranges from 8 deg to 10 deg C (46 deg to 50 deg F). Winters are generally cold, with many days of subfreezing weather. Summers are moderately warm: maximum temperatures reach about 28 deg C (80 deg F). Annual precipitation ranges from 450 to 1,030 mm (18 to 41 in). Vegetation and Animal Life The prevalent feature of the flora is forests, which consist mostly of coniferous trees such as spruce and fir, mixed in lower-lying areas with deciduous trees such as oak, beech, birch, and linden. The main quadrupeds are hares, roe deer, foxes, squirrels, weasels, and muskrat. Wild boars survive in some remote areas of Slovakia. Deer, bears, and lynx live mostly in reservations. Partridge, doves, pheasant, wild geese, blackbirds, swallows, and storks are abundant. The most common fish are carp, trout, pike, and perch. Resources Czechoslovakia is relatively poor in natural resources. The primary domestic source of energy, soft coal, is expensive to mine and causes air pollution when burned as fuel. Uranium, lead, copper, and iron ores are also found within the country. Most energy supplies and raw materials needed for manufacturing have been imported, in the past, primarily from the Soviet Union and other East European socialist countries. PEOPLE Czechoslovakia has been a multiethnic state from its inception. In the period between the two world wars, ethnic tensions threatened the stability of the democratic government. The disaffection of the Sudeten Germans and Slovak dissatisfaction were the pretexts for the dismemberment of the country by Germany. The redrawing of borders after World War II and the forced expulsion of the Sudeten Germans and many Hungarians simplified the country's ethnic composition. At present, the Czechs, who account for 64% of the population, and the Slovaks, who constitute 32 % are the two major ethnic groups. The remainder are Hungarians, Gypsies, Ukrainians, Poles, and Germans. The official languages of the state are Czech and Slovak. The principal cities include \TPrague\t, the country's capital, \TBratislava\t, the capital of Slovakia, \TBrno\t, \TOstrava\t, \TKosice\t, and \TPlzen\t. Tensions between Czechs and Slovaks, which were held in check by the Communist government, have come to the surface since the collapse of Communist rule. Other national groups have also begun to voice new demands in the changed political situation. Religion Although religion was suppressed during the Communist period, many Czechs and Slovaks continued to identify themselves as believers. Roman Catholicism is the faith of the majority, but there is also an important Protestant tradition. The 19th-century Czech national movement was closely identified with this tradition, exemplified by the medieval Czech religious reformer John \THuss\t. Protestant intellectuals also played an important role in Slovakia's national movement. Education and Health Care Prior to World War II, Czechoslovakia's literacy rates and educational levels approximated those in developed West European states. Educational opportunities increased under Communist rule, but the subordination of education to political ends led to a decline in quality at all levels. The new government is reforming the school system. Socialized since 1948, basic medical care has been widely available in Czechoslovakia. Training of medical personnel is also at a fairly high level. However, lack of contact with Western medical circles for 40 years and the shortage of hard currency resources to import Western products and techniques have caused medicine to lag behind in specialized areas. Privatization will make it possible for doctors to enter private medical practice. In the near future, however, most medical care will continue to be provided by the state sector. The Arts Czechoslovakia traditionally has been a strong contributor to European culture. Prague has been a center of cultural life during various periods, and Czech and Slovak musicians, composers, architects, artists, and writers have made enduring contributions to their fields. The Communist regime attempted to direct all artistic and cultural life to political ends, with predictably negative results. However, even during this period, particularly the 1960s, artists, filmmakers, and writers took advantage of changing political conditions to try to expand the limits of permissible expression. The Czech New Wave in cinema is the best known of these efforts, but Czech and Slovak playwrights and writers also became widely known for innovation. Many of these artists and writers were subsequently forced to emigrate because of government repression; others were not able to work in their fields. However, samizdat, or unofficial literature and emigre publications continued to enrich the culture of the country. ECONOMY Czechoslovakia's level of economic development is among the highest in Central and Eastern Europe, but the performance of the economy was hampered by the high degree of centralization and political interference in economic life that characterized the Communist period. Czech and Slovak Communist leaders copied Soviet economic practice and organization when they came to power in 1948. They completed the nationalization of economic assets begun in 1945, collectivized agriculture, and set up a central economic planning system. They also emulated Soviet emphasis on heavy industry, mining, and manufacturing, and neglected agriculture and light industry. Agriculture, although almost entirely collectivized, performed fairly well in the last years of Communist rule, in large part because it had begun to receive a large share of all new investment. Manufacturing and other branches of industry were hampered by obsolete equipment, aging industrial plants, and shortages of raw materials, energy, and labor resources. The transportation network was expanded in the early days of Communist rule, but it proved inadequate to the demands placed upon it. The communication system, although relatively advanced for the region at the beginning of the Communist period, failed to keep pace with the country's development. These factors, as well as the impact of negative trends in the world economy in the 1970s, led to a decline in economic performance. Although Czechoslovakia did not experience the acute economic crises that occurred in Poland, the standard of living stagnated during the late 1970s and 1980s. Political leaders acknowledged the need for economic reform, but little was actually accomplished before 1989. Under the post-Communist government, measures were enacted to privatize industry and agriculture and to facilitate foreign investment in the economy. Plans were made to change the country's trading patterns, which were very heavily oriented to the Soviet Union and other socialist countries, and to reintegrate Czechoslovakia into the world economy. GOVERNMENT AND POLITICS The Czechoslovakian government in place between 1948 and November 1989 was modeled on Soviet political institutions and practices. Although several small political parties were allowed to exist, the only real political force was the Communist party. The men who controlled the party were the effective political leaders of the country. The legal system and judiciary were also subordinated to political ends, and opposition to the system was prevented by the secret police. Unified mass organizations dominated by the party replaced the wealth of voluntary associations and interest groups that had existed previously. An effort was made to politicize all areas of life, including education, culture, the arts, science, and leisure activities. In the late 1960s, intellectuals and party leaders, including Alexander \TDubcek\t, tried to reform this system in what came to be known as the "Prague spring," or "socialism with a human face." The \TUSSR\t and its East European allies, however, fearing that the reform would spread to their countries, invaded Czechoslovakia with Warsaw Pact troops on Aug. 21, 1968, deposing Dubcek and installing Gustav \THusak\t in his place. Czechoslovakia then experienced nearly 20 years of political stagnation, broken only by the underground activities of the dissident group Charter 77. This situation changed dramatically in 1989. Czechoslovakia was one of the last of the central European countries to take advantage of the new possibilities created by the liberal policies of Soviet president Mikhail \TGorbachev\t. Mass protests inspired by the examples of neighboring Poland and Hungary were begun by students on Nov. 17, 1989, and quickly spread to other sectors of the population. Dissident leaders, who, along with young people, had become active in openly challenging the regime during the previous two years, formed a new umbrella organization, the Civic Forum, and within 23 days the Communist leadership headed by Milos \TJakes\t had resigned, the party had renounced its monopoly of power, and compulsory Marxist-Leninist education had been abolished at all levels. The choice of dissident playwright Vaclav Havel as president of the republic in late December capped the victory of democratic forces. In parliamentary elections held in June 1990, the Civic Forum and its Slovak counterpart, Public Against Violence, won control of the Federal Assembly. HISTORY Until the end of World War I the area that is now Czechoslovakia was part of the empire of \TAustria-Hungary\t. The previous history of the Czechs differed considerably from that of the Slovaks. Bohemia and Moravia, under Austrian rule, were major industrial centers, while Slovakia, which was part of Hungary, was an undeveloped agrarian region. Political conditions were also different in the two areas. The Czech and Slovak national movements reflected these contrasts. Conditions were much better for the development of a mass national movement in the Czech lands than in Slovakia. The roots of Czech nationalism go back to the 19th century, when philologists and educators, aided in part by German-speaking nobles, sought to propagate use of the Czech language and pride in the Czech nation. These efforts were followed by the development of a mass movement in the last half of the 19th century. Taking advantage of the opportunities for limited participation in political life available under Austrian rule, Czech leaders such as Frantisek \TPalacky\t founded numerous patriotic, self-help organizations that provided a chance for many of their compatriots to participate in communal life even prior to independence. In Slovakia, on the other hand, Hungarian rule was harsher, and an attempt was made to Magyarize the Slovaks. In these circumstances it was very difficult to organize Slovaks to support national aims, and Slovak nationalism came to be a mass-backed movement only after 1918. The period between the two world wars saw the flowering of democracy in Czechoslovakia. Of all the new states established in central Europe after 1918, only Czechoslovakia preserved a democratic government until it was ended by outside forces. The persistence of democracy in part reflected the fact that the preconditions for maintaining democracy were better in Czechoslovakia than elsewhere in the region. Thus, despite regional disparities, its level of development was much higher than that of neighboring states. The population was by and large literate, and contained fewer alienated groups. The impact of these conditions was augmented by political values of Czechoslovakia's leaders and the policies they adopted. Under Tomas \TMasaryk\t Czech and Slovak politicians promoted progressive social and economic conditions that served to diffuse discontent. The weak spot of the interwar republic proved to be ethnic relations. The dissatisfaction of the large German minority, centered in the \TSudetenland\t, became the pretext that led to the dissolution of the Czechoslovak state by Nazi Germany after the \TMunich Conference\t of 1938. Growing Slovak resentment over what was perceived to be domination by the more numerous Czech population also weakened Czechoslovakia as World War II approached. Many Slovaks supported an extreme nationalist movement and welcomed the puppet Slovak state set up under Hitler's tutelage in 1939. Following the defeat of Germany in 1945, Czechoslovakia was reestablished with its pre-1938 borders, except for \TRuthenia\t (Carpatho-Ukraine), which was ceded to the \TUSSR\t. Eduard \TBenes\t, the prewar president who had led the Czechoslovak liberation movement abroad during the German occupation, was allowed to resume his position as head of state. Soviet influence was predominant, however, enabling the Communists to seize control (February 1948) and convert the country into a satellite of the \TUSSR\t. The Communist subversion of Czechoslovakia was one of the factors that contributed to the development of the cold war in Europe. Sharon L. Wolchik Bibliography: \TGeneral\t: Leff, Carol Skalnick, National Conflict in Czechoslovakia: The Making and Remaking of a State, 1918-87 (1988); Paul, David, Czechoslovakia: Profile of a Socialist Republic at the Crossroads of Europe (1990); Wolchik, Sharon L., Czechoslovakia: Politics, Society, and Economics (1990). \LPeople\ls AND \TSociety\t: Krejci, Jaroslav, Social Change and Stratification in Postwar Czechoslovakia (1972); Salzmann, Zdenek, and Scheufler, Vladimir, Komarov: A Czech Village (1974). \Teconomics\t, \LPolitic\ls, AND \Tgovernment\t: Myant, Martin, The Czechoslovak Economy, 1948-88 (1989); Renner, Hans, A History of Czechoslovakia since 1945 (1989); Skilling, H. Gordon, Czechoslovakia's Interrupted Revolution (1976). \Thistory\t: Garver, Bruce M., The Young Czech Party, 1874-1901 (1978); Kalvoda, Josef, The Genesis of Czechoslovakia (1986); Mantey, Victor, A History of the Czechoslovak Republic (1973); Seton-Watson, R.W., A History of the Czechs and Slovaks (1943; repr. 1980); Wiskemann, Elizabeth, Czechs and Germans: A Study of the Historic Struggle in the Provinces of Bohemia and Moravia (1938).