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124-445: Gustav Herglotz (2 February 1881 – 22 March 1953) was a German Bohemian physicist best known for his works on the theory of relativity and seismology . Gustav Ferdinand Joseph Wenzel Herglotz was born in Volary num. 28 to a public notary Gustav Herglotz (also a Doctor of Law ) and his wife Maria née Wachtel. The family were Sudeten Germans . He studied mathematics and astronomy at

248-423: A German princess, Margaret of Babenberg , and became duke of Austria . He thereby acquired Upper Austria , Lower Austria , and part of Styria . He conquered the rest of Styria, most of Carinthia , and parts of Carniola . He was called "the king of iron and gold" (iron because of his conquests, gold because of his wealth). He campaigned as far as Prussia , where he defeated the pagan natives and in 1256, founded

372-776: A city he named Královec in Czech, which later became Königsberg (now Kaliningrad ). In 1260, Ottokar defeated Béla IV , king of Hungary in the Battle of Kressenbrunn near the Morava river, where more than 200,000 men clashed. He ruled an area from Austria to the Adriatic Sea . From 1273, however, Habsburg king Rudolf began to reassert imperial authority, checking Ottokar's power. He also had problems with rebellious nobility in Bohemia. All of Ottokar's German possessions were lost in 1276, and in 1278 he

496-645: A fair plebiscite, a majority of the Sudetenland population would have voted to remain in Czechoslovakia. The municipal elections of May 1938 were marred with voter intimidation and street fighting - officially the SdP won about 90 percent of the Sudeten vote, but about a third of Sudeten Germans were prevented from casting a free vote. The table below shows the number of seats German parties and German–Hungarian lists gained in

620-813: A faithful appeaser , to Czechoslovakia to see if he could obtain a settlement between the Czechoslovak government and the Sudeten Germans. His mission failed because Henlein refused all conciliating proposals under secret orders by Hitler. The Runciman Report to the British government stated this on Czechoslovakia's policy towards the German minority during the preceding decades: Czech officials and Czech police, speaking little or no German, were appointed in large numbers to purely German districts; Czech agricultural colonists were encouraged to settle on land confiscated under

744-560: A few decades, especially in agriculture and crafts. In Silesia it had doubled (16% of the total area) by the beginning of the 11th century, 30% in the 16th century and the highest increase rates in the 14th century, the total area of arable land increased seven – to twentyfold in many Silesian regions during the Ostsiedlung . They settled mostly the hills and mountains and started the mine works and high qualities industry such as metal works, weapon industry and beer making. Forest glass production

868-615: A major role in the industrial development of the Czech Kingdom. In the late 12th and in the 13th century the Přemyslid rulers promoted the colonisation of certain areas of their lands by German settlers from the adjacent lands of Bavaria, Franconia, Upper Saxony and Austria during the Ostsiedlung migration. The new settlers not only brought their customs and language with them, but also new technical skills and equipment that were adapted within

992-511: A more radical sect, soon formed, taking their name from the town of Tábor , their stronghold in southern Bohemia. They rejected church doctrine and upheld the Bible as the sole authority in all matters of belief. Soon after Hus assumed office, German professors of theology demanded the condemnation of Wycliffe's writings. Hus protested, receiving the support of the Czech element at the university. Having only one vote in policy decisions against three for

1116-550: A party conference in Teplitz in 1919, the provincial Social Democratic Parties of Bohemia, Moravia and Sudeten-Silesia united to form the Deutsche Sozialdemokratische Arbeiterpartei (DSAP) and elected Josef Seliger as chairman. After Seliger's untimely death in 1920, Ludwig Czech became party chairman, who was succeeded in 1938 by Wenzel Jaksch . Already in 1936, Jaksch, together with Hans Schütz of

1240-531: A plan, known as the United States of Greater Austria , in 1909. German Bohemia, as it was to be called, was going to be separated from the Czech areas around it in the plan. That would create ethnically homogenous self-governing provinces that would hopefully end the ethnic conflict. However, Franz Ferdinand was assassinated , and the First World War destroyed all hopes for a redrawn Cisleithania. The end of

1364-502: A possible Nazi takeover. Of some 80,000 social democrats in Czechoslovakia, only about 5,000 would manage to flee the Nazis. The rest were incarcerated, and many of them were executed. Many of those who survived the Nazi persecution were later expelled, together with other Sudeten Germans, on the basis of Beneš decrees . By 1929, only a small number of Sudeten German deputies, most of them members of

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1488-550: Is also found. The term "Sudeten Germans" ( Sudetendeutsche ) came about during rising ethnic nationalism in the early 20th century, after the fall of the Austro-Hungarian Empire in the First World War . It coincided with the rise of another new term, "the Sudetenland ", which referred only to the parts of the former Kingdom of Bohemia that were inhabited predominantly by ethnic Germans. These names were derived from

1612-469: The Ostsiedlung , often encouraged by the Přemyslid kings. The Germans populated towns and mining districts on the Bohemian periphery and in some cases formed German colonies in the interior of the Czech lands. Stříbro, Kutná Hora , Německý Brod (present-day Havlíčkův Brod ), and Jihlava were important German settlements. The Germans brought their own code of law – the ius teutonicum – which formed

1736-812: The Bereitschaft . The Sudeten German nationalists, particularly the Nazis, expanded their activities after the Depression started. On 30 January 1933, Adolf Hitler was appointed chancellor of Germany. The Czechoslovak government prepared to suppress the Sudeten Nazi Party. In the autumn of 1933, the Sudeten Nazis dissolved their organization, and the German Nationals were pressured to do likewise. The government expelled German Nationals and Sudeten Nazis from local government positions. The Sudeten German population

1860-631: The Crown of Bohemia ( Koruna česká ), together with the incorporated provinces: at times were incorporated into the Kingdom of Bohemia these provinces: The modern Czech Republic (Czechia) is the legal successor of the Crown of Bohemia, as stated in the preamble to its Constitution. Prior to 1833, Bohemia was divided into seven to sixteen district units, known in Czech as Kraje ( sg. Kraj ) and in German as Kreise ( sg. Kreis ). These included

1984-711: The Czech Kingdom , was a medieval and early modern monarchy in Central Europe. It was the predecessor state of the modern Czech Republic . The Kingdom of Bohemia was an Imperial State in the Holy Roman Empire . The Bohemian king was a prince-elector of the empire. The kings of Bohemia, besides the region of Bohemia itself, also ruled other lands belonging to the Bohemian Crown , which at various times included Moravia , Silesia , Lusatia , and parts of Saxony , Brandenburg , and Bavaria . The kingdom

2108-625: The Czechoslovak Republic . The current Czech Republic consisting of Bohemia, Moravia and Czech Silesia still uses most of the symbols of the Kingdom of Bohemia: a two-tailed lion in its coat-of-arms, red-white stripes in the state flag and the royal castle as the president's office. Bohemia was among the first countries in Europe to become industrialized. Mining of tin and silver began in Ore mountains in early 12th century. The German hospes had

2232-645: The Egerland to the Braunau region along the border with the German Empire. In South Bohemia the administrative unit of Böhmerwaldgau emerged, which was to be part of Upper Austria . German Bohemia in the Eagle Mountains and in the area of Landskron merged with the so-called "Province of the Sudetenland", which had radically different borders than the later understanding of the term. The Bohemian district of Neubistritz

2356-892: The German Christian Social People's Party ( Deutsche Christlich-Soziale Volkspartei ) and Gustav Hacker of the Farmers' Association ( Bund der Landwirte , formed the Jungaktivisten (Young Activists). They sought agreement with the Czechoslovak government on a policy that could withstand the Nazi onslaught from within and from outside Czechoslovakia. At simultaneous mass rallies in Tetschen-Bodenbach/Děčín , Saaz/Žatec and Olešnice v Orlických horách/Gießhübl im Adlergebirge on April 26, 1936, they demanded equal opportunities in civil service for Germans, financial assistance for German businesses, official acceptance of

2480-524: The German language for public servants in the Sudetenland and measures to reduce unemployment in the Sudetenland. (At the time, one in three was unemployed in the Sudetenland, compared to one in five in the rest of the country.) Improving the quality of life of the Sudeten Germans was not the only motivation of the Jungaktivists. For Jaksch and his social democratic compatriots, it was a question of survival after

2604-616: The Habsburg monarchy . With the rise of the Habsburgs in Bohemia after the 1620 Battle of White Mountain , the old Bohemian nobility became virtually meaningless. Increasingly, the Bohemian crown lands were ruled from the Austrian capital, Vienna , which favoured the dominance of the German language and German culture . On the other hand, the 18th-century Silesian Wars started by Prussian King Frederick II of Prussia against Austria resulted in

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2728-694: The Hussite Wars , the occupation of Bohemia by the Czech Brethren , the Thirty Years' War , when the Lands of the Bohemian Crown were severely affected, which caused the immigration of further German settlers. After the death of King Louis II of Hungary and Bohemia in the 1526 Battle of Mohács , the Habsburg Archduke Ferdinand of Austria became King of Bohemia, which became a constituent state of

2852-710: The Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia under German governors and the German Army. Almost all the Germans in these Czech territories were subsequently granted German citizenship, while most of the Germans in Slovakia obtained citizenship of the Slovak state . Kingdom of Bohemia The Kingdom of Bohemia ( Czech : České království ), sometimes referenced in English literature as

2976-722: The Přemyslid rulers promoted the colonisation of certain areas of their lands by German settlers from the adjacent lands of Bavaria , Franconia , Upper Saxony and Austria during the Ostsiedlung migration. In 1348, the Luxembourg king Charles I , also King of the Romans and Holy Roman Emperor (as Charles IV) from 1355, founded the Charles University in Prague ( Alma Mater Carolina ),

3100-627: The Sudeten Mountains , which form the northern border of the Bohemian lands . As these terms were heavily used by the Nazi German regime to push forward the creation of a Greater Germanic Reich , many contemporary Germans avoid them in favour of the traditional names. There have been ethnic Germans living in the Bohemian crown lands since the Middle Ages . In the late 12th and in the 13th century

3224-513: The Turks . States would have one vote each, with a leading role for France. George did not see a specific role for Papal authority. Czech Catholic nobles joined in the League of Zelená Hora in 1465, challenging the authority of George of Poděbrady; the next year, Pope Paul II excommunicated George. The Bohemian War (1468-1478) pitted Bohemia against Matthias Corvinus and Frederick III of Habsburg , and

3348-566: The University of Leipzig . From 1925 (until becoming Emeritus in 1947) he again was in Göttingen as the successor of Carl Runge on the chair of applied mathematics. One of his students was Emil Artin . Herglotz worked in the fields of seismology , number theory , celestial mechanics , theory of electrons , special relativity , general relativity , hydrodynamics , refraction theory. Sudeten Germans The process of German expansion

3472-680: The University of Vienna in 1899, and attended lectures by Ludwig Boltzmann . In this time of study, he had a friendship with his colleagues Paul Ehrenfest , Hans Hahn and Heinrich Tietze . In 1900 he went to the LMU Munich and achieved his Doctorate in 1902 under Hugo von Seeliger . Afterwards, he went to the University of Göttingen , where he habilitated under Felix Klein . In 1904 he became Privatdozent for Astronomy and Mathematics there, and in 1907 Professor extraordinarius . In 1908 he became Professor extraordinarius in Vienna, and in 1909 at

3596-647: The Winter King , and the Thirty Years' War . Their defeat at the Battle of White Mountain in 1620 put an end to the Bohemian autonomy movement. In 1740 the Prussian Army conquered Bohemian Silesia in the Silesian Wars and forced Maria Theresa in 1742 to cede the majority of Silesia, except the southernmost area with the duchies of Cieszyn, Krnov and Opava, to Prussia . In 1756 Prussian King Frederick II faced an enemy coalition led by Austria, when Maria Theresa

3720-504: The dissolution of the Holy Roman Empire in 1806, the Bohemian kingdom was incorporated into the now two years old Austrian Empire and the royal title retained alongside the title of Austrian Emperor . In the course of the 1867 Austro-Hungarian Compromise the provinces of Bohemia, Moravia and Austrian Silesia became k. k. crown lands of Cisleithania . The Bohemian Kingdom officially ceased to exist in 1918 by transformation into

3844-466: The Škoda Works ; near Pilsen , they had been Czechoslovakia's primary armaments factory. As a result, Bohemia and Moravia lost about 38 percent of their combined area, and 3.65 million inhabitants (2.82 million Germans and approximately 513,000 – 750,000 Czechs to Germany). Some 250,000 Germans remained on the Czech side of the border, which later became part of the Reich by the establishment of

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3968-482: The Bavarian frontier to the poor agricultural areas of southern Bohemia . Moravia contained many patches of ethnic German settlement in the north and the south. Most typical in those areas were German "language islands", towns inhabited by German speakers but surrounded by rural Czechs. Extreme German nationalism was never prevalent in those areas. German nationalism in the coal-mining region of southern Silesia , which

4092-511: The Bohemian Crown ) was frequently subjected to raids by the Ottoman Empire and its vassals (especially the Tatars and Transylvania ). Overall, hundreds of thousands were enslaved whilst tens of thousands were killed. The incorporation of Bohemia into the Habsburg monarchy against the resistance of the local Protestant nobility sparked the 1618 Defenestration of Prague , the brief reign of

4216-660: The Bohemian and the Hungarian kingdom were held in personal union . Not considered an Imperial State , the Lands of the Bohemian Crown were not part of the Imperial Circles established by the 1500 Imperial Reform . In 1526 Vladislav's son, King Louis , was decisively defeated by the Ottoman Turks at the Battle of Mohács and subsequently died. As a result, the Turks conquered part of

4340-592: The Bohemian crown went to his son, Wenceslas IV . He had also been elected King of the Romans in 1376, in the first election since his father's Golden Bull. He was deposed from the Imperial throne in 1400, however, having never been crowned Emperor. His half-brother, Sigismund , was eventually crowned Emperor in Rome in 1433, ruling until 1437, and he was the last male member of the House of Luxemburg. The Hussite movement (1402–85)

4464-514: The Bohemian estates elected Albert of Austria as his successor. Albert died and his son, Ladislaus the Posthumous – so called because he was born after his father's death – was acknowledged as king. During Ladislaus' minority, Bohemia was ruled by a regency composed of moderate reform nobles who were Utraquists. Internal dissension among the Czechs provided the primary challenge to the regency. A part of

4588-402: The Catholic Church. He advocated the Wycliffe doctrine of clerical purity and poverty, and insisted on the laity receiving communion under both kinds, bread and wine. (The Catholic Church in practice reserved the cup, or wine, for the clergy.) The more moderate followers of Hus, the Utraquists , took their name from the Latin sub utraque specie , meaning "under each kind". The Taborites ,

4712-411: The Czech government and Czechs of atrocities on innocent Germans. The Czechoslovak public started to prepare for an inevitable war, such as by training with gas masks. On 20 May, Czechoslovakia initiated a so-called "partial mobilization" (literally "special military precaution") in response to rumours of German troop movements. The army moved into position on the border. Western powers tried to calm down

4836-420: The Czech military, which started on 31 October 1918 and was completed on 28 January 1919. Fighting took place sporadically, resulting in the deaths of a few dozen Germans and Czechs. On 4 March 1919, almost the entire ethnic German population peacefully demonstrated for its right to self-determination. The demonstrations were accompanied by a one-day general strike. The German Social Democratic Workers Party in

4960-451: The Czech nobility remained Catholic and loyal to the pope. A Utraquist delegation to the Council of Basel in 1433 had negotiated a seeming reconciliation with the Catholic Church. The Compacts of Basel accepted the basic tenets of Hussitism expressed in the Four Articles of Prague: communion under both kinds; free preaching of the Gospels; expropriation of church land; and exposure and punishment of public sinners. The pope, however, rejected

5084-414: The Czechoslovak Chamber of Deputies between 1920 and 1935. Konrad Henlein met with Hitler in Berlin on 28 March 1938 and was told to raise demands that would be unacceptable to the Czechoslovak government. In the Carlsbad Decrees, issued on 24 April at the Carlsbad convention, the SdP demanded complete autonomy for the Sudetenland and freedom to profess Nazi ideology. If Henlein's demands had been granted,

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5208-442: The Czechoslovak Republic , then the largest party, was responsible for the demonstration initiative, but it was also supported by other bourgeois German parties. The mass demonstrations were put down by the Czech military, involving 54 deaths and 84 wounded. American diplomat Archibald Coolidge insisted on respecting the Germans' right to self-determination and uniting all German-speaking areas with either Germany or Austria, with

5332-423: The Czechoslovak Republic was proclaimed on 28 October 1918, the German Bohemians, claiming the right to self-determination according to the tenth of US President Woodrow Wilson ’s Fourteen Points , demanded that their homeland areas remain with Austria, which by then had been reduced to the Republic of German Austria . The German Bohemians relied mostly on peaceful opposition to the occupation of their homeland by

5456-425: The Czechoslovak State, whether he was speaking sincerely or not, he was expressing the wishes of a very considerable proportion of his followers". According to Ralf Gebel, "the majority had voted for a party that united the Sudeten Germans and aimed to improve their position within the Czechoslovak Republic — no more and no less". Johann Wolfgang Brügel also highlights that although Henlein became "Hitler's paladin",

5580-563: The Czechoslovak government, including the installation of exclusively Sudeten German officials in Sudeten German areas and the possible participation of the SdP in the cabinet, were rejected. Nevertheless, the party campaigned on autonomy for the Sudetenland and pledged allegiance to the Czechoslovak stance; a majority of SdP voters supported regional autonomy and did not desire to join the German state. Elizabeth Wiskemann remarked that "when Henlein repeated to his English friends in London as late as May 1938 that he still wished for autonomy within

5704-504: The Czechoslovak parliament. In 1926, however, German Chancellor Gustav Stresemann , adopting a policy of rapprochement with the West, advised the Sudeten Germans to co-operate actively with the Czechoslovak government. In consequence, most Sudeten German parties (including the German Agrarian Party, the German Social Democratic Party and the German Christian Socialist People's Party) changed their policy from negativism to activism, and several Sudeten politicians even accepted cabinet posts. At

5828-413: The Czechs wide-ranging autonomy within Imperial and Royal Austria. Also, Austria was no longer considered to be a major power by the victors of the war. On 14 October, Raphael Pacher succeeded, together with the social democrat, Josef Seliger, in uniting all German parties and members of parliament in Bohemia and Moravia into a coalition. In preparation for the foundation of the Republic of German Bohemia,

5952-426: The Czechs would have three votes; the others, a single vote. In consequence, German faculty and students left Charles University en masse in the thousands, and many ended up founding the University of Leipzig . Hus' victory was short-lived. He preached against the sale of indulgences , which lost him the support of the king, who had received a percentage of such sales. In 1412 Hus and his followers were suspended from

6076-409: The German National Party, supported by the propertied classes, and the German National Socialist Workers' Party , remained opposed to the Czechoslovak government. Nationalist sentiment flourished, however, among Sudeten German youths, who had a variety of organizations, such as the older Deutsche Turnverband and Schutzvereine , the Kameradschaftsbund , the Nazi Volkssport (1929) and

6200-418: The German government and the underground Nazi movement. In 1935, the Sudeten German Home Front became the Sudeten German Party ( Sudetendeutsche Partei ) (SdP) and embarked on an active propaganda campaign. In the May election, the SdP won more than 60% of the Sudeten German vote. The German Agrarians, Christian Socialists and Social Democrats each lost approximately half of their followers. The SdP became

6324-431: The Germans, the Czechs were outvoted, and the orthodox position was maintained. In subsequent years, the Czechs demanded a revision of the university charter, granting more adequate representation to the native Czech faculty. The university controversy was intensified by the vacillating position of the Bohemian king Wenceslas. His favoring of Germans in appointments to councillor and other administrative positions had aroused

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6448-490: The Germans. However, Masaryk still tried to win the Germans for the new state by referring to economic advantages and by referring to their common Austrian past. Sudeten representatives tried to join Austria or Germany or at least to obtain as much autonomy. The constitution of 1920 was drafted without Sudeten German representation, and Sudetens declined to participate in the election of the president. Sudeten political parties pursued an "obstructionist" (or negativist) policy in

6572-411: The Holy Roman Empire except for participation in the imperial councils. The imperial prerogative to ratify each Bohemian ruler and to appoint the bishop of Prague was revoked. The king's successor was his son Wenceslaus I , from his second marriage. Wenceslaus I's sister Agnes , later canonized, refused to marry the Holy Roman Emperor and instead devoted her life to spiritual works. Corresponding with

6696-440: The Holy Roman Empire. It was precipitated by a controversy at Charles University in Prague . In 1403 Jan Hus became rector of the university. A reformist preacher, Hus espoused the anti-papal and anti-hierarchical teachings of John Wycliffe of England, often referred to as the "Morning Star of the Reformation". Hus' teaching was distinguished by its rejection of what he saw as the wealth, corruption, and hierarchical tendencies of

6820-452: The Hungarian forces occupied most of Moravia. George of Poděbrady died in 1471. Upon the death of the Hussite king, the Bohemian estates elected the Polish prince Ladislaus Jagiellon as king, who negotiated the Peace of Olomouc in 1479. In 1490, after the death of Matthias Corvinus, he was also elected by the strongest Hungarian baron league as king of Hungary, and the Polish Jagellonian line ruled both Bohemia and Hungary [but separate line

6944-483: The Hussites as religious fanatics; they fought in part for a nationalist purpose: to protect their land from a King and a Pope who did not recognize the right of the Hussites to exist. Žižka led armies to storm castles, monasteries, churches, and villages, expelling the Catholic clergy, expropriating ecclesiastical lands, or accepting conversions. During the struggle against Sigismund, Taborite armies penetrated into areas of modern-day Slovakia as well. Czech refugees from

7068-423: The Kingdom of Hungary, and the rest (mainly present-day Slovakia territory) came under Habsburg rule under the terms of King Louis' marriage contract. The Bohemian estates in 1526 elected Austrian Archduke Ferdinand , younger brother of Emperor Charles V , to succeed Louis as king of Bohemia. Thus began almost four centuries of Habsburg rule for both Bohemia and Hungary . From 1599 to 1711, Moravia (a Land of

7192-417: The Land Reform in the middle of German populations; for the children of these Czech invaders Czech schools were built on a large scale; there is a very general belief that Czech firms were favoured as against German firms in the allocation of State contracts and that the State provided work and relief for Czechs more readily than for Germans. I believe these complaints to be in the main justified. Even as late as

7316-415: The Pope, she established the Knights of the Cross with the Red Star in 1233, the first military order in the Kingdom of Bohemia. Four other military orders were present in Bohemia: the Order of St. John of Jerusalem from c.  1160 ; the Order of Saint Lazarus from the late 12th century; the Teutonic Order from c. 1200–1421; and the Knights Templar from 1232 to 1312. The 13th century

7440-516: The SdP leader, arguing that his call for Sudeten Anschluss goes against the wish of his voters and supporters: "His present call to irredentism saddles the Sudeten Germans with all the consequences of treason to the State; for such a challenge the electors gave him neither their votes nor their mandate". On 22 March, the German Agrarian Party, led by Gustav Hacker , merged with the SdP. German Christian Socialists in Czechoslovakia suspended their activities on 24 March; their deputies and senators entered

7564-465: The SdP of 1935 represented a "conglomerate of practically all [political] colourings", and the opinion of the general Sudeten German population only supported autonomy within Czechoslovakia. On 13 March 1938, the Third Reich annexed Austria during the Anschluss . Sudeten Germans reacted with fear to the news of Austrian annexation, and the moderate wing of SdP grew in strength. Hitherto pro-Henlein German newspaper Bohemia (newspaper) denounced

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7688-490: The SdP parliamentary club. However, the majority of Sudeten Germans did not support annexation into Germany. Contemporary reports of The Times found that there was a "large number of Sudetenlanders who actively opposed annexation", and that the pro-German policy was challenged by the moderates within the SdP as well; according to Wickham Steed , over 50 % of Henleinists favoured greater autonomy within Czechoslovakia over joining Germany. P. E. Caquet argues that in case of

7812-408: The Sudetenland would have been in a position to align itself with Nazi Germany. As the political situation worsened, the security in Sudetenland deteriorated. The region became the site of small-scale clashes between young SdP followers, equipped with arms smuggled from Germany, and police and border forces. In some places, the regular army was called in to pacify the situation. Nazi propaganda accused

7936-399: The archbishop was given the right to crown Bohemian kings. Charles curbed the Bohemian, Moravian, and Silesian nobility, and rationalized the provincial administration of Bohemia and Moravia. He created the Crown of Bohemia , incorporating Moravia, Silesia and Lusatia . In 1355 Charles was crowned Holy Roman Emperor. The next year he issued the Golden Bull of 1356 , defining and codifying

8060-405: The basis of the later commercial law of Bohemia and Moravia . Marriages between Czech nobles and Germans soon became commonplace. The 14th century – particularly the reign of Charles IV (1342–78) – is considered the Golden Age of Czech history. In 1306, the Přemyslid line died out and, after a series of dynastic wars, John, Count of Luxembourg , was elected Bohemian king. He married Elisabeth ,

8184-409: The broad definition of Bohemia, which includes all of the three Bohemian crown lands: Bohemia , Moravia and (Austrian) Silesia . In the German language, it is more common to distinguish among the three lands, hence the prominent terms Deutschböhmen (German Bohemians), Deutschmährer (German Moravians) and Deutschschlesier (German Silesians). Even in German the broader use of "Bohemian"

8308-422: The capital city of Prague); these acted merely as administrative units of the Kraje / Kreise rather than taking on powers of their own. Prague remained a statutory city, as well acting as the administrative centre of the Prager Kreis / Pražský kraj . The city of Reichenberg was a Stadtbezirk (city district) subordinate to the Bunzlauer Kreis , as well as the seat of Landbezirk Reichenberg ;

8432-487: The centre of German nationalist forces. The party represented itself as striving for a just settlement of Sudeten German claims within the framework of Czechoslovak democracy. Henlein, however, maintained secret contact with Nazi Germany and received material aid from Berlin , which told him to refuse every concession offered by Czechoslovakia. The SdP endorsed the idea of a Führer and mimicked Nazi methods with banners, slogans and uniformed troops. Concessions offered by

8556-423: The circumstances. Britain and France then pressured the Czechoslovak government into ceding the Sudetenland to Germany on 21 September. The Munich Agreement , signed September 29 by Britain, France, Germany and Italy and negotiated without Czechoslovak participation, only confirmed that decision and the negotiated details. Czechoslovakia ceded a German-defined maximalist extension of Sudetenland to Germany, including

8680-452: The coalition, chaired by Pacher, appointed a committee of twelve members. One day after the proclamation of the Republic of Czechoslovakia, on 29 October 1918, the Province of German Bohemia was formed with its capital in Reichenberg . Its first governor was Raphael Pacher, who transferred his office on 5 November to Rudolf Lodgman von Auen. The Province of German Bohemia comprised a contiguous region in North and West Bohemia stretching from

8804-457: The compact, thus preventing the reconciliation of Czech Catholics with the Utraquists. George of Poděbrady , later to become the "national" king of Bohemia, emerged as leader of the Utraquist regency. George installed another Utraquist, John of Rokycany , as archbishop of Prague and succeeded in uniting the more radical Taborites with the Czech Reformed Church. The Catholic party was driven out of Prague. After Ladislaus died of leukemia in 1457,

8928-484: The crusades were Germans, although many were also Hungarians and Catholic Czechs, the Hussite movement is seen as a Czech national movement. In modern times it acquired anti-imperial and anti-German associations and has sometimes been identified as a manifestation of a long-term ethnic Czech–German conflict. Hussitism began during the long reign of Wenceslaus IV (1378–1419), a period of papal schism and concomitant anarchy in

9052-505: The daughter of Wenceslaus II. He was succeeded as king in 1346 by his son, Charles IV, the second king from the House of Luxembourg . Charles was raised at the French court and was cosmopolitan in attitude. Charles IV strengthened the power and prestige of the Bohemian kingdom. In 1344 he elevated the bishopric of Prague , making it an archbishopric and freeing it from the jurisdiction of Mainz , and

9176-700: The diversity of Bohemia since he was a Prague-based German-speaking Jew, but his surname was of Czech origin. In 1867, the equality of Austrian citizens of all ethnicities was guaranteed by the Austro-Hungarian Compromise of 1867 , which enshrined the principles of constitutional monarchy . The agreement established the Dual Monarchy and gave the Hungarians sovereignty over their own affairs. The preservation of German cultural dominance throughout Cisleithania had proved to be difficult and now seemed to be

9300-514: The economy and politics of the Bohemian lands. For example, forest glass production was a common industry for German Bohemians. Though they were living beyond the medieval Kingdom of Germany , an independent German Bohemian awareness, however, was not widespread, and for a long time, it played no decisive role in everyday life. Individuals were usually seen as Bohemians, Moravians or Silesians. Defining events later in German Bohemian history were

9424-497: The end of the 16th and the beginning of the 17th centuries. Shortly before the dissolution of the Holy Roman Empire in 1806, the kingdom became part of the newly proclaimed Habsburg Austrian Empire , and subsequently the Austro-Hungarian Empire from 1867. Bohemia retained its name and formal status as a separate Kingdom of Bohemia until 1918, known as a crown land within the Austro-Hungarian Empire, and its capital Prague

9548-454: The exception of northern Bohemia. However, the Treaty of Saint-Germain-en-Laye , on 10 September 1919, made it clear that German Bohemia would not become part of the new Austrian Republic . Instead, it would become part of Czechoslovakia . The new state regarded ethnic Germans as an ethnic minority . Nevertheless, some 90 percent lived in territories in which they represented 90 percent or more of

9672-441: The first German political party became part of the government ( German Christian Social People's Party and Farmers' League ). German nationalist sentiment ran high during the early years of the republic. On the other hand, in his very first message as Czechoslovak president, Tomáš Garrigue Masaryk had stressed that Bohemian Germans were to be seen as "emigrants" and "colonists". The new state hence started with marginalization of

9796-765: The first in Central Europe , attended by large German student nations , and its language of education was Latin . Czechs made up about 20 percent of the students at the time of its founding, and the rest was primarily German. A culturally-significant example of German Bohemian prose from the Middle Ages is the story Der Ackermann aus Böhmen ("The Ploughman from Bohemia"), written in Early New High German by Johannes von Tepl (c. 1350 – 1414) in Žatec ( Saaz ), who probably had studied liberal arts in Prague. For centuries, German Bohemians played important roles in

9920-459: The following in different time periods: According to Johann Gottfried Sommer Bohemia was divided into 16 district units between 1833 and 1849: In 1849 the number of Kreise / Kraje was reduced to seven. They were then subdivided into political districts (German: politischer Bezirk or Bezirkshauptmannschaft ('district captaincy '), pl. politische Bezirke/Bezirkshauptmannschaften ; Czech: Okres ), which took over most of

10044-613: The following year the Bohemian estates elected George of Poděbrady as king. Although George was noble-born, he was not a successor of royal dynasty; his election to the monarchy was not recognised by the Pope, or any other European monarchs. George sought to establish a "Charter of a Universal Peace Union ." He believed that all monarchs should work for a sustainable peace on the principle of national sovereignty of states, principles of non-interference, and solving problems and disputes before an International Tribunal. Also, Europe should unite to fight

10168-681: The former Cisleithanian Imperial Council . In addition to the establishment of the state's governmental organisation, higher authorities were also created, such as the Finance Ministry, the Department of Agriculture and the Higher Regional Court of Reichenberg as well as a general post office and railway administration. For geographical reasons, however, a territorial solution would have been impossible unless those regions, together with Austria, had been incorporated into Germany . After

10292-425: The highly industrialised settlement areas of three million Germans would now be separated from Austria and come under Czech control. The Austrian head of government, Ernst Seidler von Feuchtenegg , wanted to divide Bohemia by setting up administrative counties ( Verwaltungskreise ), which would be based on the nationalities of the population. On 26 September 1918, his successor, Max Hussarek von Heinlein , offered

10416-518: The loss of the traditionally-Bohemian crown land and weakened Germans in the remaining parts of Bohemia. As the 19th century arrived, resistance to the German domination began to develop among the Czechs. After the revolutions of 1848 and the rise of ethnic nationalism , nervousness about ethnic tensions in Austria-Hungary resulted in a prevailing equality between Czechs and German Bohemians. Each ethnicity tried to retain, in regions in which it

10540-472: The model of Switzerland; Henlein promoted a separate Sudeten German identity, using the term sudetendeutscher Stamm (Sudeten German tribe). Before 1937, Henlein was critical of Adolf Hitler and advocated for the ideas of liberalism and individualism. However, Henlein's movement was growing increasingly divided and his own position soon became precarious. Henlein suffered a severe blow to his reputation as well as political influence when his mentor, Heinz Rutha ,

10664-512: The nationalist sentiments of the Czech nobility and rallied them to Hus' defense. The German faculties had the support of Zbyněk Zajíc , Archbishop of Prague , and the German clergy. For political reasons, Wenceslas switched his support from the Germans to Hus and allied with the reformers. On 18 January 1409, Wenceslas issued the Decree of Kutná Hora : (as was the case at other major universities in Europe)

10788-442: The newly formed Czechoslovak Republic . Although some former rulers of Bohemia had enjoyed a non-hereditary royal title during the 11th and 12th centuries ( Vratislaus II , Vladislaus II ), the kingdom was formally established in 1198 by Přemysl Ottokar I , who had his status acknowledged by Philip of Swabia , elected King of the Romans , in return for his support against the rival Emperor Otto IV . In 1204 Ottokar's royal status

10912-430: The north and south. More characteristic were the German language islands , which were towns inhabited by German minorities and surrounded by Czechs. Sudeten Germans were mostly Roman Catholics , a legacy of centuries of Austrian Habsburg rule. Not all ethnic Germans lived in isolated and well-defined areas; for historical reasons, Czechs and Germans mixed in many places, and Czech-German bilingualism and code-switching

11036-445: The old city. The royal castle, Hradčany , was rebuilt. Of particular significance was the founding of Charles University in Prague in 1348. Charles intended to make Prague into an international center of learning, and the university was divided into Czech, Polish, Saxon, and Bavarian "nations", each with one controlling vote. Charles University, however, would become the nucleus of intense Czech particularism. Charles died in 1378, and

11160-536: The political functions of the Kreise / Kraje . Prague became a statutory city, administered directly by the kingdom. A total of 79 districts existed during this period. In 1854 the political districts were abolished and the previous more centralised administrative structure largely restored. However, 13 new Kraje / Kreise were established in place of the old ones. These Kraje / Kreise were subdivided into between twelve and 20 Bezirke (207 in total, plus

11284-402: The population of the whole republic (13.6 million). The Sudetenland possessed huge chemical works and lignite mines as well as textile, china, and glass factories. To the west, a triangle of historic ethnic German settlement surrounding Eger was the most active area for pan-German nationalism. The Upper Palatinate Forest , an area that was primarily populated by Germans, extended along

11408-422: The population. In 1921, the population of multi-ethnic Czechoslovakia comprised 6.6 million Czechs, 3.2 million Germans, two million Slovaks , 0.7 million Hungarians , half a million Ruthenians (Rusyns), 300,000 Jews , and 100,000 Poles , as well as Gypsies , Croats and other ethnic groups. German-speakers represented a third of the population of the Bohemian lands and about 23.4 percent of

11532-649: The pro-papal king of Hungary and successor to the Bohemian throne after the death of Wenceslas in 1419, failed repeatedly to gain control of the kingdom despite aid by Hungarian and German armies. Riots broke out in Prague. Led by a Czech yeoman, Jan Žižka , the Taborites streamed into the capital. Religious strife pervaded the entire kingdom and was particularly intense in the German-dominated towns. Hussite Czechs and Catholic Germans turned on each other; many were massacred, and many German survivors fled or were exiled to

11656-632: The process of election to the Imperial throne , with the Bohemian king among the seven electors. Issuance of the Golden Bull together with the ensuing acquisition of the Brandenburg Electorate gave the Luxemburgs two votes in the electoral college . Charles also made Prague into an Imperial capital. Extensive building projects undertaken by the king included the founding of the New Town southeast of

11780-418: The process, new constituency boundaries had to be drawn throughout the empire. Electoral officials were very careful to demarcate areas as clearly either German or Czech and to assure that there would be no conflict as to which ethnicity had a majority in any constituency. Nevertheless, that did not settle tensions among Czechs, who wanted to govern themselves from Prague. Archduke Franz Ferdinand came up with

11904-664: The proposal and called for a full division of the university. After long negotiations, it was divided into the German Charles-Ferdinand University and the Czech Charles-Ferdinand University. The Cisleithanian Imperial Council prepared an act of parliament, and the emperor granted royal assent on 28 February 1882. In 1907, the Cisleithanian Imperial Council was for the first time elected by universal male suffrage. As part of

12028-516: The religious wars in Bohemia settled there, and from 1438 to 1453 a Czech noble, John Jiskra of Brandýs , controlled most of southern Slovakia from the centers of Zólyom (today Zvolen ) and Kassa (today Košice ). Thus Hussite doctrines and the Czech Bible were disseminated among the Slovaks, providing the basis for a future link between the Czechs and their Slovak neighbors. When Sigismund died in 1437,

12152-406: The remainder being in German. In 1864, some Germans suggested the creation of a separate Czech university. Czech professors rejected that because they did not wish to lose the continuity of university traditions. The Czechs, however, were still not satisfied with bilingual status and proposed creating two separate constituent colleges , one for the Germans and one for the Czechs. The Germans vetoed

12276-432: The rest of the Holy Roman Empire. Emperor Sigismund led or instigated various crusades against Bohemia with the support of Hungarians and Bohemian Catholics. The Hussite Wars followed a pattern. When a crusade was launched against Bohemia, moderate and radical Hussites would unite and defeat it. Once the threat was over, the Hussite armies would focus on raiding the land of Catholic sympathizers. Many historians have painted

12400-831: The situation and forced Czechoslovakia to comply with most of the Carlsbad Decrees. However the SdP, instructed to continue to push towards war, escalated the situation with more protests and violence. With the help of special Nazi forces, the Sudetendeutsche Freikorps (paramilitary groups trained in Germany by SS -instructors) took over some border areas and committed many crimes: they killed more than 110 Czechoslovaks (mostly soldiers and policemen) and kidnapped over 2,020 Czechoslovak citizens (including German antifascists), taking them to Nazi Germany . In August, British Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain sent Lord Runciman ,

12524-485: The time of my Mission, I could find no readiness on the part of the Czechoslovak Government to remedy them on anything like an adequate scale... the feeling among the Sudeten Germans until about three or four years ago was one of hopelessness. But the rise of Nazi Germany gave them new hope. I regard their turning for help towards their kinsmen and their eventual desire to join the Reich as a natural development in

12648-579: The two were counted together as a single Bezirk . 11 of the Kraje / Kreise had a single district court ( Kreisgericht ). These were located in the administrative centre of the Kraj / Kreis , except for the Čáslavský kraj / Časlauer Kreis , whose district court was located at Kutná Hora /Kuttenberg. The Bunzlauer and Leitmeritzer Kreise ( Boleslavský and Litoměřický kraje ) each had two district courts: Jung-Bunzlau and Reichenberg for

12772-485: The university and expelled from Prague. For two years the reformers served as itinerant preachers throughout Bohemia. In 1414 Hus was summoned to the Council of Constance to defend his views. Imprisoned when he arrived, he was never given a chance to defend his ideas. The council condemned him as a heretic and burned him at the stake in 1415. Hus's death sparked the Hussite Wars , decades of religious warfare. Sigismund ,

12896-539: The war in 1918 brought about the partition of the multiethnic Austria-Hungary into its historical components, one of them, the Bohemian Kingdom , forming the west of the newly created Czechoslovakia. Czech politicians insisted on the traditional boundaries of the Bohemian Crown according to the principle of uti possidetis juris . The new Czech state would thus have defensible mountain boundaries with Germany, but

13020-533: Was 40.5% German, was restrained by fear of competition from industry in the Weimar Republic . Many Germans felt that the new constitution failed to fulfil what the Czechs had promised in the Treaty of Saint-Germain-en-Laye (1919) because there were too few minority rights. However, they gradually accepted remaining in Czechoslovakia and took part in the first elections in 1920. In 1926, the first Germans became minister ( Robert Mayr-Harting and Franz Spina ), and

13144-480: Was a common industry for German Bohemians. Bohemia proper ( Čechy ) with the County of Kladsko ( Hrabství kladské ) was the main area of the Kingdom of Bohemia. The Egerland ( Chebsko ) was ultimately obtained by King Wenceslaus II between 1291 and 1305; given in pawn to Bohemia by King Louis IV of Germany in 1322 and subsequently joined in personal union with Bohemia proper. In 1348 Charles IV created

13268-585: Was abandoned by part of the Czech nobility and died in the Battle on the Marchfeld against Rudolf. Ottokar was succeeded by his son King Wenceslaus II , who was crowned King of Poland in 1300. Wenceslaus II's son Wenceslaus III was crowned King of Hungary a year later. At this time, the Kings of Bohemia ruled from Hungary to the Baltic Sea . The 13th century was also a period of large-scale German immigration, during

13392-541: Was accepted by Otto IV as well as by Pope Innocent III . It was officially recognized in 1212 by the Golden Bull of Sicily issued by Emperor Frederick II , elevating the Duchy of Bohemia to Kingdom status and proclaiming its independence which was also later bolstered by future king of Bohemia and emperor Charles IV, with his golden bull in 1356. Under these terms, the Czech king was to be exempt from all future obligations to

13516-461: Was accused of homosexuality and committed suicide in prison. The radical wing of the party pressured Henlein to resign, and the Czechoslovak security forces increased their efforts to frustrate the movement's activities. Ronald Smelser noted that "backed to the wall, Henlein took what he thought to be the only step left to rescue his own position and the unity of his movement: he wrote a letter to Adolf Hitler." Henlein started secretly cooperating with

13640-506: Was also widely used as the language of administration in many towns after the Germans immigrated and populated some areas of the country in the 13th century. The royal court used the Czech, Latin, and German languages, depending on the ruler and period. Following the defeat of the Central Powers in World War I , both the Kingdom and Empire were dissolved. Bohemia became the core part of

13764-459: Was established by the Přemyslid dynasty in the 12th century by the Duchy of Bohemia , later ruled by the House of Luxembourg , the Jagiellonian dynasty , and from 1526 the House of Habsburg and its successor, the House of Habsburg-Lorraine . Numerous kings of Bohemia were also elected Holy Roman Emperors , and the capital, Prague , was the imperial seat in the late 14th century, and again at

13888-489: Was expelled from Czechoslovakia to Germany and Austria. The area that became known as the Sudetenland possessed chemical works and lignite mines as well as textile, china, and glass factories. The Bohemian border with Bavaria was inhabited primarily by Germans. The Upper Palatine Forest , which extends along the Bavarian frontier and into the agricultural areas of southern Bohemia , was an area of German settlement. Moravia contained patches of "locked" German territory to

14012-754: Was in Poland after Casimir]. The Jagellonians governed Bohemia as absentee monarchs because the Hungarian nobility insisted on them putting their capital into Hungary; their influence in the kingdom was minimal, and effective government fell to the regional nobility. Czech Catholics accepted the Compact of Basel in 1485 and were reconciled with the Utraquists. The Bohemian estrangement from the Empire continued after Vladislav [as II] had succeeded Matthias Corvinus of Hungary in 1490 and both

14136-676: Was incorporated into Znaim and was supposed to be administered by Lower Austria. The judiciary for German Bohemia was based in Reichenberg, and Vienna was responsible for the other German regions. On 22 November 1918, the Province of German Bohemia proclaimed itself part of the state of German Austria . On the same day, the territory of German Austria was defined by the Act of the "Provisional National Assembly" ( Provisorische Nationalversammlung ), which included German Bohemian and German Moravian members of

14260-667: Was indignant, especially in nationalist strongholds like Egerland . On 1 October 1933, Konrad Henlein with his deputy, Karl Hermann Frank , aided by other members of the Kameradschaftsbund , a youth organization of mystical orientation, created a new political organisation. The Sudeten German Home Front ( Sudetendeutsche Heimatfront ) professed loyalty to Czechoslovakia but championed decentralization. It absorbed most former German Nationals and Sudeten Nazis. The Kameradschaftsbund under Henlein did not promote joining Germany, but campaigned for decentralised Czechoslovakia based on

14384-619: Was known as Ostsiedlung ("Settling of the East"). The name "Sudeten Germans" was adopted during rising nationalism after the fall of Austria-Hungary after the First World War . After the Munich Agreement , the so-called Sudetenland became part of Germany . After the Second World War , most of the German-speaking population (mostly Roman Catholic with relatively few Protestants)

14508-617: Was one of the empire's leading cities. The Czech language (called the Bohemian language in English usage until the 19th century) was the main language of the Diet and the nobility until 1627 (after the Bohemian Revolt was suppressed). German was then formally made equal with Czech and eventually prevailed as the language of the Diet until the Czech National Revival in the 19th century. German

14632-467: Was preparing for war with Prussia to reclaim Silesia. The Prussian army conquered Saxony and in 1757 invaded Bohemia. In the Battle of Prague (1757) they defeated the Habsburgs and subsequently occupied Prague. More than one quarter of Prague was destroyed and the St. Vitus Cathedral suffered heavy damage. In the Battle of Kolín , however, Frederick lost and had to vacate Prague and retreat from Bohemia. With

14756-426: Was primarily a religious, as well as national, manifestation. As a religious reform movement (the so-called Bohemian Reformation ), it represented a challenge to papal authority and an assertion of national autonomy in ecclesiastical affairs. The Hussites defeated four crusades from the Holy Roman Empire, and the movement is viewed by many as a part of the (worldwide) Protestant Reformation . Because many of warriors of

14880-613: Was quite common. Nevertheless, during the second half of the 19th century, Czechs and Germans began to create separate cultural, educational, political and economic institutions, which kept both groups semi-isolated from each other, which continued until the end of the Second World War, when almost all the ethnic Germans were expelled. In the English language, ethnic Germans who originated in the Kingdom of Bohemia were traditionally referred to as "German Bohemians". This appellation utilizes

15004-418: Was the fate of Charles University , then called Charles-Ferdinand University. Its Czech students had become increasingly perturbed by the sole use of German for instruction. During the 1848 revolution , both Germans and Czechs fought to make Czech one of the university's official languages. They achieved that right, and the university became bilingual. By 1863, out of 187 lecture courses, 22 were held in Czech,

15128-602: Was the majority, sovereignty over its own affairs. Czechs and Germans generally maintained separate schools, churches and public institutions. Nevertheless, despite the separation, Germans often understood some Czech, and Czechs often spoke some German. Cities like Prague, however, saw more mixing between the ethnicities and also had large populations of Jews ; Germans living with Czechs fluently spoke Czech and code-switched between German and Czech when talking to Czechs and other Germans. Jews in Bohemia often spoke German and sometimes Yiddish . The famed writer Franz Kafka exemplifies

15252-593: Was the most dynamic period of the Přemyslid reign over Bohemia . German Emperor Frederick II 's preoccupation with Mediterranean affairs and the dynastic struggles known as the Great Interregnum (1254–73) weakened imperial authority in Central Europe, thus providing opportunities for Přemyslid assertiveness. At the same time, the Mongol invasions (1220–42) absorbed the attention of Bohemia's eastern neighbors, Hungary and Poland . Přemysl Ottokar II (1253–78) married

15376-409: Was utterly impossible. With the agreement, the desire for an autonomous Czech subdivision was mounting. Both German Bohemians and Czechs were hoping for a constitutional solution to the demands, but Czech nationalist views remained a constant part of the Bohemian political sphere. The Czechs had feared Germanization , but the Germans now worried about Czechization . A symbol of the rising tensions

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