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Edvard Beneš and his government-in-exile returned to Prague in April 1945 - or was it on 17th May 1945?.
145 Beneš Decrees.
Over 2 million Sudetan Germans were expelled from Czechoslovakia.
After the war, reflecting on the morality of the assassination of Heydrich, General Morovec said: In a society which lives by normal rules, assassination cannot be morally justified. But when a nation is enslaved by murderers and fanatics, assassination may be the only means of destroying evil
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However the restored republic became part of the Soviet sphere of influence.
In the 1946 elections the Communists won 38 percent of the votes, and formed a coalition government with other socialist parties.
In February 1948, the communists staged a coup d'etat with the backing of the Soviet Union.
The Marshal Plan
The Marshall Plan - New Paris comnference sheduled for the 12th July 1947 - Invitations went out to all Western European countries except for Spain, and also to Poland, Yugoslavia, Albania, Finland, Hungary, Romania, Bulgaria and Czechoslovakia.
Moscow sent out instructions to its satelites to reject the invitation to the conference, and most of the communist parties did as they were told. However, Poland and Czechoslovakia were still interested.
The government decided to attend the conference in Paris, and even the communist party members agreeing. Stalin was furious and summoned Gottwald (a communist) to Moscow. With him on the 9th July 1947 went Jan Masaryk as foreign minister, an independant non-comunist member of the government.
Stalin kept the Czech delegation waiting until the early hours of the morning
Jan Masaryk was destraught, He told his friends: 'I went to Moscow as the foreign minister of an independent sovereign state. I returned as a Soviet slave'.
Pressure in the Poles eventually forced them not to attend the conference either.
and following the resignation of ministers of other parties in 1948, their power was soon consolidated.
On the 10th March 1948, Jan Masaryk mysteriously fell to his death from the window of his bedroom high in the Czech foreign ministery. To this day, no one knows whether he jumped or was pushed. Thousands of people marked the streets for his funeral, but his death marked the end of a free Czechoslovakia.
On June 7th 1948, Beneš abdicated.
On the 9th June 1948 the People's Republic was established. Czechoslovakia joined Comecon and the Warsaw Pact, and the nationalisation of industry, agriculture and trade started to take place.
On the 3rd September 1948, Beneš died at the age of 64.
Prague Spring
The 'Velvet Revolution' - 1989 - Vacláv Havel was elected President of the republic by the federal assembly on the 29th December 1989. Alexander Deubček was elected speaker of the national assembly.
The days after the 17th November demonstration have become known as the 'Velvet Revolution' (Sametová revoluce) because there were no casualties.
The Velvet Divorce
On the 1st January 1993, Czechoslovakia ceased to exist. Prague became the capital of the new Czech Republic, and Havel was elected as its first president.
Both republics became members of the UN on the 19th January, and joined the EU on the 1st May 2004.
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