Everything Everywhere Daily: History, Science, Geography & More - The Velvet Revolution and The Velvet Divorce

Episode Date: September 22, 2025

The country of Czechoslovakia was born and died in the 20th century.  It was created after a war, suffered through another war, was occupied during the Cold War, and was finally liberated in 1989.  Once it did become free of Soviet Rule, they decided that maybe they should never have been made into a country in the first place.  Unlike almost every country that came before it, it managed to dissolve without any violence.  Learn more about Czechoslovakia, the Velvet Revolution, and the Velvet Divorce on this episode of Everything Everywhere Daily. Sponsors Quince Go to quince.com/daily for 365-day returns, plus free shipping on your order! Mint Mobile Get your 3-month Unlimited wireless plan for just 15 bucks a month at mintmobile.com/eed Stash Go to get.stash.com/EVERYTHING to see how you can receive $25 towards your first stock purchase. ExpressVPN Go to expressvpn.com/EED to get an extra four months of ExpressVPN for free!w Subscribe to the podcast!  https://everything-everywhere.com/everything-everywhere-daily-podcast/ -------------------------------- Executive Producer: Charles Daniel Associate Producers: Austin Oetken & Cameron Kieffer   Become a supporter on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/everythingeverywhere Discord Server: https://discord.gg/UkRUJFh Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/everythingeverywhere/ Facebook Group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/everythingeverywheredaily Twitter: https://twitter.com/everywheretrip Website: https://everything-everywhere.com/  Disce aliquid novi cotidie Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The country of Czechoslovakia was born and died in the 20th century. It was created after a war, suffered through another war, was occupied during the Cold War, and finally was liberated in 1989. Once it did become free of Soviet rule, they decided that maybe they never should have been made into a country in the first place. Unlike almost every country that came before it, it managed to dissolve without any violence. Learn more about Czechoslovakia, the Velvet Revolution, and the Velvet divorce on this episode of Everything Everywhere Daily.

Did you ever hear about the selfie that solved a murder or the jury that used a Ouija board to speak to a victim? If that made you pause, you need to listen to Morning Cup of Murder. I'm Karina B. Minas Durfer, and every single day on Morning Cup of Murder, I tell one chilling true crime story tied to that exact day in history. With over 2,500 episodes to binge, you'll never run out of dark stories to start your morning. with. Go listen to Morning Cup of Murder wherever you get your podcasts. And remember, stay safe. Before I get into how Czechoslovakia ended, I should probably address how Czechoslovakia began. Czechoslovakia was not a historic country with a long history. It was created in the aftermath of

World War I from mainly three historic regions, Bohemia, Moravia, and Slovakia. All three regions were part of the Austro-Hungarian Empire before the war. However, they had different histories. Bohemia and Moravia were crown lands of the Austrian half of the empire, with a large Czech population, but also significant German and Jewish communities. Slovakia was part of the Kingdom of Hungary, where Slovak's were subject to majorization policies that restricted their language and cultural expression. Czech nationalism in the late 19th century had produced a sophisticated movement centered in the city of Prague, where Slovak nationalism was smaller and weaker, with its leaders often repressed by Hungarian authorities. And here I should note that despite their separate histories, Czechs and Slovaks

are not that radically different from each other. The two groups are primarily defined by their languages. Checks and Slovaks are very closely related West Slavic languages, both descended from the same linguistic branch, and they're mutually intelligible to a high degree. German had a greater influence on Czech to do centuries under Austrian rule, while Slovak represents more substantial Hungarian influence from its time under the Kingdom of Hungary. In practice, Czechs and Slovaks can understand each other in spoken and written form without major difficulty, especially older people who grew up in Czechoslovakia. Younger people who have had less daily exposure to the other language since 1993 still usually comprehend it well,

but may find it a little less natural. When the First World War broke out in 1914, most Czech and Slovak leaders inside the empire were cautious, but a group of exiled intellectuals and politicians began pressing for independence. They formed the Czechoslovak National Council, which lobbied the Allies to recognize an independent Czechoslovakia. They argued that the Czechs and Slovaks were closely related Slavic peoples who should form a single state.

To strengthen their case, they organized the Czechoslovak legions, which were military units of Czech and Slovak volunteers who fought alongside the Allies in France, Italy, and especially Russia. By early 1918, as the Austro-Hungarian Empire was collapsing, the Allied powers recognized the Czechoslovak National Council as the legitimate representative of a future Czechoslovakian state. In May of 1918, the Pittsburgh Agreement was signed in the United States between Cheklo-Slovak-Slovakian state. Czech and Slovak emigray leaders promising a joint state with Slovak autonomy. On October 28, 1918 in Prague, Czech leaders declared independence, forming the Czechoslovak Republic. In Martin Slovakia, Slovak representatives issued the Martin Declaration on October 30th,

affirming union with the Czechs. The takeaway of all this is that Czechs and Slovak's are very similar people, who speak a very similar language, but have different histories based on who ruled over them for hundreds of years. The establishment of Czechoslovakia as a union was really a marriage of convenience between Czechs and Slovaks, who realized that they had a better chance of independence together than they did separately. Czechoslovakia was partially annexed by Germany during World War II and then later occupied, only to be occupied by the Soviets at the end of the war. The Soviets then set up a communist puppet state, which became a part of the war.

of the Iron Curtain during the Cold War. And I'm glossing over a whole lot of history here, but suffices to say that the Czechoslovak people, like almost everyone else in Eastern Europe, didn't like this situation. In January of 1968, a reformist leader, Alexander Dubchek, became the first secretary of the Communist Party.

Dubchek launched a program that he called Socialism with a human face, which aimed to democratize the communist system without abandoning socialism. His reforms included easing censorship, expanding freedom of speech and press, reducing the power of the secret police, decentralizing economic decision-making, and allowing greater political participation. For a few months, Czechoslovakia experienced unprecedented openness and cultural flowering,

with lively debates, independent journalism, and public enthusiasm. The Soviet Union and other Warsaw Pact allies feared these changes would undermine communist control across Europe. So on August 20th and 21st of 1968, Soviet-led forces invaded Czechoslovakia with hundreds of thousands of troops and tanks ending the reform movement. Dupechek was removed and replaced by hardliners, beginning a period of repression known as normalization. Now fast forward to the late 1980s. Almost 20 years later, dissatisfaction still simmered below the surface. Dissident movements such as Charter 77, led by figures like Voslav Havel, pressed for human rights and democratic reforms, although they were harassed and often put in jail. Meanwhile, the economy stagnated and the regime lost credibility, as the Glasnost and Praistroika reforms under Mikhail Gorbachev in the Soviet Union highlighted the stagnation in Czechoslovakia.

The Velvet Revolution began on November 17, 1989, when students in Prague organized a demonstration to commemorate Jan Opelitol, a student killed by the Nazis in 1939. The march, initially permitted, turned into a protest against the regime. Riot police brutally suppressed it, sparking outrage across the country. Rumors that a student had been killed, later proven faults, further inflamed public anger. In the days that followed, demonstrations grew rapidly. By November 19th, dissidents, intellectuals, and actors formed the Civic Forum, led by Votslav Havel to coordinate the opposition. In Slovakia, the parallel group Public Against Violence emerged.

Protests swelled with hundreds of thousands gathering in Prague's Wenceslas Square. Workers joined in strikes, including a nationwide general strike in November 27th that paralyzed the country. The demonstrations remained peaceful, often featuring jingling keys as a symbol of unlocking freedom and signaling the end of the regime. There was one big difference between what was happening in 1989 and what happened in 1968. This time, the Soviet Union was in no position to do anything, given the problems that they were dealing with at home. Faced with massive public opposition and Gorbachev making it clear that he would not intervene militarily, the Communist Party began to yield. On November 24th, the top leadership, including General Secretary Milosh-Yakish, resigned. Negotiations between the Civic Forum and the government then followed.

By late November, censorship was abolished, and the Communist Party gave up its monopoly on power. On December 10th, President Gustav Husok appointed a government that, for the first time since 1948, included non-communists. Hussack himself resigned that same day. On December 29, 1989, Vaslov Haville, a dissident playwright and leading figure of the Civic Forum, was unanimously elected president by the Federal Assembly. free parliamentary elections followed in June of 1990, confirming Czechoslovakia's shift to democracy. This became known as the Velvet Revolution because of its lack of violence. No deaths occurred, and the communist system fell in a matter of weeks once the protests started.

The speed and peacefulness of the transition stood in stark contrast to, say, Romania, where the overthrow of Nikolai Chochescu involved a lot of bloodshed. Now that Czechoslovakia was truly independent for the first time in 50 years since the Nazis annexed the Sudatan land, many issues that had been repressed suddenly came to the surface. The first order of business for the newly liberated Czechoslovakia was to undo much of the communist regime's actions by privatizing the economy and seeking integration with Western Europe. And this is where the differences between the Czechs and the Slovak's started to emerge. The Czech lands were more industrialized and better positioned for a market economy,

while Slovakia's economy relied on heavy industry subsidized under communism. Many Slovak's feared rapid economic shock therapy would hurt them disproportionately. Votslov Klaus, a strong advocate of liberal economic reforms and centralized governance, dominated Czech politics. In Slovakia, Vladimir Metschiar gained support as a populist leader, pressing for more autonomy and a slower transition. The Slovak's increasingly wanted recognition as a distinct nation, not merely as a junior partner in a common state. The rationale for the union that existed back in 1918 was no longer

valid in 1990. In the 1992 federal elections, Wotslav Klaus's Civic Democratic Party won in the Czech lands, while Vladimir Mechiar's movement for a Democratic Slovakia triumphed in Slovakia. The two leaders had sharply different visions. Klaus wanted a strong federation with rapid market reforms, while Mechior demanded a looser confederation granting Slovakia near total sovereignty. Negotiation between the two sides quickly revealed that compromise was unlikely. So, rather than risk-pronged political paralysis or instability, Klaus and Mechior agreed to a peaceful split.

President Watzlov Havl, one of the leaders of the Velvet Revolution, opposed dissolution and resigned his position in July of 1992 when it became clear that the split was inevitable. And here I should note just how radical and unusual this was in world history. Most countries go to war to avoid splitting apart. Numerous civil wars have been fought to prevent groups from breaking away to create their own countries. Yet here were two groups in a country who agreed to just split apart wholly and peacefully dissolve the country that united them. On November 25th, 1992, the Federal Assembly voted to dissolve Czechoslovakia. The process was carefully planned to minimize disruption.

On January 1, 1993, Czechoslovakia officially ceased to exist, replaced by the Czech Republic and the nation of Slovakia. Property, infrastructure, and military forces were divided roughly two to one in favor of the Czech Republic, reflecting population ratios. Initially, both countries shared the Czechoslovakian Koruna, but by February 1993, they had introduced separate currencies. The split followed existing internal federal boundaries, with no border disputes. Citizens were given the option of choosing Czech or Slovak citizenship. Both countries were swiftly recognized internationally and admitted separately to the United Nations. And again, because of the lack of violence in the separation, this became known as the Velvet Divorce. The Velvet divorce remains one of the most peaceful examples of state dissolution in modern history.

Both the Czech Republic and Slovakia pursued integration with Western institutions, eventually joining NATO, 1999 for the Czech Republic in 2004 for Slovakia, and the European Union, which they both joined in 2004. Slovakia adopted the Euro in 2009, while the Czech Republic retained the Kouruna as its currency. public opinion polls have since shown that the majorities in both nations consider the split to have been the right decision, even if it was driven more by political elites than by popular demand. Before I conclude, I should address the issue of the names of the countries. Slovakia is Slovakia.

But the Czech Republic is a rather awkward name. I have a friend named Joel who kept calling the country checklist Slovakia, even though that country hasn't existed for 30 years. Many people continue to erroneously call the Czech Republic Czechoslovakia simply because it rolls off the tongue more easily. The lands that make up the modern country were historically known collectively as just the Czech lands. After the creation of Czechoslovakia in 1918,

there was no need for a short name for just the Czech part alone. And when Czechoslovakia split in 1993, the Czech half officially became, the Czech Republic. And while the Czech Republic was legally accurate, many found it awkward compared to short one-word names like France or Poland. The word Chesco has been used in the Czech language since at least the 19th century, though it was sometimes considered to be colloquial or inelegant. Its English equivalent, Czechia, first appeared in the 19th century as well, although it never gained widespread use.

After independence in 1993, some Czech politicians and linguists pushed for Czechia as the standard short form, arguing that it paralleled names of other European countries. After all, Slovaks live in Slovakia, Bulgarians live in Bulgaria, Croats live in Croatia, Austrians live in Austria, so it makes sense that Czechs live in Czechia. However, others opposed it, feeling that the term was unfamiliar, ugly sounding to English ears, or too easily confused with Chechnya. And as a result, the Czech Republic remained dominant in official and diplomatic usage. But in 2016, the Czech government formally requested that Czechia be registered with the United Nations and international bodies as the country's official short name. It now appears alongside the Czech Republic in official registers and maps, sports organizations and some governments have also adopted it. For a

example, the International Olympic Committee and the United Nations now use Chequia. And I've personally adopted the use of Chequia as well, as it makes perfect sense, even though I may have to explain to people every once in a while what it means. The Velvet Revolution and the Velvet Divorce remain very unique cases. In a century that saw the greatest loss of life in human history, a country managed to achieve independence and then dissolve itself without any violence whatsoever. The executive producer of Everything Everywhere Daily is Charles Daniel. The associate producers are Austin Otkin and Cameron Kiefer.

My big thanks go to everyone who supports the show over on Patreon. Your support helps make this podcast possible. And I also want to remind everyone about the community groups on Facebook and Discord. That's where everything happens that's outside the podcast. And links to those are available in the show notes. As always, if you leave a review on any major podcast, podcast app or in the above community groups, you two can have it read in the show.