Page:Statesman's Year-Book 1921.djvu/841



CZECHOSLOVAKIA.

(Cksk -:\ Rkpitbli

The terra Ozecho -Slovaks comprises two branches of tht same Slav nation : the seven million Czechs (pronounced Tchechs) of Bohemia, Moravia, and Silesia, and the three million Slovaks of Slovakia, who speak a dialect of Czech.

As early as the fifth century the < 'zecho-slovaks inhabited, as an independent nation, the territories of the ancient Kingdom of Bohemia. Christianity was introduced very early in Slovakia and Bohemia by the Slav apostles, Cyril and Methodius, and the Czechs were among the early protagonists of Protestantism in Europe.

In 1526 the Czechs elected the Habsburgs to the throne of Bohemia, and the country thus became united through a common dynasty with Austria and Hungary. Soon after their accession to the throne the Habsburg? began to violate Bohemia's religious and national liberties, and this action eventually led to the Czech revolution of 1618 and the beginning of the Thirty Years' War. The Czech revolution was crushed completely at the White Mountain, near Prague, in 1620.

The literary revival of the Czech language, which commenced after the French Revolution, developed into a political movement in the 'forties, and since 1848 the Czecho-slovaks have claimed the restitution of their ancient rights as an independent nation. The Czechoslovak State came into - ^ence on October 28, 1918. On that day the Xarodni Vybor (National Conncil) took over the government of the Czechoslovak countries, including Bohemia, Moravia, Silesia, and Slovakia, which had hitherto belonged to the former Austro-Hungaiian Monarchy. On November 14, 1918, the Czechoslovak National Assembly met in Prague, and formally declared the Czecho-slovak State to be a Republic, with Professor T. G. Masaryk as its fa\% President.

The Colours of the Republic are white, blue" and red. The National Standard consists of an upper band of white and a lower band of red, between which a blue triangle is interposed.

The Coat of Arms of the Republic is for the present that of the former Kingdom of Bohemia — a red shield on which is a double-tailed silver lion rampant facing to the right. (Ordinance of the Czecho-slovak Government of May 19, 1919.)

Constitution and Government.— The Constitution of the Czecho- slovak Republic was passed by the National Assembly on February 29, 1920.

According to the terms of the Constitution, the Czecho-slovak" State is a democratic Republic having an elected President at its head. The territorv of the Republic forms a single and indivisible unity. The region of Carpa"- thian Ruthenia will receive autonomy. Hie National Parliament, which constitutes the only legislative body for the whole of the Republic, is com- posed of a Chamber of Peputies elected for a period or j and ning 300 members, and of a Senate comprising 150 members to be renewed every eight years. The two Chambers in joint congress will elec- the President of the Republic for seven year-s and. the President, as head of