INTERWAR CZECHOSLOVAKIA: LESSONS FOR HISTORY

Abstract

During the First World War the Principle of Nationalities (each nation to have its national state), a prinsiple supported also by the USA, was crystallized and ac- complished. On the ruins of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, Czechoslovakia proclaimed itself independent, its borders being set up by the treaties system from Versailles. During the years of the First Republic, Czechoslovakia has imposed itself as a state with a stable economic development, with an authentic multiparty democracy. At the same time, being supported by nazi Germany, the ethnic Germans from the Sudet region of Czechoslova- kia ultimately requested the accession of this region to Germany. Otherwise, A. Hitler threatened to start a war in support of the Germans from Sudet. The Great Powers got involved. Hitler’s claims were met at the Munchen Conference. This fact led to the dis- sapearance of Czechoslovakia from Europe’s political arena.