Czechia versus Czechoslovakia: two states, one name history

Someone who "grew up in Czechia in the 1970s" did nothing of the kind. There was no Czechia on the map then, and no independent Czech state. There was Czechoslovakia, with a Czech republic inside a federation. The two names are linked, and the link explains a good deal of modern Central European history.

What is the difference in one sentence?

Czechoslovakia was a country that existed from 1918 to 1992. Czechia is a different country that began on 1 January 1993, when Czechoslovakia split into two. The other country that appeared that day was Slovakia.

Both are successors of the old state. Older books and maps say Czechoslovakia, newer ones Czechia and Slovakia. Our piece on the Czech Republic or Czechia explains why the shorter name is still new to English.

How did Czechoslovakia begin?

The state was proclaimed in Prague on 28 October 1918, a date that is still a public holiday, and it was formed from the Czech lands (Bohemia, Moravia and part of Silesia) and Slovakia, with Subcarpathian Ruthenia added soon after. Its first president was Tomáš Garrigue Masaryk. The interwar republic is covered in detail in our pieces on the creation of Czechoslovakia in 1918 and the First Republic.

The name joins "Czech" and "Slovak", but the state was never only two nations. Germans, Hungarians and Ruthenians also lived in it, which made it multi-national from the start.

What happened to it?

Czechoslovakia was broken up by the Munich Agreement of 1938 and the occupation of 1939, restored in 1945, and then governed by the Communist Party from 1948 until 1989. Its collapse as a communist state came with the Velvet Revolution, and the end of the state itself followed three years later. The key stages are covered in our guides to the Munich Agreement and the occupation and Czechoslovakia under communism.

In 1969, after the Prague Spring, the unitary state became a federation of two republics, Czech and Slovak. That detail matters for the name. From then until 1992 the federation contained a Czech Socialist Republic (renamed the Czech Republic in 1990), so a "Czech Republic" did exist on paper before 1993. It was a part of the federation, not an independent country.

How does Czechia connect?

Czechia is the shortened English form of the Czech Republic, the independent state that began on 1 January 1993. It occupies the area that was the Czech half of the federation: Bohemia, Moravia and Czech Silesia.

Three things carried over directly:

1. The flag. The Czech Republic kept the old Czechoslovak flag, white over red with a blue triangle at the hoist.
2. The capital. Prague was the capital of Czechoslovakia and is the capital of Czechia.
3. The legal line. The Czech Republic took over a share of the federal state's assets and obligations under the dissolution settlement, and is treated as a successor state.

Slovakia has its own flag, state symbols and capital, Bratislava.

Why do people confuse them?

There are three reasons.

The names overlap. "Czech" appears in both, and an English speaker hears one name as a longer form of the other. They are not variants. One is a state that ended, the other a state that began.

The era overlaps. Many people alive today were born in Czechoslovakia and live in Czechia, and they use both words in one sentence. Someone born in Prague in 1985 was born in Czechoslovakia and has been a citizen of the Czech Republic since 1993.

Records are shared. Sporting results and films from the federal years are claimed by both successor states, and tables list them under "Czechoslovakia".

Where the Czech lands fit in

Behind both names sit older ones. The territory of today's Czechia was long known as the Czech lands: the Kingdom of Bohemia in the west, the Margraviate of Moravia in the east and, in the north-east, the part of Silesia that stayed under the Bohemian Crown. These lands were ruled together under the Habsburgs from the sixteenth century, and each kept its own identity and its own regional assembly into the nineteenth century. Czechoslovakia in 1918 was the first time they were joined as one modern state with the Slovak lands.

This is why historians often avoid saying "Czechia" for anything before 1993, even when they are describing the same ground. A medieval king of Bohemia ruled Bohemia, and a Habsburg official in Brno served Moravia. Neither served Czechia. If you want the long view, the guide to Czech history from Great Moravia to the EU is the long view, and the explainer on Bohemia, Moravia and Silesia covers the three historical lands.

What stayed Czechoslovak in daily life

Some things of the federation never quite left the vocabulary. Older people may still speak of "the republic" when they mean the interwar state, and Czech film and television often use "Czechoslovak" for productions made before 1993. The Czechoslovak flag lives on as the Czech flag. And the phrase za první republiky ("in the time of the First Republic") remains shorthand for the 1918 to 1938 period, used with a certain nostalgia in family stories and in advertising.

What did the split change for ordinary people?

Czechoslovak citizens became citizens of one of the two new states. The common currency, the Czechoslovak koruna, was separated in February 1993, and the two koruny diverged, which is a story told in our piece on relations after 1993. The reasons the federation ended, and the way it ended without violence, are covered in the Velvet Divorce.

In Prague the legacy turns up in small things. Older residents say "Czechoslovakia" when they mean the communist era, a street or a tram stop may carry the name of a Czechoslovak figure, and Czechs and Slovaks still understand each other's languages with little effort.

How should you use the words?

A short rule works for most writing:

• Use Czechoslovakia when you are writing about 1918 to 1992.
• Use Czech Republic or Czechia when you mean the state after 1 January 1993.
• Use Czech lands when you mean the territory of Bohemia, Moravia and Silesia across all periods, because it avoids anachronism.

For the story of the short name, see Czech Republic or Czechia, and for the sound of the word, see how to pronounce Czechia.

Frequently asked questions

Is Czechia the same as Czechoslovakia?

No. Czechoslovakia was a joint state of Czechs and Slovaks that ended on 31 December 1992. Czechia is the short name of the Czech Republic, an independent state since 1 January 1993.

Did Czechoslovakia split into Czechia and Slovakia?

Yes. The federation was dissolved by agreement and two states, the Czech Republic and Slovakia, appeared on 1 January 1993.

Was there fighting when the country split?

No. The separation was negotiated and peaceful, which is why it is often called the Velvet Divorce.

Was Prague always the capital?

Prague was the capital of Czechoslovakia from 1918, apart from the years of occupation when the state did not function, and it is the capital of the Czech Republic.

What do I write for a birthplace in 1980?

Documents usually say Czechoslovakia for the state, with the town or city as the specific place. For an official form, copy exactly what your own documents say.

If the year is before 1993, the country was Czechoslovakia.