Czech History - Isn’t it Mystic?
Have you ever thought about it? Just have a look at the important dates in the Czech history and you will see it immediately! It will hit you in the eye right away. It is so evident that it is scary. Go back in time with me – 1618, 1848, 1918, 1938, 1948, and 1968.
All those dates are the key dates in the Czech history!! Do you see it? Do you know what I am talking here about? Hello there, all dates are ending with an eight!!! There must be something behind this, don’t you think? Or do you really believe this was only a coincidence?
To tell you the truth, I was not the first to discover this. Gosh no. Serious historians as well as lunatic astrologers have been trying to come up with meaningful explanations for some time. So far, none has been accepted. Hence it is believed that all this truly was only a random accident. But I don’t know…
Let’s have a brief overview at what happened.
The year 1618 is known as the Second Defenestration in Prague and the beginning of the Thirty Years´ War in Europe. It brought inquisition into the Czech lands. No surprise that the following era is called “The Time of Gloom”.
The year 1848 is a year of revolutions in all Europe. However, the revolution in the Czech lands was not successful. The ruling Hapsburgs monarchy remained strong in their governance. Czechs had to wait for their political freedom.
The year 1918 is finally a happy year for the Czech history, and not only for Czechs. It was the end of the First World War and the year when Czechs together with Slovaks declared their independence. The optimistic time period of democracy is called the First Republic, with T.G. Masaryk as the first Czechoslovak president.
However, the year 1938 was a sad one again. It was the time of appeasement policy, unfortunately for the Czechs. Hitler wanted to gain the Czechoslovakia under his control and was successful. The representatives of Germany, Italy, Great Britain and France agreed in Munich that the Czechoslovakia must give a part of its land, the so called Sudetenland, to Nazi Germany. It is known as the Munich dictate, since the Czechoslovakia was not allowed to participate in the meeting and was forced to give up its territory. This was the end of the First Republic. The Second World War was about to start soon.
In 1948, the Communist coup took place. Czechoslovakia thus became a communist country for long 41 years. Civil rights were violated, many people were put into jails or working camps, many were killed and thousands fled the country.
In 1968 there was a slight hope that life could be better. Czech reformed Communists started to initiate some reforms. This time period is known as Prague Spring since the first reforms were introduced in spring. People immediately wanted more. This, however, troubled the Soviets and so they crashed the reforms by armed invasion. Another sad moment in the Czech history.
All those dates are the most important for Czechs. All Czech students must know them by heart. Just one more date is missing and that is 1989, of course. But again, there is the eight, although not at the end. That was the time of Velvet Revolution when democracy returned to Czech lands again.
So the question is what will happen in 2008???
1 Comments for Czech History - Isn’t it Mystic?
Question of New Building of Czech National Library Still Opened Palladium: A Gigantic Shopping Mall on the Republic Square
Tanja said,
Mar 13, 23:38 #
I was just going to ask the same question: what “scary” stuff is going to happen in 2008??? Or maybe it will be something positive for a change…
At least the presidential elections are safely done with!