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155-534: The word "Sudetenland" did not come into being until the early part of the 20th century and did not come to prominence until almost two decades into the century, after World War I , when Austria-Hungary was dismembered and the Sudeten Germans found themselves living in the new country of Czechoslovakia . The Sudeten crisis of 1938 was provoked by the Pan-Germanist demands of Nazi Germany that

310-645: A blue-water navy was vital for global power projection; Tirpitz had his books translated into German, while Wilhelm made them required reading for his advisors and senior military personnel. However, it was also an emotional decision, driven by Wilhelm's simultaneous admiration for the Royal Navy and desire to surpass it. Bismarck thought that the British would not interfere in Europe, as long as its maritime supremacy remained secure, but his dismissal in 1890 led to

465-592: A grenade at the Archduke's car and injured two of his aides. The other assassins were also unsuccessful. An hour later, as Ferdinand was returning from visiting the injured officers in hospital, his car took a wrong turn into a street where Gavrilo Princip was standing. He fired two pistol shots, fatally wounding Ferdinand and his wife Sophie . According to historian Zbyněk Zeman , in Vienna "the event almost failed to make any impression whatsoever. On 28 and 29 June,

620-540: A guerrilla warfare campaign and only surrendered two weeks after the armistice took effect in Europe. Before the war, Germany had attempted to use Indian nationalism and pan-Islamism to its advantage, a policy continued post-1914 by instigating uprisings in India , while the Niedermayer–Hentig Expedition urged Afghanistan to join the war on the side of Central Powers. However, contrary to British fears of

775-408: A change in policy and an Anglo-German naval arms race began. Despite the vast sums spent by Tirpitz, the launch of HMS  Dreadnought in 1906 gave the British a technological advantage. Ultimately, the race diverted huge resources into creating a German navy large enough to antagonise Britain, but not defeat it; in 1911, Chancellor Theobald von Bethmann Hollweg acknowledged defeat, leading to

930-555: A consequence of the immense hostility against all Germans that had grown within Czechoslovakia because many of them had helped the Nazis, the overwhelming majority of Germans were expelled though the relevant Czechoslovak legislation had provided for Germans to remain if they could prove their anti-Nazi affiliation. The number of expelled Germans in the early phase (spring-summer 1945) is estimated to be around 500,000 people. After

1085-613: A direct threat. The 1908–1909 Bosnian Crisis began when Austria annexed the former Ottoman territory of Bosnia and Herzegovina , which it had occupied since 1878. Timed to coincide with the Bulgarian Declaration of Independence from the Ottoman Empire, this unilateral action was denounced by the European powers, but accepted as there was no consensus on how to resolve the situation. Some historians see this as

1240-673: A few weeks later, the Kristallnacht occurred. As elsewhere in Germany, many synagogues were set on fire and numerous leading Jews were sent to concentration camps . Jews and Czechs were not the only afflicted peoples since German socialists, communists and pacifists were widely persecuted as well. Some of the German socialists fled the Sudetenland via Prague and London to other countries. The Gleichschaltung would permanently alter

1395-812: A formal name change) under the Ninth-of-May Constitution following the 1948 coup . ČSSR; from 1969, after the Prague Spring , consisted of the Czech Socialist Republic (ČSR) and Slovak Socialist Republic (SSR). Oblast of the Ukrainian SSR . Oblast of Ukraine . World War I World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War ,

1550-418: A gap between the German armies as they closed on Paris. The French army, reinforced by the British expeditionary corps, seized this opportunity to counter-attack and pushed the German army 40 to 80 km back. Both armies were then so exhausted that no decisive move could be implemented, so they settled in trenches, with the vain hope of breaking through as soon as they could build local superiority. In 1911,

1705-705: A larger classification of three groupings of Germans within the Austro-Hungarian Empire, which also included " Alpine Deutschen " ( Alpine Germans ) in what later became the Republic of Austria and " Balkandeutsche " ( Balkan Germans ) in Hungary and the regions east of it. Of these three terms, only the term " Sudetendeutsche " survived, because of the ethnic and cultural conflicts within Bohemia. During World War I , what later became known as

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1860-654: A number of relatives, allies and vassals in Germany, such as the Margraviate of Brandenburg — and spiritual principalities, including the Archbishopric of Salzburg and the Patriarchate of Aquileia . After the death of Konradin in 1268 he was an heir of the House of Hohenstaufen 's claim to the imperial crown. However, he did not raise this claim, remaining content with informal influence in Germany. In 1267 he

2015-548: A possibility. This was accentuated by British and Russian support for France against Germany during the 1911 Agadir Crisis . German economic and industrial strength continued to expand rapidly post-1871. Backed by Wilhelm II, Admiral Alfred von Tirpitz sought to use this growth to build an Imperial German Navy , that could compete with the British Royal Navy . This policy was based on the work of US naval author Alfred Thayer Mahan , who argued that possession of

2170-613: A precursor of modern civil law. In the country, Ottokar's introduction of the Law of Emphyteusis into the Czech law is sometimes interpreted as "Germanization". In fact it was creative, for it freed subjects from feudal obligations, except for rent — and tax, if such was levied. Free selling and leaving of estates could also be bought and soon became common. Thus, Ottokar can be reckoned an early Bohemian ruler who furthered Bohemian rights in medieval times. This change of legal environment in Bohemia

2325-566: A prison for his son Wenceslaus II of Bohemia for short time after Ottokar's death. The castle housed Bohemian legal records Zemské desky and many spiritual and temporal treasures during the destructive civil strife of the Hussite wars (1419–1434) in Bohemia. It was conquered in 1620, during the 30 Years' War , but by then it was long deserted, and in that state was defended by rebelling subjects against an Imperial army. Before his conflict with Rudolf of Habsburg , Ottokar exacted influence over

2480-834: A revolt in India, the outbreak of the war saw a reduction in nationalist activity. Leaders from the Indian National Congress and other groups believed support for the British war effort would hasten Indian Home Rule , a promise allegedly made explicit in 1917 by Edwin Montagu , the Secretary of State for India . In 1914, the British Indian Army was larger than the British Army itself, and between 1914 and 1918 an estimated 1.3 million Indian soldiers and labourers served in Europe, Africa, and

2635-845: A separation of the German-inhabited regions from Czechoslovakia. According to Elizabeth Wiskemann , despite the initial resistance to the Czechoslovak rule, the Sudeten German population was not entirely opposed to annexation by Czechoslovakia. Sudeten economy and industry relied on the rest of Bohemia, and local industrialists were afraid of "Reich German competition and therefore of the talk of handing them over". Many Sudeten Germans also opposed joining Austria, arguing that being incorporated into Austria would turn Sudeten lands into "economically helpless Austrian enclaves". Because of this, Sudetenland becoming part of Czechoslovakia

2790-516: A significant escalation, ending any chance of Austria cooperating with Russia in the Balkans, while also damaging diplomatic relations between Serbia and Italy. Tensions increased after the 1911–1912 Italo-Turkish War demonstrated Ottoman weakness and led to the formation of the Balkan League , an alliance of Serbia, Bulgaria, Montenegro , and Greece . The League quickly overran most of

2945-478: A war on two fronts; the Schlieffen Plan envisaged using 80% of the army to defeat France, then switching to Russia. Since this required them to move quickly, mobilization orders were issued that afternoon. Once the German ultimatum to Russia expired on the morning of 1 August, the two countries were at war. At a meeting on 29 July, the British cabinet had narrowly decided its obligations to Belgium under

3100-402: A weak Ottoman government, rather than an ambitious Slav power like Bulgaria . Russia had ambitions in northeastern Anatolia while its clients had overlapping claims in the Balkans. These competing interests divided Russian policy-makers and added to regional instability. Austrian statesmen viewed the Balkans as essential for the continued existence of their Empire and saw Serbian expansion as

3255-455: A whole, the Somme offensive led to an estimated 420,000 British casualties, along with 200,000 French and 500,000 Germans. The diseases that emerged in the trenches were a major killer on both sides. The living conditions led to disease and infection, such as trench foot , lice , typhus , trench fever , and the ' Spanish flu '. At the start of the war, German cruisers were scattered across

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3410-566: Is a German compound of Land , meaning "country", and Sudeten , the name of the Sudeten Mountains , which run along the northern Czech border and Lower Silesia (now in Poland ). The Sudetenland encompassed areas well beyond those mountains, however. Parts of the now-Czech regions of Karlovy Vary , Liberec , Olomouc , Moravia-Silesia , South Moravia and Ústí nad Labem are within the former Sudetenland. The areas later known as

3565-558: Is considered one of the greatest kings of Bohemia, along with Charles IV . He was a founder of many new towns (about 30 — not only in Bohemia, Moravia and Silesia, but also in Austria and Styria) and incorporated many existing settlements through civic charters, giving them new privileges. He was a strong proponent of trade, law and order. Furthermore, he instituted open immigration policies through which skilled German-speaking immigrants settled in major cities throughout his domains. As noted,

3720-508: Is known, however, that from 1908 to 1913, military spending by the six major European powers increased by over 50% in real terms. The years before 1914 were marked by a series of crises in the Balkans, as other powers sought to benefit from the Ottoman decline. While Pan-Slavic and Orthodox Russia considered itself the protector of Serbia and other Slav states, they preferred the strategically vital Bosporus straits to be controlled by

3875-574: The Schutzkorps was established, and carried out the persecution of Serbs. The assassination initiated the July Crisis, a month of diplomatic manoeuvring between Austria-Hungary, Germany, Russia, France and Britain. Believing that Serbian intelligence helped organise Franz Ferdinand's murder, Austrian officials wanted to use the opportunity to end their interference in Bosnia and saw war as

4030-641: The World War . In August 1914, the magazine The Independent wrote "This is the Great War. It names itself". In October 1914, the Canadian magazine Maclean's similarly wrote, "Some wars name themselves. This is the Great War." Contemporary Europeans also referred to it as " the war to end war " and it was also described as "the war to end all wars" due to their perception of its unparalleled scale, devastation, and loss of life. The first recorded use of

4185-695: The Australian Naval and Military Expeditionary Force landed on the island of New Britain , then part of German New Guinea . On 28 October, the German cruiser SMS  Emden sank the Russian cruiser Zhemchug in the Battle of Penang . Japan declared war on Germany before seizing territories in the Pacific, which later became the South Seas Mandate , as well as German Treaty ports on

4340-756: The Imperial ban and besieged his Hofburg residence in Vienna , while a rebellion led by the Vítkovci noble Záviš of Falkenstein disrupted the Bohemian lands. This compelled Přemysl Ottokar in November 1276 to sign a new treaty by which he gave up all claims to Austria and the neighboring duchies, retaining for himself only Bohemia and Moravia. Ottokar's son Wenceslaus became betrothed to Rudolf's daughter Judith . There followed an uneasy peace. Two years later,

4495-813: The Kingdom of Bohemia (Crown of Saint Václav) had since the Migration Period been settled mainly by western Slavic Czechs . Along the Bohemian Forest in the west, the Czech lands bordered on the German Slavic tribes (German Sorbs) stem duchies of Bavaria and Franconia ; marches of the medieval German kingdom had also been established in the adjacent Austrian lands south of the Bohemian-Moravian Highlands and

4650-614: The Paris Peace Conference issued a declaration, which gave unanimous support for "unity of Czech lands". In particular the declaration stated: The Commission was... unanimous in its recommendation that the separation of all areas inhabited by the German-Bohemians would not only expose Czechoslovakia to great dangers but equally create great difficulties for the Germans themselves. The only practicable solution

4805-650: The Přemyslid Bohemian kings—especially by Ottokar II (1253–1278) and Wenceslaus II (1278–1305). After the extinction of the Přemyslid dynasty in 1306, the Bohemian nobility backed John of Luxembourg as king against his rival Duke Henry of Carinthia . In 1322 King John of Bohemia acquired (for the third time) the formerly Imperial Egerland region in the west and vassalized most of the Piast Silesian duchies, as acknowledged by King Casimir III of Poland by

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4960-721: The Rüstungswende or 'armaments turning point', when he switched expenditure from the navy to the army. This decision was not driven by a reduction in political tensions but by German concern over Russia's quick recovery from its defeat in the Russo-Japanese War and subsequent 1905 Russian Revolution . Economic reforms led to a significant post-1908 expansion of railways and transportation infrastructure, particularly in its western border regions. Since Germany and Austria-Hungary relied on faster mobilisation to compensate for their numerical inferiority compared to Russia,

5115-628: The Slovak Republic (Slovak State), a satellite state allied to Germany. (The Ruthenian part, Subcarpathian Rus, made also an attempt to declare its sovereignty as Carpatho-Ukraine but only with ephemeral success since the area was soon annexed by Hungary .) Although "Henlein and the SdP had become accessories in Hitler's escalating campaign to annex the Sudetenland to the German Reich" by

5270-689: The Teutonic Order , was named in his honour and later became the capital of the Duchy of Prussia . After a few years of peace the conflict with Hungary resumed: Ottokar defeated the Hungarians in July 1260 at the Battle of Kressenbrunn , ending years of disputes over Styria with Béla IV. Béla now ceded Styria back to Ottokar, and his claim to those territories was formally recognized by Richard of Cornwall , then king of Germany and nominal ruler of all

5425-828: The United States entered the war on the Allied side following Germany's resumption of unrestricted submarine warfare against Atlantic shipping. Later that year, the Bolsheviks seized power in the Russian October Revolution , and Soviet Russia signed an armistice with the Central Powers in December, followed by a separate peace in March 1918. That month, Germany launched an offensive in

5580-465: The cession of the Sudetenland. Three days later, French Prime Minister Édouard Daladier did the same. No Czechoslovak representative was invited to the discussions. Germany was now able to walk into the Sudetenland without firing a shot. Chamberlain met Hitler in Godesberg on 22 September 1938 to confirm the agreements. Hitler, aiming to use the crisis as a pretext for war, now demanded not only

5735-487: The hydrophone and depth charges were introduced, destroyers could potentially successfully attack a submerged submarine. Convoys slowed the flow of supplies since ships had to wait as convoys were assembled; the solution was an extensive program of building new freighters. Troopships were too fast for the submarines and did not travel the North Atlantic in convoys. The U-boats sunk more than 5,000 Allied ships, at

5890-766: The tank . After the First Battle of the Marne in September 1914, Allied and German forces unsuccessfully tried to outflank each other, a series of manoeuvres later known as the " Race to the Sea ". By the end of 1914, the opposing forces confronted each other along an uninterrupted line of entrenched positions from the Channel to the Swiss border. Since the Germans were normally able to choose where to stand, they generally held

6045-404: The 1335 Treaty of Trentschin . His son, Bohemian King Charles IV , was elected King of the Romans in 1346 and crowned Holy Roman Emperor in 1355. He added the Lusatias to the Lands of the Bohemian Crown , which then comprised large territories with a significant German population. In the hilly border regions German settlers established major manufactures of forest glass . The situation of

6200-588: The 1839 Treaty of London did not require it to oppose a German invasion with military force; however, Prime Minister Asquith and his senior Cabinet ministers were already committed to supporting France, the Royal Navy had been mobilised, and public opinion was strongly in favour of intervention. On 31 July, Britain sent notes to Germany and France, asking them to respect Belgian neutrality; France pledged to do so, but Germany did not reply. Aware of German plans to attack through Belgium, French Commander-in-Chief Joseph Joffre asked his government for permission to cross

6355-431: The 1879 Dual Alliance , which became the Triple Alliance when Italy joined in 1882. For Bismarck, the purpose of these agreements was to isolate France by ensuring the three Empires resolve any disputes between themselves. In 1887, Bismarck set up the Reinsurance Treaty , a secret agreement between Germany and Russia to remain neutral if either were attacked by France or Austria-Hungary. For Bismarck, peace with Russia

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6510-441: The 1913 Treaty of London , which had created an independent Albania while enlarging the territories of Bulgaria, Serbia, Montenegro and Greece. However, disputes between the victors sparked the 33-day Second Balkan War , when Bulgaria attacked Serbia and Greece on 16 June 1913; it was defeated, losing most of Macedonia to Serbia and Greece, and Southern Dobruja to Romania. The result was that even countries which benefited from

6665-416: The 2021 census, 24,632 people in the Czech Republic claimed German ethnicity, out of which 15,504 in combination with another ethnicity. ČSR; boundaries and government established by the 1920 constitution . Annexed by Nazi Germany . ČSR; included the autonomous regions of Slovakia and Subcarpathian Ruthenia. Annexed by Hungary (1939–1945). ČSR; declared a "people's democracy" (without

6820-409: The Austrians and Serbs clashed at the battles of the Cer and Kolubara ; over the next two weeks, Austrian attacks were repulsed with heavy losses. As a result, Austria had to keep sizeable forces on the Serbian front, weakening their efforts against Russia. Serbia's victory against Austria-Hungary in the 1914 invasion has been called one of the major upset victories of the twentieth century. In 1915,

6975-593: The Austrians briefly occupied the Serbian capital, Belgrade . A Serbian counter-attack in the Battle of Kolubara succeeded in driving them from the country by the end of 1914. For the first 10 months of 1915, Austria-Hungary used most of its military reserves to fight Italy. German and Austro-Hungarian diplomats scored a coup by persuading Bulgaria to join the attack on Serbia. The Austro-Hungarian provinces of Slovenia , Croatia and Bosnia provided troops for Austria-Hungary. Montenegro allied itself with Serbia. Bulgaria declared war on Serbia on 14 October 1915 and joined in

7130-493: The Balkan Wars, such as Serbia and Greece, felt cheated of their "rightful gains", while for Austria it demonstrated the apparent indifference with which other powers viewed their concerns, including Germany. This complex mix of resentment, nationalism and insecurity helps explain why the pre-1914 Balkans became known as the " powder keg of Europe ". On 28 June 1914, Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria , heir presumptive to Emperor Franz Joseph I of Austria , visited Sarajevo ,

7285-431: The Beneš decrees, nearly all Germans were expelled starting in 1946 and in 1950 only 159,938 (from 3,149,820 in 1930) still lived in the Czech Republic. The remaining Germans, who were proven antifascists and skilled laborers, were allowed to stay in Czechoslovakia but were later forcefully dispersed within the country. Some German refugees from Czechoslovakia are represented by the Sudetendeutsche Landsmannschaft . Many of

7440-409: The Bohemian chancellor Philip of Spanheim , who would later become a rival for the rule of the Duchy of Carinthia. When his brother Vladislaus died in 1247, Ottokar suddenly became the heir to the Bohemian throne. According to popular oral tradition, he was profoundly shocked by his brother's death and did not involve himself in politics, becoming focused on hunting and drinking. His father appointed

7595-655: The Bohemian king made a last attempt to recover his lost lands by force. Přemysl Ottokar again found allies in Bavaria, Brandenburg and Poland . He collected a large army to meet the forces of Rudolf and his ally King Ladislaus IV of Hungary in the Battle on the Marchfeld on 26 August 1278, where he was defeated and killed. Rudolf had his body laid out in state at the Minorites Church in Vienna. (In 1297 Ottokar's mortal remains were finally transferred to St. Vitus Cathedral in Prague.) His 6-year-old son Wenceslaus II succeeded him as King of Bohemia. On 11 February 1252, Přemysl Ottokar II married Margaret of Austria . Margaret

7750-465: The Cabinet on his return to the United Kingdom, is found in the Document CC 39(38). Lord Runciman expressed sadness that he could not bring about agreement with the various parties, but he agreed with Lord Halifax that the time that had been gained was important. He reported on the situation of the Sudeten Germans and gave details of four plans that had been proposed to deal with the crisis, each of which had points that, he reported, made it unacceptable to

7905-404: The Central Powers. However, the pro-German King Constantine I dismissed the pro-Allied government of Eleftherios Venizelos before the Allied expeditionary force arrived. The Macedonian front was at first mostly static. French and Serbian forces retook limited areas of Macedonia by recapturing Bitola on 19 November 1916 following the costly Monastir offensive , which brought stabilisation of

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8060-410: The Chinese Shandong peninsula at Tsingtao . After Vienna refused to withdraw its cruiser SMS  Kaiserin Elisabeth from Tsingtao, Japan declared war on Austria-Hungary, and the ship was sunk in November 1914. Within a few months, Allied forces had seized all German territories in the Pacific, leaving only isolated commerce raiders and a few holdouts in New Guinea. Some of the first clashes of

8215-426: The Czechoslovak military to start to build extensive border fortifications in 1936 to defend the troubled border region. Immediately after the Anschluss of Austria into the German Reich in March 1938, Hitler made himself the advocate of ethnic Germans living in Czechoslovakia, which triggered the Sudeten Crisis. The following month, Sudeten Nazis, led by Konrad Henlein , agitated for autonomy. On 24 April 1938,

8370-427: The Czechs and the German-speaking minority lingered on throughout the 1920s and intensified in the 1930s. During the Great Depression , the mostly-mountainous regions populated by the German minority, together with other peripheral regions of Czechoslovakia , were hurt by the economic depression more than the interior of the country was. Unlike the less developed regions ( Carpathian Ruthenia , Moravian Wallachia ),

8525-417: The Empire. In 1749, the Austrian Empire enforced German as the official language again. Emperor Joseph II in 1780 renounced the coronation ceremony as Bohemian king and unsuccessfully tried to push German through as sole official language in all Habsburg lands (including Hungary). Nevertheless, German cultural influence grew stronger during the Age of Enlightenment and Weimar Classicism . Contrastingly, in

8680-548: The German High Seas Fleet was confined to port. German U-boats attempted to cut the supply lines between North America and Britain. The nature of submarine warfare meant that attacks often came without warning, giving the crews of the merchant ships little hope of survival. The United States launched a protest, and Germany changed its rules of engagement. After the sinking of the passenger ship RMS Lusitania in 1915, Germany promised not to target passenger liners, while Britain armed its merchant ships, placing them beyond

8835-465: The German Army increased in size from 1908 to 1914, he changed the allocation of forces between the two wings to 70:30. He also considered Dutch neutrality essential for German trade and cancelled the incursion into the Netherlands, which meant any delays in Belgium threatened the viability of the plan. Historian Richard Holmes argues that these changes meant the right wing was not strong enough to achieve decisive success. The initial German advance in

8990-465: The German lands. This peace agreement was also sealed by a royal marriage. Ottokar ended his marriage to Margaret and married Béla's young granddaughter Kunigunda of Halych , who became the mother of his children. The youngest of them became his only legitimate son, Wenceslaus II . During the Imperial Imperial interregnum of 1250 to 1273, Ottokar could increase his personal influence while Richard of Cornwall and Alfonso of Castile jostled to attain

9145-492: The German population was aggravated by the Hussite Wars (1419–1434), though there were also some Germans among the Hussite insurgents. By then Germans largely settled the hilly Bohemian border regions as well as the cities of the lowlands; mainly people of Bavarian descent in the South Bohemian and South Moravian Region , in Brno , Jihlava , České Budějovice and the West Bohemian Plzeň Region ; Franconian people in Žatec ; Upper Saxons in adjacent North Bohemia , where

9300-462: The German right wing would sweep through the Netherlands and Belgium , then swing south, encircling Paris and trapping the French army against the Swiss border. The plan's creator, Alfred von Schlieffen , head of the German General Staff from 1891 to 1906, estimated that this would take six weeks, after which the German army would transfer to the East and defeat the Russians. The plan was substantially modified by his successor, Helmuth von Moltke

9455-426: The Germans bled heavily as well, with anywhere from 700,000 to 975,000 casualties between the two combatants. Verdun became a symbol of French determination and self-sacrifice. The Battle of the Somme was an Anglo-French offensive from July to November 1916. The opening day on 1 July 1916 was the bloodiest single day in the history of the British Army , which suffered 57,500 casualties, including 19,200 dead. As

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9610-428: The Germans in the Sudetenland. Runciman's first day included meetings with President Beneš and Prime Minister Milan Hodža as well as a direct meeting with the Sudeten Germans from Henlein's SdP. On the next day, he met with Dr and Mme Beneš and later met non-Nazi Germans in his hotel. A full account of his report, including summaries of the conclusions of his meetings with the various parties, which he made in person to

9765-407: The Germans who stayed in Czechoslovakia later emigrated to West Germany (more than 100,000). As the German population was transferred out of the country, the former Sudetenland was resettled mostly by Czechs but also by other nationalities of Czechoslovakia: Slovaks , Greeks (arriving in the wake of the Greek Civil War 1946–49), Carpathian Ruthenians , Romani people and Jews who had survived

9920-461: The Germans' right to self-determination and uniting all German-speaking areas with either Germany or Austria, with the exception of northern Bohemia. However, the American delegation at the Paris talks decided not to follow Coolidge's proposal. Allen Dulles was the American's chief diplomat in the Czechoslovak Commission and emphasized preserving the unity of the Czech lands. Four regional governmental units were established: The U.S. commission to

10075-468: The Holocaust , and Hungarians (though the Hungarians were forced into that and later returned home—see Hungarians in Slovakia: Population exchanges ). Some areas, such as part of Czech Silesian-Moravian borderland, southwestern Bohemia ( Šumava National Park ), western and northern parts of Bohemia, remained depopulated for several strategic reasons (extensive mining and military interests) or are now protected national parks and landscapes. Moreover, before

10230-406: The Imperial dignity. In 1266 he occupied the Egerland in north-west Bohemia, and in 1268 he signed an inheritance treaty with the Sponheim duke Ulrich III of Carinthia , succeeding him in Carinthia , Carniola and the Windic March the next year. In 1272 he also acquired Friuli . His rule was once again contested by the Hungarians on the field of battle. After another victory , Ottokar became

10385-423: The Jews could from then on claim support of any royal officer. Ottokar followed with a systematic policy of strengthening his domains by building fortifications. Besides supporting towns, he built many fortresses himself — Zvíkov Castle , Křivoklát Castle or Bezděz Castle in Bohemia, and the famed Hofburg Palace in Vienna — and also induced his vassals to build castles. A sign of rising strength of Bohemia, it

10540-448: The Kingdom of Hungary, was proclaimed. The German deputies of Bohemia, Moravia, and Silesia in the Imperial Council ( Reichsrat ) referred to the Fourteen Points of US President Woodrow Wilson and the right proposed therein to self-determination and attempted to negotiate the union of the German-speaking territories with the new Republic of German Austria , which itself aimed at joining Weimar Germany . The German-speaking parts of

10695-503: The Leitha River . King Wenceslaus had initially attempted to acquire Austria by marrying his heir, Vladislaus, to the last duke's niece Gertrude of Babenberg . That marriage came to an end after half a year with Vladislaus's death in January 1247, and in 1248 Gertrude married the Zähringen margrave Herman VI of Baden . Herman, rejected by the Austrian nobility, could not establish his rule. Wenceslaus used this as pretext to invade Austria when Herman died in 1250 — according to some sources,

10850-441: The Luxembourgs, rule over Bohemia passed through George of Podiebrad to the Jagiellon dynasty and finally to the House of Habsburg in 1526. Both Czech and German Bohemians suffered heavily in the Thirty Years' War . Bohemia lost 70% of its population. From the defeat of the Bohemian Revolt that collapsed at the 1620 Battle of White Mountain , the Habsburgs gradually integrated the Kingdom of Bohemia into their monarchy . During

11005-565: The Middle East. In all, 140,000 soldiers served on the Western Front and nearly 700,000 in the Middle East, with 47,746 killed and 65,126 wounded. The suffering engendered by the war, as well as the failure of the British government to grant self-government to India afterward, bred disillusionment, resulting in the campaign for full independence led by Mahatma Gandhi . Pre-war military tactics that had emphasised open warfare and individual riflemen proved obsolete when confronted with conditions prevailing in 1914. Technological advances allowed

11160-728: The Ottomans joined the Central Powers in November. Germany's strategy in 1914 was to quickly defeat France, then to transfer its forces to the east, but its advance was halted in September , and by the end of the year the Western Front consisted of a continuous line of trenches stretching from the English Channel to Switzerland. The Eastern Front was more dynamic, but neither side gained a decisive advantage, despite costly offensives. Italy , Bulgaria , Romania , Greece and others joined in from 1915 onward. In April 1917,

11315-613: The Ottomans' territory in the Balkans during the 1912–1913 First Balkan War , much to the surprise of outside observers. The Serbian capture of ports on the Adriatic resulted in partial Austrian mobilisation, starting on 21 November 1912, including units along the Russian border in Galicia . The Russian government decided not to mobilise in response, unprepared to precipitate a war. The Great Powers sought to re-assert control through

11470-634: The Pope to adopt a similar policy. At a convention of the Imperial Diet at Nuremberg in 1274, Rudolf decreed that all Imperial lands that had changed hands since the death of the last Hohenstaufen emperor Frederick II must be returned to the crown. This would have deprived Ottokar not only of the Egerland, but also of the Austrian, Styrian, and Carinthian duchies. In 1275 Rudolf placed Ottokar under

11625-759: The Romans - for himself. However, his election bid was unsuccessful and Count William II of Holland , the German anti-king since 1247, was generally recognised. Feeling threatened by Ottokar's growing regional power beyond the Leitha River, his cousin King Béla IV of Hungary challenged the young king. Béla formed a loose alliance with the Wittelsbach duke Otto II of Bavaria and tried to install his own son Stephen as Duke of Styria , which since 1192 had been ruled in personal union with Austria under

11780-666: The Russian Stavka agreed with the French to attack Germany within fifteen days of mobilisation, ten days before the Germans had anticipated, although it meant the two Russian armies that entered East Prussia on 17 August did so without many of their support elements. By the end of 1914, German troops held strong defensive positions inside France, controlled the bulk of France's domestic coalfields, and inflicted 230,000 more casualties than it lost itself. However, communications problems and questionable command decisions cost Germany

11935-533: The SdP proclaimed the Karlsbader Programm , which demanded in eight points the complete equality between the Sudeten Germans and the Czech people. The government accepted those claims on 30 June 1938. In August, British Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain sent Lord Runciman on a mission to Czechoslovakia to see if he could obtain a settlement between the Czechoslovak government and

12090-650: The Serbian retreat toward the Adriatic coast in the Battle of Mojkovac on 6–7 January 1916, but ultimately the Austrians also conquered Montenegro. The surviving Serbian soldiers were evacuated to Greece. After the conquest, Serbia was divided between Austro-Hungary and Bulgaria. In late 1915, a Franco-British force landed at Salonica in Greece to offer assistance and to pressure its government to declare war against

12245-441: The Sudetenland be annexed to Germany, which happened after the later Munich Agreement . Part of the borderland was invaded and annexed by Poland . Afterwards, the formerly unrecognized Sudetenland became an administrative division of Germany. When Czechoslovakia was reconstituted after World War II , the Sudeten Germans were expelled and the region today is inhabited almost exclusively by Czech speakers. The word Sudetenland

12400-422: The Sudetenland experienced a rate of war deaths that was higher than most other German-speaking areas of Austria-Hungary and exceeded only by German South Moravia and Carinthia . Thirty-four of each 1,000 inhabitants were killed. Austria-Hungary broke apart at the end of World War I. In late October 1918, an independent Czechoslovak state, consisting of the lands of the Bohemian kingdom and areas belonging to

12555-437: The Sudetenland had a high concentration of vulnerable export-dependent industries (such as glass works, textile industry , paper-making and toy-making industry). Sixty percent of the bijouterie and glassmaking industry were located in the Sudetenland, and 69% of employees in the sector were German-speaking according to mother tongue, and 95% of bijouterie and 78% of other glassware was produced for export. The glass-making sector

12710-459: The Sudetenland never formed a single historical region , which makes it difficult to distinguish the history of the Sudetenland separately from that of Bohemia until the advent of nationalism in the 19th century. The Celtic and Boii tribes settled there and the region was first mentioned on the map of Ptolemaios in the 2nd century AD. The Germanic tribe of the Marcomanni dominated

12865-611: The Sudetenland to Germany or face war. To achieve a solution, the Italian dictator, Benito Mussolini , suggested a conference of the major powers in Munich , and on 29 September, Hitler, Daladier and Chamberlain met and agreed to Mussolini's proposal (actually prepared by Hermann Göring ) and signed the Munich Agreement . They accepted the immediate occupation of the Sudetenland. The Czechoslovak government, though not party to

13020-651: The West was very successful. By the end of August, the Allied left, which included the British Expeditionary Force (BEF), was in full retreat , and the French offensive in Alsace-Lorraine was a disastrous failure, with casualties exceeding 260,000. German planning provided broad strategic instructions while allowing army commanders considerable freedom in carrying them out at the front, but von Kluck used this freedom to disobey orders, opening

13175-485: The Younger . Under Schlieffen, 85% of German forces in the west were assigned to the right wing, with the remainder holding along the frontier. By keeping his left-wing deliberately weak, he hoped to lure the French into an offensive into the "lost provinces" of Alsace-Lorraine , which was the strategy envisaged by their Plan XVII . However, Moltke grew concerned that the French might push too hard on his left flank and as

13330-446: The aggressor, German Chancellor Bethmann Hollweg delayed the commencement of war preparations until 31 July. That afternoon, the Russian government were handed a note requiring them to "cease all war measures against Germany and Austria-Hungary" within 12 hours. A further German demand for neutrality was refused by the French who ordered general mobilization but delayed declaring war. The German General Staff had long assumed they faced

13485-537: The annexation of the Sudetenland but also the immediate military occupation of Bohemia, Moravia and Slovakia, thus giving the Czechoslovak army no time to adapt its defence measures to the new borders. Hitler, in a speech at the Sportpalast in Berlin, claimed that the Sudetenland was "the last territorial demand I have to make in Europe" and gave Czechoslovakia a deadline of 28 September 1938 at 2:00 p.m. to cede

13640-475: The annexed territories were divided, with the southern parts being incorporated into the neighbouring Reichsgaue of Niederdonau , Oberdonau and Bayerische Ostmark . The northern and the western parts were reorganised as the Reichsgau Sudetenland , with the city of Reichenberg (present-day Liberec ) established as its capital. Konrad Henlein (now openly a NSDAP member) administered

13795-474: The attack by the Austro-Hungarian army under Mackensen's army of 250,000 that was already underway. Serbia was conquered in a little more than a month, as the Central Powers, now including Bulgaria, sent in 600,000 troops in total. The Serbian army, fighting on two fronts and facing certain defeat, retreated into northern Albania . The Serbs suffered defeat in the Battle of Kosovo . Montenegro covered

13950-543: The best way of achieving this. However, the Foreign Ministry had no solid proof of Serbian involvement. On 23   July, Austria delivered an ultimatum to Serbia, listing ten demands made intentionally unacceptable to provide an excuse for starting hostilities. Serbia ordered general mobilization on 25   July, but accepted all the terms, except for those empowering Austrian representatives to suppress "subversive elements" inside Serbia, and take part in

14105-483: The border and pre-empt such a move. To avoid violating Belgian neutrality, he was told any advance could come only after a German invasion. Instead, the French cabinet ordered its Army to withdraw 10 km behind the German frontier, to avoid provoking war. On 2 August, Germany occupied Luxembourg and exchanged fire with French units when German patrols entered French territory; on 3   August, they declared war on France and demanded free passage across Belgium, which

14260-659: The border with the Saxon Electorate was fixed by the 1459 Peace of Eger ; Germanic Silesians in the adjacent Sudetes region with the County of Kladsko , in the Moravian–Silesian Region , in Svitavy and Olomouc . The city of Prague had a German-speaking majority from the last third of the 17th century until 1860, but after 1910 the proportion of German speakers had decreased to 6.7% of the population. From

14415-588: The border zone, a status that remained until the Velvet Revolution in 1989. There remained areas with noticeable German minorities in the westernmost borderland around Cheb , where skilled ethnic German miners and workers continued in mining and industry, until 1955, as sanctioned under the Yalta Conference protocols; in the Egerland , German minority organizations continue to exist. In

14570-587: The building of a German nation state, the Czech-speaking population insisted on keeping Bohemia out of such plans. The Bohemian Kingdom remained a part of the Austrian Empire and Austria-Hungary until its dismemberment after the World War I. In the wake of growing nationalism, the name " Sudetendeutsche " (Sudeten Germans) emerged by the early 20th century. It originally constituted part of

14725-600: The campaign saw the first use of anti-aircraft warfare after an Austrian plane was shot down with ground-to-air fire, as well as the first medical evacuation by the Serbian army. Upon mobilisation, in accordance with the Schlieffen Plan , 80% of the German Army was located on the Western Front, with the remainder acting as a screening force in the East. Rather than a direct attack across their shared frontier,

14880-649: The capital of the recently annexed Bosnia and Herzegovina . Cvjetko Popović , Gavrilo Princip , Nedeljko Čabrinović , Trifko Grabež , Vaso Čubrilović ( Bosnian Serbs ) and Muhamed Mehmedbašić (from the Bosniaks community), from the movement known as Young Bosnia , took up positions along the Archduke's motorcade route, to assassinate him. Supplied with arms by extremists within the Serbian Black Hand intelligence organisation, they hoped his death would free Bosnia from Austrian rule. Čabrinović threw

15035-466: The chance of a decisive outcome, while it had failed to achieve the primary objective of avoiding a long, two-front war. As was apparent to several German leaders, this amounted to a strategic defeat; shortly after the First Battle of the Marne , Crown Prince Wilhelm told an American reporter "We have lost the war. It will go on for a long time but lost it is already." On 30 August 1914, New Zealand occupied German Samoa (now Samoa ). On 11 September,

15190-583: The community in the Sudetenland. However, on 4 December 1938, there were elections in Reichsgau Sudetenland in which 97.32% of the adult population voted for the NSDAP . About a half million Sudeten Germans joined the Nazi Party , 17.34% of the total German population in the Sudetenland (the average NSDAP membership participation in Germany was merely 7.85% in 1944). That means the Sudetenland

15345-469: The cost of 199 submarines. World War I also saw the first use of aircraft carriers in combat, with HMS  Furious launching Sopwith Camels in a successful raid against the Zeppelin hangars at Tondern in July 1918, as well as blimps for antisubmarine patrol. Faced with Russia in the east, Austria-Hungary could spare only one-third of its army to attack Serbia. After suffering heavy losses,

15500-732: The course of the Romanticism movement national tensions arose, both in the form of the Austroslavism ideology developed by Czech politicians like František Palacký and Pan-Germanist activist raising the German question . Conflicts between Czech and German nationalists emerged in the 19th century, for instance in the Revolutions of 1848 : while the German-speaking population of Bohemia and Moravia wanted to participate in

15655-522: The creation of new independent states, including Poland , Finland , the Baltic states , Czechoslovakia , and Yugoslavia . The League of Nations was established to maintain world peace, but its failure to manage instability during the interwar period contributed to the outbreak of World War II in 1939. Before World War II , the events of 1914–1918 were generally known as the Great War or simply

15810-449: The creation of strong defensive systems largely impervious to massed infantry advances, such as barbed wire , machine guns and above all far more powerful artillery , which dominated the battlefield and made crossing open ground extremely difficult. Both sides struggled to develop tactics for breaching entrenched positions without heavy casualties. In time, technology enabled the production of new offensive weapons, such as gas warfare and

15965-965: The crowds listened to music and drank wine, as if nothing had happened." Nevertheless, the impact of the murder of the heir to the throne was significant, and has been described by historian Christopher Clark as a "9/11 effect, a terrorist event charged with historic meaning, transforming the political chemistry in Vienna". Austro-Hungarian authorities encouraged subsequent anti-Serb riots in Sarajevo . Violent actions against ethnic Serbs were also organised outside Sarajevo, in other cities in Austro-Hungarian-controlled Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia and Slovenia. Austro-Hungarian authorities in Bosnia and Herzegovina imprisoned approximately 5,500 prominent Serbs, 700 to 2,200 of whom died in prison. A further 460 Serbs were sentenced to death. A predominantly Bosniak special militia known as

16120-471: The district first as Reichskommissar (until 1 May 1939) and then as Reichsstatthalter (1 May 1939 – 4 May 1945). The Sudetenland consisted of three administrative districts ( Regierungsbezirke ): Eger (with Karlsbad as capital), Aussig ( Aussig ) and Troppau ( Troppau ). Before the occupation, Jews in the area had become targeted during the Holocaust in the Sudetenland . Only

16275-604: The entire core of the region in later centuries. Those tribes already built cities like Brno , but moved west during the Migration Period . In the 7th century AD Slavic people moved in and were united under Samo 's realm. Later in the High Middle Ages Germans settled into the less populated border region. In the Middle Ages the regions situated on the mountainous border of the Duchy and

16430-471: The establishment of the Iron Curtain in 1952 to 1955, the so-called "forbidden zone" was established by means of engineer equipment up to 2 km (1.2 mi) from the border in which no civilians could reside. A wider region, or "border zone", existed up to 12 km (7 miles) from the border in which no "disloyal" or "suspect" civilians could reside or work. Thus, the entire Aš-Bulge fell within

16585-422: The estates called upon him to restore order. Wenceslaus released Přemysl Ottokar very soon and in 1251 again made him Margrave of Moravia and installed him, with the approval of the Austrian nobles, as governor of Austria. The same year Ottokar entered Austria, where the estates acclaimed him as Duke. To legitimize his position, Přemysl Ottokar married the late Duke Frederick II's sister Margaret of Babenberg , who

16740-695: The expansion of the French colonial empire . In 1873, Bismarck negotiated the League of the Three Emperors , which included Austria-Hungary , Russia and Germany. After the 1877–1878 Russo-Turkish War , the League was dissolved due to Austrian concerns over the expansion of Russian influence in the Balkans , an area they considered to be of vital strategic interest. Germany and Austria-Hungary then formed

16895-400: The first time on the Western Front. Several types of gas soon became widely used by both sides and though it never proved a decisive, battle-winning weapon, it became one of the most feared and best-remembered horrors of the war. In February 1916, the Germans attacked French defensive positions at the Battle of Verdun , lasting until December 1916. Casualties were greater for the French, but

17050-584: The former Lands of the Bohemian Crown remained in a newly-created Czechoslovakia , a multi-ethnic state of several nations: Czechs , Germans , Slovaks , Hungarians , Poles and Ruthenians . On 20 September 1918, the Prague government asked for the opinion of the United States on the Sudetenland. Wilson sent Ambassador Archibald Coolidge into Czechoslovakia. Coolidge insisted on respecting

17205-595: The front. Serbian and French troops finally made a breakthrough in September 1918 in the Vardar offensive , after most German and Austro-Hungarian troops had been withdrawn. The Bulgarians were defeated at the Battle of Dobro Pole , and by 25 September British and French troops had crossed the border into Bulgaria proper as the Bulgarian army collapsed. Bulgaria capitulated four days later, on 29 September 1918. The German high command responded by despatching troops to hold

17360-542: The globe, some of which were subsequently used to attack Allied merchant shipping . These were systematically hunted down by the Royal Navy, though not before causing considerable damage. One of the most successful was the SMS ; Emden , part of the German East Asia Squadron stationed at Qingdao , which seized or sank 15 merchantmen, a Russian cruiser and a French destroyer. Most of the squadron

17515-549: The high ground, while their trenches tended to be better built; those constructed by the French and English were initially considered "temporary", only needed until an offensive would destroy the German defences. Both sides tried to break the stalemate using scientific and technological advances. On 22 April 1915, at the Second Battle of Ypres , the Germans (violating the Hague Convention ) used chlorine gas for

17670-518: The historic East Prussian city of Königsberg ( King's Mountain ) was named in his honor as a tribute to his support of the Teutonic Knights in their war with the pagan Old Prussians . As Czech traditional law was different from that of his other domains, many principles introduced during his reign formed core of the Czech law for the following centuries. From his time stems the oldest preserved source of Czech law, Zemské desky , and also

17825-470: The investigation and trial of Serbians linked to the assassination. Claiming this amounted to rejection, Austria broke off diplomatic relations and ordered partial mobilisation the next day; on 28 July, they declared war on Serbia and began shelling Belgrade . Russia ordered general mobilization in support of Serbia on 30 July. Anxious to ensure backing from the SPD political opposition by presenting Russia as

17980-626: The liberation of Czechoslovakia in May 1945, the use of the term Sudety (Sudetenland) in official communications was banned and replaced by the term pohraniční území (border territory). The Berlin Declaration of 5 June 1945 disabled German annexation of Sudetenland legally. In the summer of 1945, the Potsdam Conference decided that Sudeten Germans would have to leave Czechoslovakia (see flight and expulsion of Germans (1944–50) ). As

18135-614: The line, but these forces were too weak to re-establish a front. Ottokar II of Bohemia Ottokar II ( Czech : Přemysl Otakar II. ; c.  1233 , in Městec Králové , Bohemia – 26 August 1278, in Dürnkrut , Lower Austria ), the Iron and Golden King , was a member of the Přemyslid dynasty who reigned as King of Bohemia from 1253 until his death in 1278. He also held

18290-785: The long-standing balance of power in Europe, as well as economic competition between nations triggered by industrialisation and imperialism . Growing tensions between the great powers and in the Balkans reached a breaking point on 28 June 1914, when a Bosnian Serb named Gavrilo Princip assassinated Archduke Franz Ferdinand , heir to the Austro-Hungarian throne. Austria-Hungary held Serbia responsible, and declared war on 28 July. After Russia mobilised in Serbia's defence, Germany declared war on Russia and France , who had an alliance . The United Kingdom entered after Germany invaded Belgium , whose neutrality it guaranteed, and

18445-512: The mainstream wing of Henlein's party was "not striving for annexation to Germany, but for genuine autonomy", and the majority of negotiators who conducted talks with Hodža and Beneš belonged to the pro-autonomy wing and were unaware of Henlein's agreements with Hitler. Part of the borderland had an ethnic Polish majority and was invaded and annexed by Poland in 1938. The Sudetenland was initially put under military administration, with General Wilhelm Keitel as military governor. On 14 April 1939,

18600-702: The most powerful king within the Empire. After Richard of Cornwall died in April 1272 and Pope Gregory X rejected the claims raised by Alfonso of Castile, a new election for the Imperial German throne took place in 1273. However, the Bohemian king again failed to win the Imperial crown, as the electors voted for the "little count" Rudolf of Habsburg , Ottokar's last and finally victorious rival. Přemysl Ottokar refused to acknowledge Rudolf's election, and urged

18755-571: The new heir as Margrave of Moravia , and Ottokar took up residence in Brno , where he was occupied with the reconstruction of the Moravian lands devastated by Mongol raids of 1242. In 1248, some discontented nobles enticed him into leading a rebellion against his father King Wenceslaus. During this rebellion he was elected "the younger King" ( mladší král ) on 31 July 1248 and temporarily expelled his father from Prague Castle . Přemysl Ottokar II held

18910-668: The northern Meissen region beyond the Ore Mountains . In the course of the Ostsiedlung (settlement of the east) German settlement from the 13th century onwards continued to move into the Upper Lusatia region and the duchies of Silesia north of the Sudetes mountain range. From as early as the second half of the 13th century onwards these Bohemian border regions were settled by ethnic Germans , who were invited by

19065-409: The ocean, even to neutral ships. Since there was limited response to this tactic, Germany expected a similar response to its unrestricted submarine warfare. The Battle of Jutland in May/June 1916 was the only full-scale clash of battleships during the war, and one of the largest in history. The clash was indecisive, though the Germans inflicted more damage than they received; thereafter the bulk of

19220-401: The oldest written Czech communal law, recorded in the founding deeds of the respective towns. By supporting the city of Jihlava (German: Iglau) with its mines, he laid foundation of the silver wealth of later Bohemian kings. Privileges of civic charters usually excluded the towns from obedience to the traditional courts held by members of nobility. This can be seen as a step towards equality and

19375-441: The other parties to the negotiations. The four plans included, first, the transfer of the Sudetenland to the Reich, second, holding a plebiscite on the transfer of the Sudetenland to the Reich, third, organising a Four-Power Conference on the matter and, fourth, creating a federal Czechoslovakia. At the meeting, he said that he was very reluctant to offer his own solution and had not seen that as his task. The most that Halifax said

19530-405: The presence of more than 90% (as of 1921) ethnic Germans, which led to the presence of 23.4% of Germans in all of Czechoslovakia, on the grounds they had always been part of lands of the Bohemian Crown. The Treaty of Saint-Germain in 1919 affirmed the inclusion of the German-speaking territories within Czechoslovakia. Over the next two decades, some Germans in the Sudetenland continued to strive for

19685-681: The protection of the " cruiser rules ", which demanded warning and movement of crews to "a place of safety" (a standard that lifeboats did not meet). Finally, in early 1917, Germany adopted a policy of unrestricted submarine warfare , realising the Americans would eventually enter the war. Germany sought to strangle Allied sea lanes before the United States could transport a large army overseas, but, after initial successes, eventually failed to do so. The U-boat threat lessened in 1917, when merchant ships began travelling in convoys , escorted by destroyers . This tactic made it difficult for U-boats to find targets, which significantly lessened losses; after

19840-399: The subsequent Counter-Reformation , less populated areas were resettled with Catholic Germans from the Austrian lands. From 1627, the Habsburgs enforced the so-called Verneuerte Landesordnung ("Renewed Land's Constitution"), and one of its consequences was that German, according to mother tongue, gradually became the primary and official language, while Czech declined to a secondary role in

19995-527: The summer of 1938, the supporters of the SdP supported autonomy within Czechoslovakia rather than 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 Henlein's supporters favoured greater autonomy within Czechoslovakia rather than joining Germany. Sudeten German historian Emil Franzel argues that

20150-424: The talks, submitted to compulsion and promised to abide by the agreement on 30 September. The Sudetenland was assigned to Germany between 1 and 10 October 1938. The Czech part of Czechoslovakia was subsequently invaded by Germany in March 1939, with a portion being annexed and the remainder turned into the Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia . The Slovak part declared its independence from Czechoslovakia and became

20305-415: The term First World War was in September 1914 by German biologist and philosopher Ernst Haeckel who stated, "There is no doubt that the course and character of the feared 'European War' ... will become the first world war in the full sense of the word." For much of the 19th century, the major European powers maintained a tenuous balance of power , known as the Concert of Europe . After 1848, this

20460-416: The terms of the Georgenberg Pact of 1186. Papal mediation settled the conflict : the parties agreed that Ottokar would yield large parts of Styria to Béla in exchange for recognition of his right to the remainder of Austria. Subsequently, King Ottokar II led the two crusade expeditions against the pagan Old Prussians (1254–1255 and 1268). Königsberg (now Kaliningrad , Russia), founded in 1255 by

20615-584: The threat posed by the closing of this gap was more important than competing with the Royal Navy. After Germany expanded its standing army by 170,000 troops in 1913, France extended compulsory military service from two to three years; similar measures were taken by the Balkan powers and Italy, which led to increased expenditure by the Ottomans and Austria-Hungary. Absolute figures are difficult to calculate due to differences in categorising expenditure since they often omit civilian infrastructure projects like railways which had logistical importance and military use. It

20770-407: The title of King of Bohemia until November 1249. However, Pope Innocent IV excommunicated Ottokar, whereafter Wenceslaus finally managed to defeat the rebels and imprisoned his son at Přimda Castle. Father and son eventually reconciled to assist the king's aim of acquiring the neighbouring Duchy of Austria , where the last Babenberg duke, Frederick II had been killed in the 1246 Battle of

20925-498: The titles of Margrave of Moravia from 1247, Duke of Austria from 1251, and Duke of Styria from 1260, as well as Duke of Carinthia and landgrave of Carniola from 1269. With Ottokar's rule, the Přemyslids reached the peak of their power in the Holy Roman Empire . His expectations of the imperial crown, however, were never fulfilled. Ottokar was the second son of King Wenceslaus I of Bohemia (reigned 1230–1253). Through his mother, Kunigunde , daughter of Philip of Swabia , he

21080-429: The war ended with the Armistice of 11 November 1918 . The Paris Peace Conference of 1919–1920 imposed settlements on the defeated powers, most notably the Treaty of Versailles , by which Germany lost significant territories, was disarmed, and was required to pay large war reparations to the Allies. The dissolution of the Russian, German, Austro-Hungarian, and Ottoman Empires redrew national boundaries and resulted in

21235-413: The war involved British, French, and German colonial forces in Africa. On 6–7 August, French and British troops invaded the German protectorates of Togoland and Kamerun . On 10 August, German forces in South-West Africa attacked South Africa; sporadic and fierce fighting continued for the rest of the war. The German colonial forces in German East Africa , led by Colonel Paul von Lettow-Vorbeck , fought

21390-418: The west , which despite initial successes left the German Army exhausted and demoralised. A successful Allied counter-offensive from August 1918 caused a collapse of the German front line. By early November, Bulgaria, the Ottoman Empire and Austria-Hungary had each signed armistices with the Allies, leaving Germany isolated. Facing a revolution at home , Kaiser Wilhelm   II abdicated on 9 November, and

21545-517: Was 26 years older than he, and the couple's childless marriage ended with an annulment. On 25 October 1261, Ottokar married Kunigunda of Slavonia . They probably had four children: Ottokar also had two extramarital sons and daughters. The most important was his firstborn, Nicholas . He was never accepted as heir apparent to the Bohemian crown by the sitting pope, but was given the Duchy of Opava as fief in 1269. Other illegitimate children include John, provost of Vyšehrad Chapter . Přemysl Ottokar

21700-410: Was a global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers . Fighting took place mainly in Europe and the Middle East , as well as in parts of Africa and the Asia-Pacific , and in Europe was characterised by trench warfare ; the widespread use of artillery , machine guns, and chemical weapons (gas); and the introductions of tanks and aircraft . World War I

21855-568: Was affected by decreased spending power and by protective measures in other countries, and many German workers lost their work. The high unemployment, as well as the imposition of Czech in schools and all public spaces, made people more open to populist and extremist movements such as fascism , communism and German irredentism . In those years, parties of German nationalists and later the Sudeten German Party (SdP), with its radical demands gained immense popularity, among Germans in Czechoslovakia . The increasing aggressiveness of Hitler prompted

22010-453: Was also a reaction to the Mongol raids of the 13th century (see Béla IV of Hungary ). Conflict for the title of ownership to these fortified places built by members of nobility was probably the source of an uprising in 1276, which cost Ottokar the Austrian lands, and two years later (in an attempt for reconquest) his life. Some of the fortresses built by Ottokar were for centuries the strongest in Bohemia. Ironically, Bezděz Castle served as

22165-407: Was appointed protector of the royal domains (of the Holy Roman Empire ) east of the Rhine by the German king, Richard of Cornwall . He held this office till 1273. Ottokar is a significant figure in history and legend. In the Divine Comedy by Dante , Ottokar is seen outside the gates of Purgatory, in amiable companionship with his imperial rival Rudolf. He is also the protagonist of a tragedy by

22320-403: Was challenged by Britain's withdrawal into so-called splendid isolation , the decline of the Ottoman Empire , New Imperialism , and the rise of Prussia under Otto von Bismarck . Victory in the 1870–1871 Franco-Prussian War allowed Bismarck to consolidate a German Empire . Post-1871, the primary aim of French policy was to avenge this defeat, but by the early 1890s, this had switched to

22475-408: Was his senior by 30 years and the widow of the Hohenstaufen king Henry (VII) of Germany . Their marriage took place on 11 February 1252 at Hainburg . In 1253, King Wenceslaus died and Přemysl Ottokar succeeded his father as King of Bohemia. After the death of the German King Konrad IV in 1254 while his son Conradin was still a minor, Ottokar also hoped to obtain the Imperial dignity - as King of

22630-424: Was introduced by systematic founding of villages chartered under this law. He issued also a general privilege to the Jews (1254), which established principles of integration of the Jews into the Czech society until 1848. The Jews were now eligible for various positions, such as servants of crown, thereby being somewhat less subject to discrimination. Instead of being able to claim only the support of individual lords,

22785-415: Was one of the deadliest conflicts in history , resulting in an estimated 10 million military dead and more than 20 million wounded , plus some 10 million civilian dead from causes including genocide . The movement of large numbers of people was a major factor in the deadly Spanish flu pandemic. The causes of World War I included the rise of Germany and decline of the Ottoman Empire , which disturbed

22940-456: Was one of the most pro-Nazi regions of Nazi Germany. Because of their knowledge of the Czech language , many Sudeten Germans were employed in the administration of the ethnic Czech Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia as well as in Nazi organizations (Gestapo etc.). The most notable one was Karl Hermann Frank , the SS and police general and Secretary of State in the Protectorate. Nazi Germany occupied Sudetenland from 1938–1945. Shortly after

23095-654: Was refused. Early on the morning of 4   August, the Germans invaded, and Albert I of Belgium called for assistance under the Treaty of London . Britain sent Germany an ultimatum demanding they withdraw from Belgium; when this expired at midnight, without a response, the two empires were at war. Germany promised to support Austria-Hungary's invasion of Serbia, but interpretations of what this meant differed. Previously tested deployment plans had been replaced early in 1914, but those had never been tested in exercises. Austro-Hungarian leaders believed Germany would cover its northern flank against Russia. Beginning on 12 August,

23250-408: Was related to the Holy Roman Emperors of the Hohenstaufen dynasty , which became extinct in the male line upon the execution of King Conradin of Sicily in 1268. Named after his grandfather King Přemysl Ottokar I , he was originally educated for the role of an ecclesiastical administrator, while his elder brother Vladislaus was designated heir of the Bohemian kingdom . He was possibly educated by

23405-600: Was returning to Germany when it sank two British armoured cruisers at the Battle of Coronel in November 1914, before being virtually destroyed at the Battle of the Falkland Islands in December. The SMS Dresden escaped with a few auxiliaries, but after the Battle of Más a Tierra , these too were either destroyed or interned. Soon after the outbreak of hostilities, Britain began a naval blockade of Germany . This proved effective in cutting off vital supplies, though it violated accepted international law. Britain also mined international waters which closed off entire sections of

23560-518: Was that the great centres of opposition were in Eger and Asch , in the northwestern corner of Bohemia, where about 800,000 Germans and very few others lived. Halifax said that the transfer of these areas to Germany would almost certainly be a good thing adding that the Czechoslovak army would certainly oppose that very strongly and that Beneš had said that it would fight, rather than accept it. British Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain met Adolf Hitler in Berchtesgaden on 15 September and agreed to

23715-586: Was the foundation of German foreign policy but in 1890, he was forced to retire by Wilhelm II . The latter was persuaded not to renew the Reinsurance Treaty by his new Chancellor , Leo von Caprivi . This gave France an opening to agree the Franco-Russian Alliance in 1894, which was then followed by the 1904 Entente Cordiale with Britain. The Triple Entente was completed by the 1907 Anglo-Russian Convention . While not formal alliances, by settling long-standing colonial disputes in Asia and Africa, British support for France or Russia in any future conflict became

23870-400: Was the preferable choice of "a good deal of cautious middle-class" amongst Sudeten Germans. Silesian-Sudeten Germans were particularly pro-Czechoslovak, as they strongly preferred Czechoslovak rule to the prospect of becoming a part of Poland. According to the February 1921 census, 3,123,000 native German speakers lived in Czechoslovakia, 23.4% of the total population. The controversies between

24025-416: Was to incorporate these Germans into Czechoslovakia. Several German minorities according to their mother tongue in Moravia, including German-speaking populations in Brno , Jihlava and Olomouc , also attempted to proclaim their union with German Austria. The Czechs thus rejected the aspirations of the German Bohemians and demanded the inclusion of the lands inhabited by ethnic Germans in their state, despite

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