The Czech Republic (pronounced /ˈtʃɛk/ ( listen)[5] chek; Czech Czech is a West Slavic language with about 12 million native speakers; it is the majority language in the Czech Republic and spoken by Czechs worldwide. The language was known as Bohemian until the late 19th century in English. Czech is similar to and mutually intelligible with Slovak and, to a lesser extent, to Polish and Sorbian: Česká republika, pronounced [ˈtʃɛskaː ˈrɛpuˌblɪka] ( listen), short form Česko [ˈtʃɛskɔ]) is a landlocked country in Central Europe Central Europe is the region lying between the variously defined areas of Eastern and Western Europe. The term and widespread interest in the region itself came back into fashion after the end of the Cold War, which, along with the Iron Curtain, had divided Europe politically into East and West, splitting Central Europe in half.[6] The country borders Poland Poland /ˈpəʊlənd/ (Polish: Polska), officially the Republic of Poland (Rzeczpospolita Polska), is a country in Central Europe bordered by Germany to the west; the Czech Republic and Slovakia to the south; Ukraine, Belarus and Lithuania to the east; and the Baltic Sea and Kaliningrad Oblast, a Russian exclave, to the north. The total area of to the northeast, Germany A region named Germania, inhabited by several Germanic peoples, has been known and documented before AD 100. Beginning in the 10th century, German territories formed a central part of the Holy Roman Empire, which lasted until 1806. During the 16th century, northern Germany became the centre of the Protestant Reformation. As a modern nation-state, to the west and northwest, Austria Austria /ˈɒstriə/ or /ˈɔːstriə/ (German: Österreich (help·info)), officially the Republic of Austria (German: Republik Österreich), is a landlocked country of roughly 8.3 million people in Central Europe. It borders Germany and the Czech Republic to the north, Slovakia and Hungary to the east, Slovenia and Italy to the south, and to the south and Slovakia The Slovak Republic (short form: Slovakia /sloʊˈvɑːkiə/ ; Slovak: Slovensko (help·info), long form Slovenská republika (help·info)) is a state in Central Europe. It has a population of over five million and an area of about 49,000 square kilometres (19,000 sq mi). Slovakia is a landlocked country bordered by the Czech Republic and Austria to the east. The Czech Republic has been a member of NATO The North Atlantic Treaty Organization or NATO (pronounced /ˈneɪtoʊ/ NAY-toe; French: Organisation du traité de l'Atlantique Nord ), also called the "(North) Atlantic Alliance", is an intergovernmental military alliance based on the North Atlantic Treaty which was signed on 4 April 1949. The NATO headquarters are in Brussels, Belgium, since 1999 and of the European Union The European Union is an economic and political union of 27 member states which are located primarily in Europe. Committed to regional integration, the EU was established by the Treaty of Maastricht in 1993 upon the foundations of the European Communities. With over 500 million citizens, the EU combined generated an estimated 28% share (US$ 16.5 since 2004. The Czech Republic is also a member of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe The Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe is the world's largest security-oriented intergovernmental organization. Its mandate includes issues such as arms control, human rights, freedom of the press and fair elections. Most of its 3,500-plus staff are engaged in field operations, with only around 10% in its headquarters (OSCE). As an OSCE participating State, the Czech Republic’s international commitments are subject to monitoring under the mandate of the U.S. Helsinki Commission. From 1 January 2009 to 30 June 2009, the Czech Republic held the Presidency of the Council of the European Union Presidency of the Council of the European Union is the responsibility for the functioning of the Council of the European Union which is rotated between European Union member states every six months. The presidency is not a single president but rather the task is undertaken by an entire national government. Three successive presidencies, known as.
The Czech state or Bohemia (Lands of the Bohemian Crown The Lands of the Bohemian Crown , also called the Lands of the Crown of Saint Wenceslas (země Koruny svatováclavské) or simply the Bohemian Crown (Koruna česká), refers to the area connected by feudal relations under the joint rule of the Bohemian kings. Therefore the term does not refer to the physical crown worn by the Bohemian rulers - the) as it was known until 1918 was formed in the late 9th century. The country reached its greatest territorial extent during the 13th and 14th century under the rule of the Přemyslid The Přemyslids , were a Czech royal dynasty which reigned in Bohemia (9th century–1306) and in Poland (1300–1306) and Luxembourg The House of Luxembourg was a mediæval Luxembourgian noble family. In 1308, Henry, Count of Luxembourg, became German king, his son, John of Luxembourg, shortly afterwards received the Bohemian crown. The dynasty's rule in the Holy Roman Empire was interrupted by the Wittelsbach twice. With the death of Emperor Sigismund, the dynasty died out and dynasties. Following the Battle of Mohács The Battle of Mohács was fought on August 29, 1526 near Mohács, Hungary. In the battle, forces of the Kingdom of Hungary led by King Louis II of Hungary and Bohemia were defeated by forces of the Ottoman Empire led by Sultan Suleiman the Magnificent in 1526, the Kingdom of Bohemia was integrated into the Habsburg monarchy The Habsburg Monarchy covered the territories ruled by the junior Austrian branch of the House of Habsburg (1278–1780), and then by the successor House of Habsburg-Lorraine (since 1780), between 1526 and 1867/1918. The capital was mainly Vienna, except from 1583 to 1611, when it was Prague. The monarchy from 1804 to 1867 is usually referred to as one of its three principal parts alongside Austria and Hungary. The independent Republic of Czechoslovakia Czechoslovakia or Czecho-Slovakia was a sovereign state in Central Europe which existed from October 1918, when it declared its independence from the Austro-Hungarian Empire, until 1992. From 1939 to 1945 the state did not have de facto existence, due to its forced division and partial incorporation into Nazi Germany, but the Czechoslovak was formed in 1918, following the collapse of the Austro-Hungarian empire Austria-Hungary, also known as the Austro-Hungarian Empire or the Austro-Hungarian Monarchy, and described as the Dual Monarchy or the k.u.k. Monarchy, was a monarchic union between the crowns of the Austrian Empire and the Kingdom of Hungary in Central Europe. The union was a result of the Ausgleich or Compromise of 1867, under which the Austrian after World War I World War I was a military conflict that lasted from 1914 to 1918 and involved most of the world's great powers, assembled in two opposing alliances: the Allies and the Central Powers. More than 70 million military personnel, including 60 million Europeans, were mobilized in one of the largest wars in history. More than 15 million people were. After the Munich Agreement The Munich Pact was an agreement permitting Nazi German annexation of Czechoslovakia's Sudetenland. The Sudetenland were areas along Czech borders, mainly inhabited by ethnic Germans. The agreement was negotiated at a conference held in Munich, Germany, among the major powers of Europe without the presence of Czechoslovakia. Today, it is widely, Polish Zaolzie [zaˈɔlʑɛ] is the Polish name for an area now in the Czech Republic which was disputed between interwar Poland and Czechoslovakia. The name means "lands beyond the Olza River"; it is also called Śląsk zaolziański, meaning "trans-Olza Silesia". Equivalent terms in other languages include Zaolší (Zaolží) in and German occupation of Czechoslovakia Following the Anschluss of Nazi Germany and Austria in March 1938, Nazi leader Adolf Hitler's next ambition was annexation of Czechoslovakia. His pretext was the alleged privations suffered by ethnic German populations living in Czechoslovakia's northern and western border regions, known collectively as the Sudetenland. Their incorporation into and the consequent disillusion with the Western response and gratitude for the liberation of the major portion of Czechoslovakia by the Red Army The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics was a constitutionally socialist state that existed in Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. The name is a translation of the Russian: Союз Советских Социалистических Республик (help·info), tr. Soyuz Sovetskikh Sotsialisticheskikh Respublik, IPA [sɐˈjʊs sɐˈvʲeʦkʲɪx səʦɪ, the Communist The Communist Party of Czechoslovakia, in Czech and in Slovak: Komunistická strana Československa was a Communist and Marxist-Leninist political party in Czechoslovakia that existed between 1921 and 1992 party won plurality (38%)[7] in the 1946 elections.
In a 1948 coup d'état, Czechoslovakia became a communist-ruled state. In 1968, the increasing dissatisfaction culminated in attempts to reform the communist regime. The events, known as the Prague Spring The Prague Spring was a period of political liberalization in Czechoslovakia during the era of its domination by the Soviet Union after World War II. It began on 5 January 1968, when reformist Slovak Alexander Dubček came to power, and continued until 21 August when the Soviet Union and members of its Warsaw Pact allies invaded the country to of 1968, ended with an invasion by the armies of the Warsaw Pact The Warsaw Treaty is the informal name for the mutual defense Treaty of Friendship, Cooperation and Mutual Assistance commonly known as the Warsaw Pact subscribed by eight communist states in Eastern Europe, which was established at the USSR’s initiative and realized on 14 May 1955, in Warsaw, Poland countries (with the exception of Romania Romania (pronounced /roʊˈmeɪniə/ roe-MAY-nee-ə; dated: Rumania; Romanian: România [romɨˈni.a] ( listen)) is a country located at the crossroads of Central and Southeastern Europe, north of the Balkan Peninsula, on the Lower Danube, within and outside the Carpathian arch, bordering on the Black Sea. Almost all of the Danube Delta is located); the troops remained in the country until the 1989 Velvet Revolution The Velvet Revolution or Gentle Revolution (Slovak: nežná revolúcia) (November 17 – December 29, 1989) was a non-violent revolution in Czechoslovakia that saw the overthrow of the authoritarian government, when the communist regime collapsed. On 1 January 1993, Czechoslovakia peacefully dissolved The dissolution of Czechoslovakia, which took effect on 1 January 1993, was an event that saw the self-determined separation of the federal state of Czechoslovakia. The Czech Republic and Slovakia, entities which had arisen in 1969 within the framework of Czechoslovak federalization, become immediate subjects of the international law in 1993. It into its constituent states, the Czech Republic and Slovakia The Slovak Republic (short form: Slovakia /sloʊˈvɑːkiə/ ; Slovak: Slovensko (help·info), long form Slovenská republika (help·info)) is a state in Central Europe. It has a population of over five million and an area of about 49,000 square kilometres (19,000 sq mi). Slovakia is a landlocked country bordered by the Czech Republic and Austria.
The Czech Republic is a pluralist multi-party parliamentary A parliamentary system is a system of government in which the ministers of the executive branch are drawn from the legislature and are accountable to that body, such that the executive and legislative branches are intertwined. In such a system, the head of government is both de facto chief executive and chief legislator representative democracy Representative democracy is a form of government founded on the principle of elected individuals representing the people, as opposed to autocracy and direct democracy. President A president is a leader of an organization, company, trade union, university, or country Václav Klaus Václav Klaus is the second President of the Czech Republic (since 2003, reelected 2008) and a former Prime Minister of the Czech Republic (1992–1997). An economist by trade, he is co-founder of the Civic Democratic Party, the Czech Republic's largest center-right political party. Klaus, who is a eurosceptic, is opposed to the Lisbon treaty, is the current head of state. The Prime Minister This is a list of Prime Ministers of the Czech Republic, a political office that was created in 1993 following the dissolution of Czechoslovakia. The office was preceded by that of the Prime Minister of Czechoslovakia. The Czech Republic is a parliamentary representative democracy, with the Prime Minister acting as head of government and the is the head of government Head of government is the chief officer of the executive branch of a government, often presiding over a cabinet. In a parliamentary system, the head of government is often styled Prime Minister, President of the Government, Premier, etc. In presidential republics or absolute monarchies, the head of government may be the same person as the head of (currently Petr Nečas). The Parliament has two chambers: the Chamber of Deputies The Chamber of Deputies of the Parliament of the Czech Republic is the lower house of the Parliament of the Czech Republic; the other is the Senate and the Senate The Senate of the Parliament of the Czech Republic , usually referred to as Senát, is the upper chamber of the Parliament of the Czech Republic. The seat of the Senate is Wallenstein Palace in Prague. It is also a member of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development is an international economic organisation of 31 countries. It defines itself as a forum of countries committed to democracy and the market economy, providing a setting to compare policy experiences, seeking answers to common problems, identifying good practices, and co-ordinating domestic (OECD), the Council of Europe The Council of Europe is one of the oldest international organisations working towards European integration, having been founded in 1949. It has a particular emphasis on legal standards, human rights, democratic development, the rule of law and cultural co-operation. It has 47 member states with some 800 million citizens. It is distinct from the and the Visegrád Group The Visegrád Group, also called the Visegrád Four or V4, is an alliance of four Central European states – the Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland and Slovakia – for the purposes of cooperation and furthering their European integration. The Group's name in the languages of the four countries is Visegrádská čtyřka or Visegrádská skupina ;.
The Czech Republic made economic reforms such as fast privatizations Privatization is the incidence or process of transferring ownership of a business, enterprise, agency or public service from the public sector to the private sector (businesses that operate for a private profit) or to private non-profit organizations. In a broader sense, privatization refers to transfer of any government function to the private. Annual gross domestic product The gross domestic product or gross domestic income (GDI) is a measure of a country's overall economic output. It is the market value of all final goods and services made within the borders of a country in a year. It is often positively correlated with the standard of living, though its use as a stand-in for measuring the standard of living has growth has been around 6% until the outbreak of the recent global economic crisis. The country is the first former member of the Comecon The Council for Mutual Economic Assistance , 1949–1991, was an economic organization comprising the countries of the Eastern Bloc along with a number of communist states elsewhere in the world. The Comecon was the Eastern Bloc's reply to the formation of the Organization for European Economic Co-operation in western Europe to achieve the status of a developed country The term developed country is used to describe countries that have a high level of development according to some criteria. Which criteria, and which countries are classified as being developed, is a contentious issue and is surrounded by fierce debate. Economic criteria have tended to dominate discussions. One such criterion is income per capita; according to the World Bank World Bank is a term used to describe an international financial institution that provides leveraged loans to developing countries for capital programs. The World Bank has a stated goal of reducing poverty (2006)[8] and the Human Development Index The Human Development Index is a composite statistic used as an index to rank countries by level of "human development" and separate developed (high development), developing (middle development), and underdeveloped (low development) countries. The statistic is composed from statistics for Life Expectancy, Education, and GDP collected at (2009),[9] which ranks it as a "Very High Human Development" nation.
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Name
Main article: Name of the Czech Republic The English spelling Czech derives from the Polish spelling of the original Čech. More than a decade after the split of Czechoslovakia into Slovakia and the Czech Republic, the latter continues to be known by several competing names in English and Czech. While "Czech Republic" is the unquestioned long-form name, Czech geographers haveThe current Czech Republic comprises three historical lands: Bohemia Bohemia (Czech: Čechy; German: Böhmen ; Polish: Czechy; French: Bohême; Latin: Bohemia) is a historical region in central Europe, occupying the western two-thirds of the traditional Czech Lands. It is located in the contemporary Czech Republic with its capital in Prague. In a broader meaning, it often refers to the entire Czech territory, (Čechy) in the West, Moravia Moravia (Czech: Morava; German: Mähren ; Silesian: Morawijo; Polish: Morawy) is a historical region in Central Europe in the east of the Czech Republic, together with Bohemia and Silesia one of the former Czech lands. It takes its name from the Morava River which rises in the northwest of the region (Morava) in the South-East, and Czech Silesia Czech Silesia is an unofficial name of one of the three Czech lands and a section of the Silesian historical region. It is located in the north-east of the Czech Republic, predominantly in Moravian-Silesian Region, with a section in northern Olomouc Region. Also known as Moravian Silesia (Czech: Moravské Slezsko or Moravskoslezsko), it is almost (Slezsko; the smaller, south-eastern part of historical Silesia, most of which is located within modern Poland) in the North-East. Jointly, these 3 parts can be described as "Czech lands", with Czech language being spoken in all three. When the Czech nation regained its independence in 1918, the new state of Czechoslovakia was constituted to reflect the union of the Czech and Slovak territories that were merged together after the WWI (in addition, a small part of Western Ukraine was included as well).
The word Czech itself came into English later via Polish.[10] The current English spelling is the same as an antiquated Czech spelling, however it is unlike the modern Čechy and Česko. This discrepancy arises from a 15th century reform of Czech orthography.
Following the dissolution of Czechoslovakia in the end of 1992, the Czech part of the former nation found itself without a common single-word name in English. In 1993, the Czech Ministry of Foreign Affairs suggested the name Czechia as an official alternative in all situations other than formal official documents and the full names of government institutions; however, this has not become widespread in English, even though most other languages have single-word names for the country (usually their own variants of "Czechia").
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