Czechoslovakia

Czechoslovakia no longer exists. The country is now two separate nations. While Czechoslovakia existed the country sufferred decades of oppression after a brief period of freedom between World War I and World War II.

Czechoslovakia was formed after the Austro-Hungarian Empire broke up at the end of World War I and succeeded in staying democratic when many other newly formed European countries became Dictatorships. This lasted till Hitler invaded. After World War II Czechoslovakia became a Communist dictatorship. There wa an unsuccessful attempt to escape totalitarianism in the 1960's but the Soviet Union was too strong for little Czechoslovakia. In the late 1980's and early 1990's Czechoslovakia finally broke free of the USSR together with many other Eastern European nations.

The people of Czechoslovakia voted democratically to divide into two separate nations in the early 1990's. They are now the Czech Republic and Slovakia. Both parts of former Czechoslovakia are now democratic, both are members of the European Union and their economies are developing successfully.