Page:The future of Bohemia by Seton-Watson (1915).pdf/8

 to us to-day—is to point to the existence, in the very heart of Europe, surrounded by hostile influences, of a highly cultured, democratic, progressive, Slavonic nation, the Czechs of Bohemia. It is right to remember on the anniversary of Hus, that the Slavs, as well as the Latin and Germanic races, contributed to the Reformation movement which was to transform Europe and the world, both from a religious and from a national point of view. Nowhere are the three dominant factors of modern life-religion, nationality, and economics—more strongly marked than in the history of Bohemia. At such a time as the present there can be no desire to give an aggressive turn to such an anniversary, or to exploit it in a way that might offend those of different religious views; but we cannot, surely, be blamed for using the occasion for the expression of our admiration and reverence.

In the following pages no attempt is made to provide an adequate survey of Bohemian history, but merely to indicate the broad lines of Bohemia’s development, ruin, and national revival, as an essential preliminary to understanding its tragic situation at the present day.

For three centuries Bohemia has ceased to figure on the map of Europe as an independent State; but no atlas which attempts to reproduce the physical features of the various countries can hope to efface the marks of her geographical unity. Her lozenge-shaped plateau with its fringe of mountains stands out boldly from the