Dissolution of Czechoslovakia in the context of "Václav Havel"

Czechoslovakia (/ˌtʃɛkoʊsloʊˈvæki.ə, ˈtʃɛkə-, -slə-, -ˈvɑː-/ CHEK-oh-sloh-VAK-ee-ə, CHEK-ə-, -⁠slə-, -⁠VAH-; Czech and Slovak: Československo, Česko-Slovensko) was a landlocked country in Central Europe created in 1918 when it declared its independence from Austria-Hungary. In 1938, after the Munich Agreement, the Sudetenland became part of Nazi Germany. Between 1939 and 1945, the state ceased to exist, as Slovakia proclaimed its independence and Carpathian Ruthenia became part of Hungary, while the German Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia was proclaimed in the remainder of the Czech Lands. In 1939, after the outbreak of World War II, former Czechoslovak president Edvard Beneš formed a government-in-exile and sought recognition from the Allies.

After World War II, Czechoslovakia was re-established under its pre-1938 borders, with the exception of Carpathian Ruthenia, which became part of the Ukrainian SSR (a republic of the Soviet Union). The Communist Party seized power in a coup in 1948. From 1948 to 1989, Czechoslovakia was part of the Eastern Bloc with a planned economy. Its economic status was formalized in membership of Comecon from 1949 and its defense status in the Warsaw Pact of 1955. A period of political liberalization in 1968, the Prague Spring, ended when the Soviet Union, assisted by other Warsaw Pact countries, invaded Czechoslovakia. In 1989, as Marxist–Leninist governments and communism were ending all over Central and Eastern Europe, Czechoslovaks peacefully deposed their communist government during the Velvet Revolution, which began on 17 November 1989 and ended 11 days later on 28 November when all of the top Communist leaders and Communist party itself resigned. On 31 December 1992, Czechoslovakia split peacefully into the two sovereign states of the Czech Republic and Slovakia.

The Duchy of Bohemia was established in 870 and raised to the Kingdom of Bohemia in 1198. Several Bohemian monarchs ruled as non-hereditary kings and first gained the title in 1085. From 1004 to 1806, Bohemia was part of the Holy Roman Empire, and its ruler was an elector. From 1526 to 1804, the Kingdom of Bohemia, together with the other lands of the Bohemian Crown, was ruled under a personal union as part of the Habsburg monarchy. From 1804 to 1918, Bohemia was part of the Austrian Empire, which itself was part of the dual monarchy of Austria-Hungary from 1867 to 1918. Following the dissolution of the monarchy, the Bohemian lands, now also referred to as Czech lands, became part of Czechoslovakia, and they have formed today's Czech Republic since the 1993 dissolution of Czechoslovakia.

The Constitution of the Czechoslovak Socialist Republic (Ústava Československé socialistické / Československej socialistickej republiky in Czech / Slovak), promulgated on 11 July 1960 as the constitutional law 100/1960 Sb., was a communist state constitution and Czechoslovakia's third constitution overall. It was the second constitution adopted under Communist rule. It replaced the 1948 Ninth-of-May Constitution and was widely changed by the Constitutional Law of Federation in 1968. It was extensively revised after the Velvet Revolution to prune out its state socialist character. The revision was intended to allow the document to be used until it could be replaced with a completely new constitution. However, this never took place, and it remained in force until the dissolution of Czechoslovakia in 1992.

Okres (Czech and Slovak term meaning "district" in English; from German Kreis - circle (or perimeter)) refers to administrative entities in the Czech Republic and Slovakia. It is similar to Landkreis in Germany or "okrug" in other Slavic-speaking countries.

The first districts in the Czech lands developed from domains in 1850 by the decision of the Imperial government of Austria. In the territory of present-day Slovakia their predecessors were districts of the counties of the Kingdom of Hungary (slúžnovský okres in Slovak). The organisation and functions of the districts were different in the Czech lands and Hungary. After the creation of Czechoslovakia districts became an administrative unit of the new state with a unified status. After the dissolution of Czechoslovakia in 1993, the district system was taken over by the two current successor states.

The Constitution of the Czech Republic (Czech: Ústava České republiky) is the supreme law of the Czech Republic. The current constitution was adopted by the Czech National Council on 16 December 1992. It entered into force on 1 January 1993, replacing the 1960 Constitution of Czechoslovakia and the constitutional act No. 143/1968 Col., when Czechoslovakia gave way to the Slovak Republic and the Czech Republic in a peaceful dissolution.

The constitution is a constitutional act, and together with other constitutional acts constitutes the so-called constitutional order of the Czech Republic, or the constitution (with a small c). While the Charter of Fundamental Rights and Basic Freedoms (Listina základních práv a svobod, No. 2/1993 Coll.), an equally important constitutional act, asserts human and civil rights, the Constitution is concerned with state sovereignty and territorial integrity, and defines the institutions governing the state.