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Such were, during one of the darkest periods of European history and when schooling was so debased, the notions of this great exile whose life-long desire was to return to Bohemia; he was not permitted to do so and died at Amsterdam, Holland, predicting the fall of the Habsburgs and the future freedom of his country.

For a century and a half following the débacle of Bila Hora (see page ) the exhausted, ravaged nation produces no men of more than local reputation; but in 1773 there is some reform of schools, and the development of a whole series of eminent men, not a few of whom reach international reputation, promptly follows.

The year 1798 sees the birth of the greatest Bohemian historian, František Palacký (1798–1876). Writing in Czech, as well as German, he edits the Bohemian Archives, publishes what has been saved