In 1938, in the international situation distinguished by the fear of possible military conflict, the twenty-one-year old Czechoslovak Republic was left abandoned by its allies (France, Great Britain). Czechoslovak president Beneš finally gave in to the international pressure and on 30th September 1938, accepted the conclusion of the Munich Agreement, agreed to the day before at the meeting between Hitler, Chamberlain, Daladier and Mussolini. The agreement meant the cession of the Czechoslovakia´s border territories to the Third Reich. In March 1939 Hitler crushed the remainder of Czechoslovakia. On 14th March the independent Slovak State was created, on 15th March German troops occupied the rest of the territory and the Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia was proclaimed as a part of the German Reich. The Czechoslovak Army did not fight. The occupation encountered the rejection of the Czech population, although it was not in its power to pull together armed resistance. The domestic resistance gathered intelligence for the foreign resistance, organized by the former President E.Beneš from London. Many young men left the country to fight for freedom abroad. Particularly Czechoslovak pilots gained much credit during the Battle of England in 1940. However, most Czechs were terrified and did nothing against the occupants.

In May 1942 Reich Protector Reinhard Heydrich was assassinated by the Czech parachutists sent from Britain. After that martial law was imposed and hundreds of Czechs were executed. The villages of Lidice and Ležáky were wiped out.

On 5th May 1945 the uprising broke in Prague.The German military forces had already surrendered in Berlin, Hitler was dead and Czechs started their fight for freedom. Barricades were built in Prague´s streets and a lot of their defenders and hostages, taken by the Germans, died. By that time the U.S.Army had liberated towns and villages in West Bohemia and could reach Prague in a couple of hours. But the Soviets did not allow the Americans to proceed towards Prague, as it lay in the Soviet sphere of the divided Europe. In the early hours of 9th May Soviet tanks rolled into Prague.

The reestablished Czechoslovak Republic differed from the First Republic (1918-1938). The Soviet Union gained Sub-Carpathian Ukraine for its help in the war. All the Germans living in Czechoslovakia (some families since 13th century) were evacuated to Germany and their property confiscated (according to the decisions of the Potsdam Conference) At the same time, through the decrees of the President, mines, key industries and banks were nationalized. In the election in May 1946 the Communist Party took the lead because they enjoyed the trust of the most of the population.

In February 1948 the Communist Party seized power with the sympathy of a range of citizens. For a long time this meant the end of democracy in Czechoslovakia.

After the communists had gained power in 1948 and their leader Klement Gottwald was elected the president in June 1948, they took over the Stalinesque practice of communist dictatorship. They began immediately to persecute all those who did not want to serve the new ideology, including the Czech pilots and soldiers who had been fighting in Britain during the war, priests, democratically-minded scientists, university teachers etc. Simply those who could endanger the new regime. Therefore many people secretly left the country and quite a big exodus started again (another wave of emigrants was after 1620 -see The Battle of White Mountain).

In 1955 the Czechoslovak Republic joined the Warsaw Pact, which was formed as a counterbalance to the NATO. The Marxist-Leninist Doctrine was declared as the single official ideology.

A partial relaxation started in 1956 (after the exposure of the crimes of Stalinism in the Soviet Union) and the trend continued on and culminated in January 1968 with the election of Alexander Dubček to the head of the Communist Party.The specific Czechoslovak model of "Socialism with a human face" sprung up, which allowed for progressive reforms in the areas of politics and economy. The Communist Party agreed with introducing economic reform which was aimed towards the market economy. The "Prague Spring" lasted until 21st August 1968, when the Soviet leader Brezhnev,discontent with the political development in our country, sent the armies of five Warsaw Pact countries to occupy the state. The nation was humiliated, tens of people perished in a useless defence. Perhaps the greatest sacrifice was made by a young student Jan Palach (picture) who was so anxious about defeatism in the society that he decided to burn himself to death in order to spirit up the nation. It happened in January 1969 in Wenceslas Square and it shocked millions of people. Palach died in hospital and appealed to young people not to repeat his deed. And yet he had a few descendents. For us it is difficult to comprehend what he did.

A combination of various influences led to the fall of the Communist monolith and the "Iron Curtain". Among them undoubtedly Gorbachov´s succession in the Soviet Union and his perestroika. Communism in our country was brought down during the "Velvet Revolution". This name is referred to the fact that the takeover was peaceful, there was very little violence and people, who were responsible for the forty years of Communist domination over the nation, have not been punished.

It all started when the police forces brutally intervened against a student demonstration on 17th November at the occasion of the 50th anniversary of the Nazi repression of the Czech university students. This step evoked an avalanche of exasperation. Hundreds of thousands of people gathered in Prague streets and squares and turned out the Communist government which was anyway bound to take its departure. The election of the former dissident, dramatist Václav Havel, as president on 29th December 1989, meant the end of the Communist regime. Havel was reelected in 1993 and 1998. The Czechoslovak Republic ceased to exist because of Czech - Slovak nationality problem in 1993. On 1st January 1993 two separate states were formed, the Czech Republic and the Slovak Republic.