The ‘Velvet Divorce’ of Czechoslovakia as a Solution to a Conflict of Nationalisms

Abstract

Czechoslovakia was formed in 1918 as a state of two distinct nations — Czechs and Slovaks — which differed substantially due to their different historical development. Fundamental differences between the Czechs and the Slovaks were reflected in the different political, economic and socio-cultural situation of the two nations even before the establishment of an independent Czechoslovakia. Understanding of these different starting conditions is crucial for understanding the Czech—Slovak coexistence in a common state, and the reasons and outcomes of the Czechoslovak ‘velvet divorce’ in January 1993. For understanding of this ‘velvet divorce’ it is essential to understand the inter-ethnic relations between the Czechs and Slovaks during the seventy years’ coexistence in a common state and the position of the two nations in the common Czechoslovak state, as well as the differences between the two nations which subsequently resulted in the split after the fall of communism in Czechoslovakia.