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116-546: The Habsburg monarchy , which then ruled the Banat, was interested in developing extractive metallurgy in the province, and began building furnaces for iron ore smelting in Reșița in 1769, those at Bocșa proving inadequate for its industrial needs. The works trace their origins to July 3, 1771, when the first furnaces and forges were inaugurated, making it the oldest industrial factory in present-day Romania. At first, metalworking

232-515: A heart attack induced by Hermann Göring 's threat to bomb the capital and by four o'clock he contacted Prague, effectively "signing Czechoslovakia away" to Germany. Göring acknowledged making the threat to the British ambassador to Germany, Nevile Henderson , but said that the threat came as a warning because the Czech government, after already agreeing to German occupation, could not guarantee that

348-821: A Soviet intelligence organization in Prague. Following the German invasion of the Soviet Union in June 1941, the democratic groups attempted to create a united front that would include the KSČ. Heydrich's appointment in the fall thwarted these efforts. By mid-1942, the Germans had succeeded in exterminating the most experienced elements of the Czechoslovak resistance forces. Czechoslovak forces regrouped in 1942–1943. The Council of

464-725: A certain degree of involvement from the Reșița Works, whether by incorporating or producing machines and equipment. Additionally, their products were exported to nearly forty countries. On April 1, 1962, the works were again split into two separate entities meant to operate in tandem: the Reșița Steel Works ( Combinatul Siderurgic Reșița ; CSR) and the Reșița Machine Building Plant ( Uzina Constructoare de Mașini Reșița ; UCMR or UCM). The Communist regime fell in 1989, and CSR had begun to decline by 1993. In December 1994,

580-550: A conference. Hitler met the next day at Munich with the chiefs of governments of France, Italy and Britain. The Czechoslovak government was neither invited nor consulted. On 29 September, the Munich Agreement was signed by Germany, Italy, France and Britain. The Czechoslovak government capitulated on 30 September, despite the army's opposition, and agreed to abide by the agreement, which stipulated that Czechoslovakia must cede Sudetenland to Germany. The German occupation of

696-496: A decree of general mobilization was issued. The Czechoslovak Army was modern, had an excellent system of frontier fortifications and was prepared to fight. The Soviet Union announced its willingness to come to Czechoslovakia's assistance. Beneš, however, refused to go to war without the support of the Western powers. How horrible, fantastic, incredible it is that we should be digging trenches and trying on gas masks here because of

812-408: A demonstration of the 6,800 remaining workers and 30,000 Reșița residents brought about investments and new equipment. CSR became a public company in 1996. Its first privatization in 2000, undertaken by a government eager to be divested of a debt-ridden entity, was a failure. CSR's takeover by an American company accused of failing to fulfill its promise of improving the plant led to labor unrest. This

928-736: A half million Frenchmen, nor am I asking that three and a half million Englishmen be placed at our mercy. Rather I am simply demanding that the oppression of three and a half million Germans in Czechoslovakia cease and that the inalienable right to self-determination takes its place. As the tepid reaction to the German Anschluss with Austria had shown, the governments of France, the United Kingdom and Czechoslovakia were set on avoiding war at any cost. The French government did not wish to face Germany alone and took its lead from

1044-526: A heavily industrialized area of Austria). In a speech delivered in the Reichstag , Hitler stressed the military importance of occupation, noting that by occupying Czechoslovakia, Germany gained 2,175 field cannons, 469 tanks, 500 anti-aircraft artillery pieces, 43,000 machine guns, 1,090,000 military rifles, 114,000 pistols, about a billion rounds of ammunition and three million anti-aircraft shells. This amount of weaponry would be sufficient to arm about half of

1160-787: A plan acceptable to the Sudeten Germans. On 2 September, Beneš submitted the Fourth Plan, which granted nearly all of the demands of the Karlsbader Programm. Intent on obstructing conciliation, however, the SdP held demonstrations that provoked the police in Ostrava on 7 September. The Sudeten Germans broke off negotiations on 13 September, and violence and disruption ensued. As Czechoslovak troops attempted to restore order, Henlein flew to Germany, and on 15 September, he issued

1276-507: A proclamation demanding the takeover of the Sudetenland by Germany. The same day, Hitler met with Chamberlain and demanded the swift takeover of the Sudetenland by Nazi Germany under threat of war. Czechoslovakia, Hitler claimed, was slaughtering the Sudeten Germans. Chamberlain referred the demand to the British and French governments, both of which accepted. The Czechoslovak government resisted by arguing that Hitler's proposal would ruin

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1392-680: A quarrel in a far-away country between people of whom we know nothing. Neville Chamberlain, 27 September 1938, 8 p.m. radio broadcast Hitler gave a speech in Berlin on 26 September 1938 and declared that the Sudetenland was "the last territorial demand I have to make in Europe". He also stated that he had told Chamberlain, "I have assured him further that, and this I repeat here before you, once this issue has been resolved, there will no longer be any further territorial problems for Germany in Europe!" On 28 September, Chamberlain appealed to Hitler for

1508-459: A resistance network. Hácha, Prime Minister Alois Eliáš , and the Czechoslovak resistance acknowledged Beneš's leadership. Active collaboration between London and the Czechoslovak home front was maintained throughout the war years. The most important event of the resistance was Operation Anthropoid , the assassination of Reinhard Heydrich , SS leader Heinrich Himmler 's deputy and the then Protector of Bohemia and Moravia. Infuriated, Hitler ordered

1624-400: A result, Bohemia , Moravia and Silesia lost about 38% of their combined area to Germany, with some 3.2 million German and 750,000 Czech inhabitants. Hungary, in turn, received 11,882 km (4,588 sq mi) in southern Slovakia and southern Carpathian Ruthenia; according to a 1941 census, about 86.5% of the population in this territory was Hungarian. Meanwhile, Poland annexed

1740-424: A series of units being shut down: metal structures and bridges (1953-1958); petroleum extraction equipment (1954-1955); railroad switches (1955); transformers, electric equipment and medium-sized electric motors (1957); mounted wheels (1959); moveable bridges and cranes (after 1973); thermal energy equipment such as steam turbines , turbo generators and related devices (1977); and locomotive bogies (1981). At

1856-590: A small part of eastern Slovakia as well on 23 March. After the secession of Slovakia and Ruthenia, British Ambassador to Czechoslovakia Basil Newton advised President Hácha to meet with Hitler. When Hácha arrived in Berlin on 14 March, he met with the German Foreign Minister, Joachim von Ribbentrop prior to meeting with Hitler. Von Ribbentrop testified at the Nuremberg trials that during this meeting, Hácha had told him that "he wanted to place

1972-568: A total which first increased to 47,000 after mobilisation on 9 September 1944, and later to 60,000, plus 20,000 partisans. However, in late August, German troops were able to disarm the Eastern Slovak Army, which was the best equipped, and thus significantly decreased the power of the Slovak Army. Many members of this force were sent to Nazi concentration camps ; others escaped and joined partisan units. The Slovaks were aided in

2088-903: The Duchy of Parma and Piacenza between 1814 and 1847. Also, the Second Mexican Empire , from 1863 to 1867, was headed by Maximilian I of Mexico , the brother of Emperor Franz Josef of Austria . The so-called "Habsburg monarchs" or "Habsburg emperors" held many different titles and ruled each kingdom separately through a personal union . The decline of the Habsburg Empire is given in Stefan Zweig's The World of Yesterday . Stefan Zweig, l'autore del più famoso libro sull'Impero asburgico, Die Welt von Gestern German occupation of Czechoslovakia The military occupation of Czechoslovakia by Nazi Germany began with

2204-670: The First Hungarian Republic in late 1918. In historiography , the terms "Austria" or "Austrians" are frequently used as shorthand for the Habsburg monarchy since the 18th century. From 1438 to 1806, the rulers of the House of Habsburg almost continuously reigned as Holy Roman Emperors . However, the realms of the Holy Roman Empire were mostly self-governing and are thus not considered to have been part of

2320-458: The Grand Duchy of Tuscany between 1765 and 1801, and again from 1814 to 1859. While exiled from Tuscany, this line ruled at Salzburg from 1803 to 1805, and in Grand Duchy of Würzburg from 1805 to 1814. The House of Austria-Este ruled the Duchy of Modena from 1814 to 1859, while Empress Marie Louise , Napoleon 's second wife and the daughter of Austrian Emperor Francis I , ruled over

2436-677: The House of Austria . Between 1438 and 1806, with few exceptions, the Habsburg Archduke of Austria was elected as Holy Roman Emperor . The Habsburgs grew to European prominence as a result of the dynastic policy pursued by Maximilian I, Holy Roman Emperor . Maximilian married Mary of Burgundy , thus bringing the Burgundian Netherlands into the Habsburg possessions. Their son, Philip the Handsome , married Joanna

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2552-582: The Ottoman Turks , Archduke Ferdinand (who was his brother-in-law by virtue of an adoption treaty signed by Maximilian and Vladislaus II , Louis's father at the First Congress of Vienna ) was also elected the next king of Bohemia and Hungary in 1526. Bohemia and Hungary became hereditary Habsburg domains only in the 17th century: Following victory in the Battle of White Mountain (1620) over

2668-656: The Reichswerke steel complex, an expensive program to develop synthetic fuel, and various other equally expensive chemical and aluminum programs, all of which strained the German economy. The Great Depression was an era of trade wars and protectionism, which imposed limits on Germany's ability to export and thus earn foreign exchange. Moreover, the Four Year Plan with its aim of autarky led to Germany increasing its tariffs, which led other nations to do likewise in retaliation. The British historian Richard Overy wrote

2784-744: The nominal , but almost powerless, State President. Czechoslovakia was occupied by the Wehrmacht , and real power was vested in Hitler's personal representative, the Reichsprotektor . During the occupation, between 294,000 to 320,000 citizens were murdered, the majority of them Jews. Reprisal killings were especially harsh after the assassination of Reinhard Heydrich , including the infamous Lidice massacre . Large numbers were drafted for slave labour in Germany . In March 1944 Germany extended

2900-508: The puddling and steam laminating workshop. In addition, two villas belonging to the UCM authorities are listed, as well as a number of those belonging to the UDR leadership. Although blast furnace #1 was demolished, the remaining one, representing the fifth generation of blast furnaces on the same site, was left standing due to its symbolic significance in the city's cultural identity and contribution to

3016-566: The Škoda Works . One consequence of this legacy was that Czechoslovakia was the only nation in Eastern Europe besides the Soviet Union that manufactured its own weapons instead of importing them, and Czechoslovakia was the world's 7th largest manufacturer of arms, making Czechoslovakia an important player in the global arms trade. Sudeten German pro-Nazi leader Konrad Henlein offered the Sudeten German Party (SdP) as

3132-553: The "Kingdoms and Lands Represented in the Imperial Council". When Bosnia and Herzegovina was annexed (after 30 years of occupation and administration ), it was not incorporated into either half of the monarchy. Instead, it was governed by the joint Ministry of Finance. During the dissolution of Austria-Hungary , the Austrian territories collapsed under the weight of the various ethnic independence movements that came to

3248-405: The 1920s, the works had the following divisions: blast furnaces; a coking plant; steelworks; rolling mills; a foundry; a forge; a factory for bridges and metal structures; a factory for mounted wheels; an old machine factory ; a factory for petroleum extraction equipment; an armaments factory; a factory for electric machinery; and a locomotives factory with a capacity of 100 units per year. Among

3364-550: The Banat and Bohemia , a locomotive factory in Vienna and the concession for building and operating a railway network of some 5,000 km (3,100 mi), and was financed by one French and two Austrian banks. A persistent legend holds that in the late 1880s, metal produced at Reșița was sent to France to be used in building the Eiffel Tower . However, there is no documentary evidence to support this claim. Since their opening,

3480-650: The Bohemian rebels, Ferdinand II promulgated a Renewed Land Ordinance (1627/1628) that established hereditary succession over Bohemia. Following the Battle of Mohács (1687) , in which Leopold I reconquered almost all of Ottoman Hungary from the Turks, the emperor held a diet in Pressburg to establish hereditary succession in the Hungarian kingdom. Charles V divided the House in 1556 by ceding Austria along with

3596-407: The British government, led by Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain . He contended that Sudeten German grievances were justified and believed that Hitler's intentions were limited. That made Britain and France advise Czechoslovakia to concede to the German demands. Beneš resisted, and on 20 May 1938, a partial mobilisation was under way in response to the possible German invasion. It is suggested that

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3712-420: The Czech army would not fire on the advancing Germans. Göring, however, does not mention that Hácha had a heart attack because of his threat. French Ambassador Robert Coulondre reported that according to an unnamed, considered a reliable source by Coulondre, by half past four, Hácha was "in a state of total collapse, and kept going only by means of injections." On the morning of 15 March, German troops entered

3828-463: The Czech lands and from Prague Castle proclaimed the German protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia . The British historian Victor Rothwell wrote that the Czechoslovak reserves of gold and hard currency seized in March 1939 were "invaluable in staving off Germany's foreign exchange crisis". In addition, the Germans seized all of the factories for making weapons, mines that provided crucial raw materials for

3944-575: The Czech lands). Czechoslovakia had fielded a modern army of 35 divisions and was a major manufacturer of machine guns, tanks, and artillery, most of them assembled in the Škoda factory in Plzeň . Many Czech factories continued to produce Czech designs until converted to German designs. Czechoslovakia also had other major manufacturing companies. Entire steel and chemical factories were moved from Czechoslovakia and reassembled in Linz (which incidentally remains

4060-559: The Four Year Plan was hopelessly behind schedule forced Hitler in January 1939 to reluctantly order major defense cuts with the Wehrmacht having its steel allocations cut by 30%, aluminum 47%, cement 25%, rubber 14% and copper 20%. On 30 January 1939, Hitler made his "Export or die!" speech calling for a German economic offensive or "export battle" to use Hitler's term to increase German foreign exchange holdings to pay for raw materials for

4176-627: The Four Year Plan without cutting back on food imports. Hitler's wish to occupy Czechoslovakia was primarily caused by the foreign exchange crisis as Germany had run down its foreign exchange reserves by early 1939, and Germany urgently needed to seize the gold of the Czechoslovak central bank to continue the Four Year Plan. On 8 March 1939, Hitler met with Wilhelm Keppler , the NSDAP's economic expert, where he spoke about his wish to occupy Czecho-Slovakia for economic reasons, saying that Germany needed its raw materials and industries. Hitler totally ignored

4292-441: The Four Year Plan. Though the Four Year Plan aimed at autarky, there were certain raw materials such as high-grade iron, oil, chrome, nickel, tungsten, and bauxite that Germany did not have and had to be imported. The need to import food and raw materials made Germany into Europe's second largest importer, being exceeded only by Great Britain. Moreover, hundreds of millions of Reichsmarks were spent on various armament works such as

4408-701: The German annexation of the Sudetenland in 1938, continued with the creation of the Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia , and by the end of 1944 extended to all parts of Czechoslovakia. Following the Anschluss of Austria in March 1938 and the Munich Agreement in September of that same year, Adolf Hitler annexed the Sudetenland from Czechoslovakia on 1 October, giving Germany control of

4524-633: The German population in Sudetenland (the average National Socialist Party participation in Nazi Germany was 7.85%). This means the Sudetenland was the most pro-Nazi region in Nazi Germany. Because of their knowledge of the Czech language, many Sudeten Germans were employed in the administration of the Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia and in Nazi organizations such as the Gestapo . The most notable

4640-764: The Habsburg monarchy. Hence, the Habsburg monarchy (of the Austrian branch) is often called "Austria" by metonymy . Around 1700, the Latin term monarchia austriaca came into use as a term of convenience. Within the empire alone, the vast possessions included the original Hereditary Lands, the Erblande , from before 1526; the Lands of the Bohemian Crown ; the formerly Spanish Austrian Netherlands from 1714 until 1794; and some fiefs in Imperial Italy . Outside

4756-652: The Habsburgs in 1282. In 1482, Maximilian I acquired the Netherlands through marriage. Both realms passed to his grandson and successor, Charles V , who also inherited the Spanish throne and its colonial possessions , and thus came to rule the Habsburg empire at its greatest territorial extent. The abdication of Charles V in 1556 led to a division within the dynasty between his son Philip II of Spain and his brother Ferdinand I , who had served as his lieutenant and

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4872-828: The Imperial crown to Ferdinand (as decided at the Imperial election, 1531 ), and the Spanish Empire to his son Philip . The Spanish branch (which also held the Netherlands, the Kingdom of Portugal between 1580 and 1640, and the Mezzogiorno of Italy) became extinct in 1700. The Austrian branch (which also ruled the Holy Roman Empire, Hungary and Bohemia) was itself divided between different branches of

4988-639: The Low Countries, to govern his various realms. At the Diet of Worms in 1521, Emperor Charles V came to terms with his younger brother Ferdinand . According to the Habsburg compact of Worms (1521), confirmed a year later in Brussels , Ferdinand was made Archduke , as a regent of Charles V in the Austrian hereditary lands. Following the death of Louis II of Hungary in the Battle of Mohács against

5104-503: The Mad of Spain (daughter of Ferdinand II of Aragon and Isabella I of Castile ). Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor , the son of Philip and Joanna, inherited the Habsburg Netherlands in 1506, Habsburg Spain and its territories in 1516, and Habsburg Austria in 1519. At this point, the Habsburg possessions were so vast that Charles V was constantly travelling throughout his dominions and therefore needed deputies and regents, such as Isabella of Portugal in Spain and Margaret of Austria in

5220-415: The Nazis as "riff raff" while those who clung most defiantly to their sense of Czech identity were considered to be the better subjects of Germanizaton. Heydrich in a report to Berlin stated that Hácha was "incapable of Germaninzation" as "he is always sick, arrives with a trembling voice and attempts to evoke pity that demands our mercy". By contrast, Heydrich had a grudging respect for Elias, noting that he

5336-541: The Steel Works and Domains of Reșița ( Uzinele de Fier și Domeniile Reșița ; U.D.R. or U.D.R.I.N.) company. A "workshops directorate" belonging to the company was built on the left bank of the Bârzava River ; this included the machine works, the old industrial platform of today's UCM Reșița, where the first St.E.G. workshops were also built between 1886 and 1891. By surface area, over 90% of the company properties were forests, but they also included iron, coal and copper mines; vineyards; roads; and limestone quarries. Starting in

5452-516: The Sudetenland would be completed by 10 October. An international commission representing Germany, Britain, France, Italy and Czechoslovakia would supervise a plebiscite to determine the final frontier. Britain and France promised to join in an international guarantee of the new frontiers against unprovoked aggression. Germany and Italy, however, would not join in the guarantee until the Polish and Hungarian minority problems were settled. On 5 October 1938, Beneš resigned as president since he realised that

5568-541: The Three (R3)—in which the communist underground was also represented—emerged as the focal point of the resistance. The R3 prepared to assist the liberating armies of the U.S. and the Soviet Union. In cooperation with Red Army partisan units, the R3 developed a guerrilla structure. Guerrilla activity intensified with a rising number of parachuted units in 1944, leading to the establishment of partisan groups such as 1st Czechoslovak Partisan Brigade of Jan Žižka , Jan Kozina Brigade or Master Jan Hus Brigade, and especially after

5684-433: The Uprising by soldiers and partisans from the Soviet Union, United Kingdom, US, France, the Czech Republic, and Poland. In total, 32 nations were involved in the Uprising. Edvard Beneš resigned as president of the First Czechoslovak Republic on 5 October 1938 after the Nazi coup. In London, he and other Czechoslovak exiles organized a Czechoslovak government-in-exile and negotiated to obtain international recognition for

5800-526: The agent for Hitler's campaign. Henlein met with Hitler in Berlin on 28 March 1938, where he was instructed to raise demands unacceptable to the Czechoslovak government led by president Edvard Beneš . On 24 April, the SdP issued the Karlsbader Programm , demanding autonomy for the Sudetenland and the freedom to profess National Socialist ideology. If Henlein's demands were granted, the Sudetenland would be an autonomous state aligned with Nazi Germany. I am asking neither that Germany be allowed to oppress three and

5916-500: The agreements of the Munich Agreement and scheduled a German invasion of Bohemia and Moravia for the morning of 15 March. In the interim, he negotiated with the Slovak People's Party and with Hungary to prepare the dismemberment of the republic before the invasion. On 13 March, he invited Tiso to Berlin and on 14 March, the Slovak Diet convened and unanimously declared Slovak independence. Carpatho-Ukraine also declared independence but Hungarian troops occupied and annexed it on 15 March and

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6032-494: The armament program of the Four Year Plan and a "huge weapons haul, including nearly 500 tanks and nearly 1600 aircraft". Besides violating his promises at Munich, the annexation of the rest of Czechoslovakia was, unlike Hitler's previous actions, not described in Mein Kampf . After having repeatedly stated that he was interested only in pan-Germanism , the unification of ethnic Germans into one Reich , Germany had now conquered seven million Czechs. Hitler's proclamation creating

6148-399: The arrest and execution of 10,000 randomly selected Czechs. Over 10,000 were arrested, and at least 1,300 were executed. According to one estimate, 5,000 were killed in reprisals. The assassination resulted in one of the most well-known reprisals of the war. The Nazis completely destroyed the villages of Lidice and Ležáky ; all men over 16 years from the village were murdered, and the rest of

6264-478: The autumn of 1938. Poland reclaimed Zaolzie previously illegally annexed by Czech during Polish-Soviet war in 1920. The Zaolzie region became part of Nazi Germany after the German invasion of Poland in September 1939. The German economy—burdened by heavy militarisation—urgently needed foreign currency. Setting up an artificially high exchange rate between the Czechoslovak koruna and the Reichsmark brought consumer goods to Germans (and soon created shortages in

6380-424: The collection of empires, kingdoms, duchies, counties and other polities that were ruled by the House of Habsburg . From the 18th century it is also referred to as the Austrian monarchy ( Latin : Monarchia Austriaca ) or the Danubian monarchy . The history of the Habsburg monarchy can be traced back to the election of Rudolf I as King of Germany in 1273 and his acquisition of the Duchy of Austria for

6496-458: The company was the largest in Romania, with the latter figure reaching 22,892 in 1948. In 1939, following the German occupation of Czechoslovakia , the Nazi regime took over Československá Zbrojovka 's one-tenth share in Reșița. Together with other incursions into Romanian industry, this move seriously undermined the attempts of King Carol II to maintain an independent foreign policy. Subsequently, commercial and technical management ended up in

6612-434: The conversation noted that for Hácha this was the most difficult decision of his life but believed that in only a few years this decision would be comprehensible and in 50 years would probably be regarded as a blessing. After the negotiations had finished, Hitler told his secretaries, "It is the greatest triumph of my life! I shall enter history as the greatest German of them all." According to Joachim Fest , Hácha suffered

6728-454: The course of its history, other lands were, at times, under Austrian Habsburg rule (some of these territories were secundogenitures , i.e. ruled by other lines of Habsburg dynasty): The boundaries of some of these territories varied over the period indicated, and others were ruled by a subordinate (secundogeniture) Habsburg line. The Habsburgs also held the title of Holy Roman Emperor between 1438 and 1740, and again from 1745 to 1806. Within

6844-412: The development and fortunes of the works have been deeply entwined with the history of the city itself. An important element of their success was due to their relative self-sufficiency; over time, the works tended to use raw materials and energy sources produced on-site. Following the union of Transylvania with Romania , including the Banat, a 1920 royal decree transformed St.E.G.'s Romanian holdings into

6960-409: The division of Carpathian Ruthenia but refused because it was an ally of Czechoslovakia (see Little Entente ). The Czechoslovak capitulation precipitated an outburst of national indignation. In demonstrations and rallies, Czechs and Slovaks called for a strong military government to defend the integrity of the state. A new cabinet, under General Jan Syrový , was installed, and on 23 September 1938,

7076-570: The early 1860s, the famous Austro-Hungarian Compromise of 1867 was arrived at, by which the so-called dual monarchy of Austria-Hungary was set up. In this system, the Kingdom of Hungary ("Lands of the Holy Hungarian Crown of St. Stephen.") was an equal sovereign with only a personal union and a joint foreign and military policy connecting it to the other Habsburg lands. Although the non-Hungarian Habsburg lands were referred to as "Austria", received their own central parliament (the Reichsrat , or Imperial Council ) and ministries, as their official name –

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7192-417: The early modern Habsburg monarchy, each entity was governed according to its own particular customs. Until the mid 17th century, not all of the provinces were even necessarily ruled by the same person—junior members of the family often ruled portions of the Hereditary Lands as private apanages. Serious attempts at centralization began under Maria Theresa and especially her son Joseph II, Holy Roman Emperor in

7308-411: The elected king of Hungary , Croatia and Bohemia . The Spanish branch (which held all of Iberia , the Netherlands , and lands in Italy) became extinct in 1700. The Austrian branch (which ruled the Holy Roman Empire , Hungary, Bohemia and various other lands) was itself split into different branches in 1564 but reunited 101 years later. It became extinct in the male line in 1740, but continued through

7424-410: The empire, they encompassed all the Kingdom of Hungary as well as conquests made at the expense of the Ottoman Empire . The dynastic capital was Vienna , except from 1583 to 1611, when it was in Prague . The first Habsburg who can be reliably traced was Radbot of Klettgau , who was born in the late 10th century; the family name originated with Habsburg Castle , in present-day Switzerland , which

7540-435: The extensive Czechoslovak border fortifications in this area. The incorporation of the Sudetenland into Germany left the rest of Czechoslovakia with a largely indefensible northwestern border. Also a Polish-majority borderland region of Trans-Olza which was annexed by Czechoslovakia in 1919, was occupied and annexed by Poland following the two-decade long territorial dispute. Finally the First Vienna Award gave to Hungary

7656-455: The factories. By 1939, the country was already serving as a major hub of military production for Germany, manufacturing aircraft, tanks, artillery, and other armaments. The Slovak National Uprising ("1944 Uprising") was an armed struggle between German Wehrmacht forces and rebel Slovak troops August–October 1944. It was centered at Banská Bystrica . The rebel Slovak Army, formed to fight the Germans, had an estimated 18,000 soldiers in August,

7772-510: The fall of Czechoslovakia was a fait accompli . After the outbreak of World War II, he would form a Czechoslovak government-in-exile in London. In early November 1938, under the First Vienna Award , which was a result of the Munich agreement, Czechoslovakia—which had failed to reach a compromise with Hungary and Poland—had to cede after the arbitration of Germany and Italy awarded southern Slovakia and Carpathian Ruthenia to Hungary, while Poland invaded Trans-Olza territory shortly after. As

7888-433: The family from 1564 until 1665, but thereafter it remained a single personal union . It became extinct in the male line in 1740, but through the marriage of Queen Maria Theresa with Francis of Lorraine , the dynasty continued as the House of Habsburg-Lorraine . Names of some smaller territories: The territories ruled by the Austrian monarchy changed over the centuries, but the core always consisted of four blocs: Over

8004-443: The fate of the Czech State in the Führer's hands." Hácha later met with Hitler, where Hitler gave the Czech President two options: cooperate with Germany, in which case the "entry of German troops would take place in a tolerable manner" and "permit Czechoslovakia a generous life of her own, autonomy and a degree of national freedom..." or face a scenario in which "resistance would be broken by force of arms, using all means." Minutes of

8120-402: The female line as the House of Habsburg-Lorraine . The Habsburg monarchy was a union of crowns, with only partial shared laws and institutions other than the Habsburg court itself; the provinces were divided in three groups: the Archduchy proper, Inner Austria that included Styria and Carniola , and Further Austria with Tyrol and the Swabian lands. The territorial possessions of

8236-450: The first time, the Reșița Works were divided in two. In September 1954, with the end of the SovRom period, they were reunited into one entity, the Reșița Metallurgical Works ( Combinatul Metalurgic Reșița ) under the Ministry of Heavy Industry, later the Ministry of Metallurgy and Machine Building. After 1948, although the Reșița Works remained the most important heavy industry producers in Romania, they were gradually marginalized as well, with

8352-689: The fore with its defeat in World War I. After its dissolution, the new republics of Austria (the German-Austrian territories of the Hereditary lands) and the First Hungarian Republic were created. In the peace settlement that followed, significant territories were ceded to Romania and Italy and the remainder of the monarchy's territory was shared out among the new states of Poland , the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes (later Yugoslavia), and Czechoslovakia . A junior line ruled over

8468-556: The formation of a provisional Czechoslovak government in Košice on 4 April 1945. "National committees" took over the administration of towns as the Germans were expelled. More than 4,850 such committees were formed between 1944 and the end of the war under the supervision of the Red Army . On 5 May, a national uprising began spontaneously in Prague, and the newly formed Czech National Council ( cs ) almost immediately assumed leadership of

8584-571: The funds were allocated to help resettle Czechs and Slovaks who had fled from territories lost to Germany, Hungary, and Poland in the Munich Agreement or the Vienna Arbitration Award. In November 1938, Emil Hácha , who succeeded Beneš, was elected president of the federated Second Republic , renamed Czecho-Slovakia and consisting of three parts: Bohemia and Moravia, Slovakia, and Carpatho-Ukraine. Lacking its natural frontier and having lost its costly system of border fortification,

8700-602: The furnaces, rods forged from iron, hoops for cart wheels, tools, nails and utensils for agricultural and home use. In 1855, with the empire facing financial crisis and looking to sell, the works were bought by an international consortium, the Imperial Royal Privileged Austrian State Railway Company ( K.u.K Oberprivillegierte Staatseisenbahn Gesellschaft or St.E.G.). Aside from the Reșița Works, this company also owned land and mining, metalworking and railway properties in

8816-542: The government and a renunciation of the Munich Agreement and its consequences. After World War II broke out, a Czechoslovak national committee was constituted in France, and under Beneš's presidency sought international recognition as the exiled government of Czechoslovakia. This attempt led to some minor successes, such as the French-Czechoslovak treaty of 2 October 1939, which allowed for the reconstitution of

8932-570: The hands of Reichswerke Hermann Göring . In June 1948, the new Communist regime nationalized the company, along with 350 others. For over a year, it kept its former name but was gradually integrated into the new government structure. A decree issued in August 1949 led to its effective disaggregation by the end of the year, and its components were folded into two SovRom joint ventures, Sovrommetal (the iron extraction division) and Sovrom Utilaj Petrolier (the machine production division). Thus, for

9048-521: The huge demands of the Four Year Plan "...could not be fully met by a policy of import substitution and industrial rationalisation", thus leading Hitler to decide in November 1937 that to stay ahead in the arms race with the other powers that Germany had to seize Czechoslovakia in the near-future. At the Hossbach conference on 5 November 1937, Hitler announced that seizing Czechoslovakia would increase

9164-400: The industrial landscape. By the early 1990s, the works had caused serious air, water and soil pollution , making Reșița among the most severely polluted areas of Eastern Europe. 45°17′42″N 21°54′11″E  /  45.295°N 21.903°E  / 45.295; 21.903 Habsburg monarchy The Habsburg monarchy , also known as Habsburg Empire , or Habsburg Realm , was

9280-446: The local cinemas and free sports matches could win the support of the working class and increase productivity in the war industries. However, inflation was rampant and wage increases failed to keep up with the cost of living, causing the workers to frequently grumble about their conditions. Beneš—the leader of the Czechoslovak government-in-exile—and František Moravec —head of Czechoslovak military intelligence—organized and coordinated

9396-701: The main products generated were steam locomotives, including repairs; mounted wheels, including axles; wheel bandages, metal bridges, railroad switches and other rail equipment; metal frames for buildings and factories; moveable bridges ; electric machinery and equipment such as motors, generators and transformers; petroleum extraction equipment, including pumpjacks , couplings , heavy drill bits , pump units, rotary engine parts, crown blocks and gear reducers; and armaments, such as artillery, gun carriages, 75 mm Vickers antitank and antiaircraft guns; coastal artillery; naval mines ; and Brandt 60 and 120 mm LR Gun-mortars . In terms of revenue and number of employees,

9512-500: The mid to late 18th century, but many of these were abandoned following large scale resistance to Joseph's more radical reform attempts, although a more cautious policy of centralization continued during the revolutionary period and the Metternichian period that followed. Another attempt at centralization began in 1849 following the suppression of the various revolutions of 1848 . For the first time, ministers tried to transform

9628-604: The mobilisation could have been launched on basis of Soviet misinformation about Germany being on verge of invasion, which aimed to trigger war in Western Europe. On 30 May, Hitler signed a secret directive for war against Czechoslovakia to begin no later than 1 October. In the meantime, the British government demanded for Beneš to request a mediator. Not wishing to sever his government's ties with Western Europe, Beneš reluctantly accepted. The British appointed Lord Runciman and instructed him to persuade Beneš to agree to

9744-525: The monarchy into a centralized bureaucratic state ruled from Vienna. The Kingdom of Hungary was placed under martial law , being divided into a series of military districts, the centralized neo-absolutism tried to as well to nullify Hungary's constitution and Diet . Following the Habsburg defeats in the Second Italian War of Independence (1859) and Austro-Prussian War (1866), these policies were step by step abandoned. After experimentation in

9860-611: The monarchy were thus united only by virtue of a common monarch. The Habsburg realms were unified in 1804 with the formation of the Austrian Empire and later split in two with the Austro-Hungarian Compromise of 1867 . The monarchy began to fracture in the face of inevitable defeat during the final years of World War I and ultimately disbanded with the proclamation of the Republic of German-Austria and

9976-419: The nation's economy and ultimately lead to German control of all of Czechoslovakia. The United Kingdom and France issued an ultimatum and made a French commitment to Czechoslovakia contingent upon its acceptance. On 21 September, Czechoslovakia capitulated. The next day, however, Hitler added new demands that insisted for the claims of Poland and Hungary to be satisfied as well. Romania was also invited to share in

10092-492: The new state was militarily indefensible. Without the natural defensive barrier of the mountains of the Sudetenland, Hácha carried out a foreign policy that was slavishly pro-German as he felt this was the best way to preserve his nation's independence. In late 1938-early 1939, the continuing economic crisis caused by problems of rearmament, especially the shortage of foreign hard currencies needed to pay for raw materials Germany lacked together with reports from Hermann Göring that

10208-564: The occupation of Czechoslovakia to Hungary in Operation Margarethe , then to Slovakia in August 1944 following the Slovak National Uprising . The occupation ended with the surrender of Germany at the end of World War II. Hitler's interest in Czechoslovakia was largely economic. Germany had the second-largest economy in the world, but German agriculture was not capable of feeding the population, and there

10324-468: The occupation, the Nazis banned Russian ballet . A last-ditch attempt to save Czechoslovakia from total ruin was made by the British and French governments, who on 27 January 1939, concluded an agreement of financial assistance with the Czechoslovak government. In this agreement, the British and French governments undertook to lend the Czechoslovak government £8 million and make a gift of £4 million. Part of

10440-569: The other hand, the Czechs/ Slavs were not considered by the Germans as a racial equal due to its classification as a mixture of races with Jewish and Asiatic influences. This was illustrated in a series of discussion, which denigrated it as less valuable and, specifically, the Czechs as "dangerous and must be handled differently from Aryan peoples." A paradox of German policy was that the collaborators such as Hácha were held in contempt by

10556-533: The population was sent to Nazi concentration camps where many women and nearly all the children were killed. The Czechoslovak resistance comprised four main groups: The democratic groups—ON, PÚ, and PVVZ—united in early 1940 and formed the Central Committee of the Home Resistance ( Ústřední výbor odboje domácího , ÚVOD). Involved primarily in intelligence gathering, the ÚVOD cooperated with

10672-519: The protectorate on 16 March claimed that "Bohemia and Moravia have for thousands of years belonged to the Lebensraum of the German people". British public opinion changed drastically after the invasion. Chamberlain realised that the Munich Agreement had meant nothing to Hitler. Chamberlain told the British public on 17 March during a speech in Birmingham that Hitler was attempting "to dominate

10788-505: The remaining Czech parts of Czechoslovakia ( Rest-Tschechei in German), meeting practically no resistance (the only instance of organized resistance took place in Místek where an infantry company commanded by Karel Pavlík fought invading German troops). The Hungarian invasion of Carpatho-Ukraine encountered resistance but the Hungarian army quickly crushed it. On 16 March, Hitler went to

10904-605: The remaining rump of Czechoslovakia. According to the Institute for Refugee Assistance, the actual count of refugees on 1 March 1939 stood at almost 150,000. On 4 December 1938, there were elections in Reichsgau Sudetenland , in which 97.32% of the adult population voted for the National Socialist Party. About 500,000 Sudeten Germans joined the National Socialist Party, which was 17.34% of

11020-471: The revolt. Over 1,600 barricades were erected throughout the city, and some 30,000 Czech men and women battled for three days against 40,000 German troops backed by tanks, aircraft and artillery. On 8 May, the German Wehrmacht capitulated; Soviet troops arrived on 9 May. There are sources that highlighted the more favorable treatment of the Czechs during the German occupation in comparison to

11136-493: The same time, significant technological advances were incorporated. Among the devices introduced were steam turbines and turbo generators; new air compressors ; diesel locomotives and bogies; electrical bushings ; hydroelectric units including hydraulic turbines, generators and rotation regulators; Diesel engines for marine propulsion ; equipment for the chemical and metallurgical industries; fluid mechanics equipment like hydraulic pumps and large hydraulic servo motors . At

11252-448: The same time, steam locomotives were phased out. During four decades of a planned economy , no significant economic development program on a national scale—including the program to develop the energy supply through thermoelectric and hydroelectric machines and equipment; the nuclear power program ; and the programs to develop rail transport, the naval fleet, the metallurgical, mining and chemical industries—was undertaken without

11368-469: The southern territories of Slovakia and Carpathian Ruthenia , mostly inhabited by Hungarians. The Slovak State broke off on 14 March 1939, and Hungary annexed the remainder of Carpathian Ruthenia the following day. On 15 March, during a visit to Berlin, the Czechoslovak president Emil Hácha was coerced into signing away his country's independence. On 16 March, Hitler proclaimed the Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia from Prague Castle , leaving Hácha as

11484-449: The state sold the remainder of its shares. Largely owned by a Swiss company and with some 2500 employees, it is involved with machining operations on machine tools, welding, heat and thermochemical treatments and electroplating. Four industrial elements of the Reșița Works are listed as historic monuments : the UCM locomotive factory, and from the CSR, blast furnace #2, the brick factory and

11600-413: The supply of food under German control, which in turn would lessen the need to import food, thereby freeing up more foreign exchange to import raw materials necessary for the Four Year Plan's targets. The Hossbach conference was largely taken up with an extended discussion about the necessity of bringing areas adjunct to Germany under German economic control, by force if necessary, as Hitler argued that this

11716-399: The then Wehrmacht. Czechoslovak weaponry later played a major part in the German conquests of Poland (1939) and France (1940). Heydrich during his time as Reichsprotektor brought about increases in rations for workers in the armaments industry, improved welfare services, free shoes and for a short time, a five-day work week as Saturday was made a holiday. The National Union of Employees

11832-480: The time, Czechoslovakia had Europe's 7th largest economy, and easily the most modern, developed, and industrialized economy in Eastern Europe. The former Austrian provinces of Bohemia, Moravia and Silesia that now comprise the modern Czech Republic had been the industrial heartland of the Austrian empire, where the majority of the arms for the Imperial Austrian Army were manufactured, most notably at

11948-399: The town of Český Těšín with the surrounding area (some 906 km (350 sq mi)), some 250,000 inhabitants, Poles making up about 36% of population, and two minor border areas in northern Slovakia, more precisely in the regions Spiš and Orava . (226 km (87 sq mi), 4,280 inhabitants, only 0.3% Poles). Soon after Munich, 115,000 Czechs and 30,000 Germans fled to

12064-545: The treatment of the Poles and the Ukrainians. This is attributed to the view within the Nazi hierarchy that a large swath of the populace was "capable of Aryanization ," hence, the Czechs were not subjected to a similar degree of random and organized acts of brutality that their Polish counterparts experienced. Such capacity for Aryanization was supported by the position that part of the Czech population had German ancestry. On

12180-551: The two major factions in Subcarpathian Ruthenia , the Russophiles and Ukrainophiles, agreed on the establishment of an autonomous government, which was constituted on 8 October. Reflecting the spread of modern Ukrainian national consciousness , the pro-Ukrainian faction, led by Avhustyn Voloshyn , gained control of the local government and Subcarpathian Ruthenia was renamed Carpatho-Ukraine . In 1939, during

12296-527: The world by force". Shortly before World War II, Czechoslovakia ceased to exist. Its territory was divided into the Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia, the newly declared Slovak State and the short-lived Republic of Carpathian Ukraine . While much of former Czechoslovakia came under the control of Nazi Germany, Hungarian forces swiftly overran the Carpathian Ukraine. Hungary annexed some areas (e.g., Southern Slovakia and Carpathian Ruthenia) in

12412-607: Was Karl Hermann Frank , the SS and police general and Secretary of State in the Protectorate. The greatly weakened Czechoslovak Republic was forced to grant major concessions to the non-Czechs. The executive committee of the Slovak People's Party met at Žilina on 5 October 1938, and with the acquiescence of all Slovak parties except the Social Democrats formed an autonomous Slovak government under Jozef Tiso . Similarly,

12528-414: Was also a lack of many raw materials, which had to be imported. The Four-Year Plan that Hitler had launched in September 1936 to have the German economy ready for a "total war" by 1940 had seriously strained the German economy by 1937 as German government was forced to use up its foreign exchange reserves both to feed its own people and to import various raw materials to achieve the ambitious armament goals of

12644-459: Was built by Radbot. After 1279, the Habsburgs came to rule in the Duchy of Austria , which was part of the elective Kingdom of Germany within the Holy Roman Empire . King Rudolf I of Germany of the Habsburg family assigned the Duchy of Austria to his sons at the Diet of Augsburg (1282), thus establishing the " Austrian hereditary lands ". From that moment, the Habsburg dynasty was also known as

12760-471: Was exploited by the extremist Greater Romania Party , which took control of regular demonstrations where slogans against joining the European Union and NATO became increasingly commonplace; finally, in June 2001, the government announced it would go to court to scrap the contract because of the nationwide "economic and social destabilization" risked by allowing the situation to continue. The process

12876-556: Was remolded in the style of the Nazi pseudo-union, the German Labour Front , to provide free sports events, films, concerts and plays for the workers. Heydrich sought to portray himself as the friend of the Czech working class, even meeting a group of selected Czech workers on 24 October 1941 in a photo-op to show his supposed concern for the Czech workers. Heydrich cynically called his policy "optical effects" as he believed that mere gestures such as free showings of films at

12992-595: Was restarted in 2003, and the following year, the state sold it off. A subsidiary of the Russian firm OAO TMK , it has been known as TMK Reșița since 2006. It produces tubular billets, heavy round profiles and blooms, and started putting out blanks in 2007. By 2011, the number of employees had fallen to 800, from 10,400 in 1990. UCMR was under the control of various ministries, its name being changed in 1973 to Reșița Machine Building Enterprise ( Întreprinderea de Construcții de Mașini Reșița ; ICMR). Between 1969 and 1973, it

13108-576: Was the best way to win the arms race. Hitler stated: "areas producing raw materials can be more usefully sought in Europe, in immediate proximity to the Reich ". Overy wrote about Hitler's attitude to the Reich 's economic problems that: "He simply saw war instrumentally, as the Japanese had done in Manchuria, as a way to expand the German resource base and to secure it against other powers". At

13224-650: Was the focus of activity, but machinery manufacturing gradually gained prominence, becoming the main occupation in the last quarter of the 19th century. For decades, the two complemented each other within the same integrated factory. Until 1855, the works belonged to the Treasury of what had become the Austrian Empire , which exercised control through the Banat Mining Directorate in Oravița . By 1815, they were producing cast iron pieces coming directly from

13340-692: Was the hub of Reșița Plants Group ( Grupul de Uzine Reșița ), which also included a metal structures plant in Bocșa , a machine plant in Caransebeș , a mechanical plant in Timișoara and an institute for research and planning hydroelectric equipment in Reșița. After the Romanian Revolution , it regained the UCMR name in 1991, and underwent a privatization process starting in 1993. This concluded in 2003, when

13456-418: Was youthful, healthy, and a determined defender of Czech interests, which led Heydrich to conclude that he must have some German blood. Aside from the inconsistency of animosity towards Slavs, there is also the fact that the forceful but restrained policy in Czechoslovakia was partly driven by the need to keep the population nourished and complacent so that it can carry out the vital work of arms production in

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