Czechoslovakism

Czechoslovakism (Czech: Čechoslovakismus, Slovak: Čechoslovakizmus) is a term for the political and cultural conception of a unified Czechoslovak nation and disapproval of differentiating separate nations of Czechs and Slovaks. This nation was made ideologically for a newborn country, which needed to identify itself on national level. This national ideology was made for a relatively new country: Czechoslovakia was established in 1918, but the nations living there had been part of Habsburg Monarchy since 1526, followed by the Austro-Hungarian Empire.

While the Cleveland Agreement in 1915 and the Pittsburgh Agreement on May 31, 1918 made allowance for a Czech nation and a Slovak nation, the Washington Czechoslovak declaration of independence on October 18, 1918 mentions only the one Czechoslovak nation. The published version of the Slovak Martin Declaration (October 30, 1918) mentioned "the Slovak branch of the unified Czecho-slovak nation". The original approved text of the Martin Declaration and proceedings were "lost" after the return of Milan Hodža from Budapest. The published text was claimed to be a forgery. Hodža didn't succeed with his proposed changes but had the text willfully changed in the following night. The change consisted in removing the Slovak demand of national self-determination.

This ideology was essential for the creation of Czechoslovakia in 1918, and for the establishment of the Czechoslovak Constitution of 1920. Statistics from the era of the First Republic (1918–1938) mentioned Czechoslovaks rather than Czechs or Slovaks:

Nationalities of Czechoslovakia 1921[1]
total population	13,607.385
Czechoslovaks	8,759.701	64.37 %
Germans	3,123.305	22.95 %
Hungarians	744.621	5.47 %
Ruthenians	461.449	3.39 %
Jews	180.534	1.33 %
Poles	75.852	0.56 %
Others	23.139	0.17 %
Foreigners	238.784	1.75 %

Not all people agreed with the ideology (mainly Slovaks). During World War II, when Czechoslovakia was occupied by the German Third Reich, the Slovak Republic was created as a client state of Nazi Germany, and Subcarpathian Ruthenia was annexed by Hungary. After World War II, Czechoslovakia was reunited, but the ideology of one nation was not fully restored.

After the 1960 Constitution of Czechoslovakia had limited the autonomy granted to Slovakia, the Constitutional Law of Federation of 1968 stated that Czechoslovakia was a federation of two national republics and introduced dual citizenship.

See also

• History of Czechoslovak nationality
• Czech Republic
• Slovakia

References

1. ^ Škorpila F. B.; Zeměpisný atlas pro měšťanské školy; Státní Nakladatelství; second edition; 1930; Czechoslovakia (geograpfical atlas for primary schools from 1930)