Czech and Slovak Federative Republic

Czech and Slovak Federative Republic
Česká a Slovenská Federativní / Federatívna Republika
1990–1992
Motto
"Pravda vítězí / Pravda víťazí"  (Czech/Slovak)
"Veritas vincit"  (Latin)
"Truth prevails"
(1990–1992)
Anthem
Kde domov můj  •  Nad Tatrou sa blýska
Where is my home? Lightning over the Tatras
Capital Prague
Languages Czech · Slovak
Government Federal parliamentary [1] constitutional republic
President
 •  1989–1992 Václav Havel
Prime Minister
 • 1989–1992 Marián Čalfa
 • 1992 Jan Stráský
Legislature Federal Assembly (Czechoslovakia)
 •  Upper house Chamber of Nations (Czechoslovakia)
 •  Lower house Chamber of Peoples (Czechoslovakia)
Historical era Velvet Revolution • Revolutions of 1989
 •  Constitutional change 23 April 1990
 •  Dissolution 31 December 1992
Area
 •  1992 127,900 km2 (49,400 sq mi)
Population
 •  1992 est. 15,600,000 
     Density 122/km2 (316/sq mi)
Currency Czechoslovak koruna
Internet TLD .cs
Calling code +42
Preceded by 		Succeeded by
Czechoslovak Socialist Republic
Czech Republic
Slovakia
Today part of  Czech Republic
 Slovakia

After the fall of communism in 1989, Czechoslovakia adopted the official name Czech and Slovak Federative Republic (Czech/Slovak: Česká a Slovenská Federativní/Federatívna Republika, ČSFR) during the period from 23 April 1990 until 31 December 1992, when the country was dissolved into the Czech Republic and Slovakia. This period id sometimes referred to as the Fifth Czechoslovak Republic.[2]

Adoption of the name

Since 1960, Czechoslovakia's official name had been the Czechoslovak Socialist Republic (Československá socialistická republika, ČSSR). In the aftermath of the Velvet Revolution, newly elected President Václav Havel announced that "Socialist" would be dropped from the country's official name.

Conventional wisdom suggested that the country would resume the name used from 1919 to 1938 and from 1945 to 1960, Československá republika (Czechoslovak Republic). However, Slovak politicians objected that the traditional name subsumed Slovakia's equal status in the federal state too much. The first compromise was Constitutional Law 81/1990, which changed the country's name to Czechoslovak Federative Republic (Czech: ''Československá federativní republika, Slovak: Česko-slovenská federatívna republika), explicitly acknowledging the federal nature of the state. It was passed on 29 March 1990 (coming into force on the same day) only after an informal agreement on the Slovak form which would be explicitly codified by a future law on state symbols. This was met with general disapproval and another round of haggling, dubbed "the hyphen war" (pomlčková válka/vojna) after Slovaks' wish to insert a hyphen into the name (Česko-Slovensko). However, aggrieved Czechs vehemently opposed it as too reminiscent of such practice during the "Second Republic" (when the official name was "Czecho-Slovak Republic"—which had also been used from 1918 to 1919)--when the country had been mutilated by the Munich Agreement and was slipping toward its final dismemberment at the hands of Nazi Germany a year later. The resultant compromise, after much behind-the-scenes negotiation, was Constitutional Law 101/1990, passed on 20 April and in force since its declaration on 23 April. The law changed the country's name to "Czech and Slovak Federative Republic"; unlike the previous one, it also explicitly listed both versions and stated they were equal.

The name breaks the rules of Czech and Slovak orthography, which do not use capitalization for proper names' second and further words (see above), nor adjectives derived from them. Thus the correct form would be "Česká a slovenská federat... republika." However, "Česká a Slovenská F. R." was adopted in hopes of eliminating any debate about the prestige of Slovakia. While few people were happy with the name, it came into use quickly. Czech and Slovak tensions, of which this was an early sign, soon became manifest in matters of greater immediate importance which made the country's name a comparatively minor issue and at the same time even more impossible to change, so the name remained.

The 1960 Constitution remained in force on an interim basis. However, it was heavily amended to prune out its Communist character. Work on a permanent constitution was still underway at the time of the dissolution of Czechoslovakia.

See also

References

  1. ↑ See the article of Václav Havel
  2. ↑ http://www.7republika.cz/
Pre-1918 1918–1938 1938–1945 1945–1948 1948–1989 1989–1992 1993–
Bohemia
Moravia
Silesia		 Austrian Empire First Republica Sudetenlandb Third Republic Czechoslovak Republice
1948–1960		 Czechoslovak Socialist Republicf
1960–1990		 Czech and Slovak Federative Republic
1990–1992		 Czech Republic
Second
 Republicc
1938–1939		 Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia
1939–1945
Slovakia Kingdom of Hungary Slovak Republic
1939–1945		 Slovak Republic
(Slovakia)
Southern Slovakia and Carpatho-Ukrained
Carpathian Ruthenia Zakarpattia Oblastg
1944 / 1946 – 1991		 Zakarpattia Oblasth
1991–present
Austria-Hungary Czechoslovak government-in-exile

a ČSR; boundaries and government established by the 1920 constitution.
b Annexed by Nazi Germany.
c ČSR; included the autonomous regions of Slovakia and Carpathian Ruthenia.
d Annexed by Hungary (1939–1945).

e ČSR; declared a "people's democracy" (without formal name change) under the Ninth-of-May Constitution following the 1948 coup.
f ČSSR; from 1969, after the Prague Spring, consisted of the Czech Socialist Republic (ČSR) and Slovak Socialist Republic (SSR).
g Oblast of the Ukrainian SSR.
h Oblast of Ukraine.

Coordinates: 50°05′N 14°28′E / 50.083°N 14.467°E / 50.083; 14.467

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