The Velvet Revolution and The Velvet Divorce

Podcast Transcript

The country of Czechoslovakia was born and died in the 20th century.

It was created after a war, suffered through another war, was occupied during the Cold War, and was finally liberated in 1989.

Once it did become free of Soviet Rule, they decided that maybe they should never have been made into a country in the first place.

Unlike almost every country that came before it, it managed to dissolve without any violence.

Learn more about Czechoslovakia, the Velvet Revolution, and the Velvet Divorce on this episode of Everything Everywhere Daily.

Before I get into how Czechoslovakia ended, I should probably address how it began.

Czechoslovakia was not a historic country with a long history. It was created in the aftermath of World War I from mainly three historic regions: Bohemia, Moravia, and Slovakia.

All three of the regions were part of the Austro-Hungarian Empire before the war; however, they had different histories.

Bohemia and Moravia were crown lands of the Austrian half, with a large Czech population but also significant German and Jewish communities. Slovakia was part of the Kingdom of Hungary, where Slovaks were subject to Magyarization policies that restricted their language and cultural expression.

Czech nationalism in the late nineteenth century had produced a sophisticated movement centered in Prague, while Slovak nationalism was smaller and weaker, with its leaders often repressed by Hungarian authorities.

Here I should note that despite their separate histories, Czechs and Slovaks are not radically different from each other. The two groups are primarily defined by their languages.

Czech and Slovak are very closely related West Slavic languages, both descended from the same linguistic branch, and they are mutually intelligible to a high degree. German has had a greater influence on Czech due to centuries under Austrian rule, while Slovak reflects more substantial Hungarian influence from its time under the Kingdom of Hungary.

In practice, Czechs and Slovaks can understand each other in spoken and written form without major difficulty, especially older generations who grew up in Czechoslovakia. Younger people, who have had less daily exposure to the other language since 1993, still usually comprehend it well but may find it less natural.

When the First World War broke out in 1914, most Czech and Slovak leaders inside the empire were cautious, but a group of exiled intellectuals and politicians began pressing for independence.

They formed the Czechoslovak National Council, which lobbied the Allies to recognize an independent Czechoslovakia. They argued that the Czechs and Slovaks were closely related Slavic peoples who should form a single state.

To strengthen their case, they organized Czechoslovak Legions, military units of Czech and Slovak volunteers who fought alongside the Allies in France, Italy, and especially Russia.

By 1918, as the Austro-Hungarian Empire was collapsing, the Allied powers recognized the Czechoslovak National Council as the legitimate representative of a future Czechoslovakian state. In May 1918, the Pittsburgh Agreement was signed in the United States between Czech and Slovak émigré leaders, promising a joint state with Slovak autonomy.

On October 28, 1918, in Prague, Czech leaders declared independence, forming the Czechoslovak Republic. In Martin, Slovakia, Slovak representatives issued the Martin Declaration on October 30, affirming union with the Czechs.

The takeaway is that Czechs and Slovaks are very similar people who speak a similar language, but have different histories based on who ruled over them.

The establishment of Czechoslovakia as a union was really a marriage of convenience between Czechs and Slovaks who realized that they had a better chance of independence together than they did separately.

Czechoslovakia was partly annexed by Germany during WWII and later occupied, only to be occupied by the Soviets at the end of the war.

The Soviets set up a communist puppet state, which became a part of the Iron Curtain during the Cold War.

I’m glossing over a whole lot of history here, but suffice it to say that the Czechoslovak people, like almost everyone in Eastern Europe, didn’t like this situation.

In January 1968, reformist leader Alexander Dub?ek became First Secretary of the Communist Party. Dub?ek launched a program he called “socialism with a human face,” which aimed to democratize the communist system without abandoning socialism.

Reforms included easing censorship, expanding freedom of speech and press, reducing the power of the secret police, decentralizing economic decision-making, and allowing greater political participation.

For a few months, Czechoslovakia experienced unprecedented openness and cultural flowering, with lively debates, independent journalism, and public enthusiasm.

The Soviet Union and other Warsaw Pact allies feared these changes would undermine communist control across Eastern Europe. On August 20 and 21, 1968, Soviet-led forces invaded Czechoslovakia with hundreds of thousands of troops and tanks, ending the reform movement. Dub?ek was removed and replaced by hardliners, beginning a period of repression known as “normalization.”

Fast forward to the late 1980s.

Almost 20 years later, dissatisfaction still simmered below the surface.

Dissident movements such as Charter 77, led by figures like Václav Havel, pressed for human rights and democratic reforms, though they were harassed and often jailed. Meanwhile, the economy stagnated, and the regime lost credibility as the glasnost and perestroika reforms under Mikhail Gorbachev highlighted the stagnation in Czechoslovakia.

The Velvet Revolution began on November 17, 1989, when students in Prague organized a demonstration to commemorate Jan Opletal, a student killed by the Nazis in 1939.

The march, initially permitted, turned into a protest against the regime. Riot police brutally suppressed it, sparking outrage across the country. Rumors that a student had been killed (later proven false) further inflamed public anger.

In the days that followed, demonstrations grew rapidly. By November 19, dissidents, intellectuals, and actors formed the Civic Forum, led by Václav Havel, to coordinate the opposition. In Slovakia, the parallel group Public Against Violence emerged.

Protests swelled, with hundreds of thousands gathering in Prague’s Wenceslas Square. Workers joined in with strikes, including a nationwide general strike on November 27 that paralyzed the country. The demonstrations remained peaceful, often featuring jingling of keys as a symbol of unlocking freedom and signaling the end of the regime.

There was one big difference between what was happening in 1989 and what happened in 1968. This time, the Soviet Union was in no position to do anything, given the problems that they were dealing with at home.

Faced with massive public opposition and Gorbachev making it clear he would not intervene militarily, the Communist Party began to yield. On November 24, the top leadership, including General Secretary Miloš Jakeš, resigned. Negotiations between Civic Forum and the government followed.

By late November, censorship was abolished, and the Communist Party gave up its monopoly on power. On December 10, President Gustáv Husák appointed a government that, for the first time since 1948, included non-Communists.

Husák himself resigned that same day.

On December 29, 1989, Václav Havel, a dissident playwright and leading figure of Civic Forum, was unanimously elected president by the Federal Assembly. Free parliamentary elections followed in June 1990, confirming Czechoslovakia’s shift to democracy.

This became known as the “Velvet Revolution” because of its lack of violence. No deaths occurred, and the communist system fell in a matter of weeks once the protests started.

The speed and peacefulness of the transition stood in stark contrast to Romania, where the overthrow of Nicolae Ceau?escu involved bloodshed.

Now that Czechoslovakia was truly independent for the first time in 50 years, since the Nazis annexed the Sudetenland, many issues that had been repressed came to the surface.

The first order of business for the newly liberated Czechoslovakia was to undo much of the communist regime’s actions by privatizing the economy and seeking integration with Western Europe.

This is when the differences between the Czechs and the Slovaks started to emerge.

The Czech lands were more industrialized and better positioned for a market economy, while Slovakia’s economy relied on heavy industry subsidized under communism. Many Slovaks feared rapid economic “shock therapy” would hurt them disproportionately.

Václav Klaus, a strong advocate of liberal economic reforms and centralized governance, dominated Czech politics. In Slovakia, Vladimír Me?iar gained support as a populist leader pressing for more autonomy and a slower transition.

Slovaks increasingly wanted recognition as a distinct nation, not merely as a junior partner in a common state.

The rationale for the union that existed back in 1918 was no longer valid in 1990.

In the 1992 federal elections, Václav Klaus’s Civic Democratic Party won in the Czech lands, while Vladimír Me?iar’s Movement for a Democratic Slovakia triumphed in Slovakia. The two leaders had sharply different visions: Klaus wanted a strong federation with rapid market reforms, while Me?iar demanded a looser confederation granting Slovakia near-total sovereignty.

Negotiations between the two sides quickly revealed that compromise was unlikely. Rather than risk prolonged political paralysis or instability, Klaus and Me?iar agreed to a peaceful split.

President Václav Havel, one of the leaders of the Velvet Revolution, opposed dissolution and resigned in July 1992 when it became clear that the split was inevitable.

I should note just how radical and unusual this was in world history. Most countries go to war to avoid splitting apart. Numerous civil wars have been fought to prevent groups from breaking away to create their own countries.

Here were two groups in a country who agreed to just split apart wholly and peacefully dissolve the country that united them.

On November 25, 1992, the Federal Assembly voted to dissolve Czechoslovakia. The process was carefully planned to minimize disruption.

On January 1, 199, Czechoslovakia officially ceased to exist, replaced by the Czech Republic and Slovakia.

Property, infrastructure, and military forces were divided roughly 2:1 in favor of the Czech Republic, reflecting population ratios.

Initially, both countries shared the Czechoslovak koruna, but by February 1993 they introduced separate currencies.

The split followed existing internal federal boundaries, with no border disputes. Citizens were given the option of choosing Czech or Slovak citizenship.

Both countries were swiftly recognized internationally and admitted separately to the United Nations.

Again, because of the lack of violence in the separation, this became known as the Velvet Divorce.

The Velvet Divorce remains one of the most peaceful examples of state dissolution in modern history. Both the Czech Republic and Slovakia pursued integration with Western institutions, eventually joining NATO (1999 for the Czech Republic, 2004 for Slovakia) and the European Union (both in 2004).

Slovakia also adopted the euro in 2009, while the Czech Republic retained the koruna as its currency.

Public opinion polls have since shown that majorities in both nations consider the split to have been the right decision, even if it was driven more by political elites than by popular demand.

Before I conclude, I should address the issue of the names of the countries. Slovakia is…..Slovakia.

But the Czech Republic is a rather awkward name.

I have a friend named Joel who kept calling the country Czechoslovakia, even though it hasn’t existed for over 30 years.

Many people continue to erroneously call the Czech Republic, Czechoslovakia, simply because it rolls off the tongue more easily.

The lands that make up the modern country were historically known collectively as the “Czech lands”. After the creation of Czechoslovakia in 1918, there was no need for a short name for the Czech part alone. When Czechoslovakia split in 1993, the Czech half officially became the Czech Republic.

While “the Czech Republic” was legally accurate, many found it awkward compared to short, one-word names like France or Poland.

The word ?esko has been used in the Czech language since at least the 19th century, though it was sometimes considered colloquial or inelegant.

Its English equivalent, Czechia, first appeared in the 19th century as well, though it never gained widespread use.

After independence in 1993, some Czech politicians and linguists pushed for Czechia as the standard short form, arguing that it paralleled names of other European countries.

After all, Slovaks live in Slovakia, Bulgars live in Bulgaria, Croats live in Croatia, Austrians live in Austria. It makes sense for Czechs to live in …Czechia.

However, others opposed it, feeling the term was unfamiliar, ugly-sounding to English ears, or too easily confused with “Chechnya.” As a result, “the Czech Republic” remained dominant in official and diplomatic usage.

In 2016, the Czech government formally requested that Czechia be registered with the United Nations and international bodies as the country’s official short name.

It now appears alongside the Czech Republic in official registers, and maps, sports organizations, and some governments have adopted it. For example, the International Olympic Committee and the United Nations now use Czechia.

I’ve personally adopted the use of Czechia as well, as it makes perfect sense, even though I might have to explain it to people every once in a while.

The Velvet Revolution and the Velvet Divorce remain a very unique case. In a century that saw the greatest loss of life in history, a country managed to achieve independence and then dissolve itself without any violence whatsoever.