Czech Republic and Czechs
Czech Republic
The Czech Republic (i/ˈtʃɛk/ chek;[9] Czech: Česká republika, pronounced [ˈtʃɛskaː ˈrɛpuˌblɪka], short form Česko Czech pronunciation: [ˈtʃɛsko]), is a landlocked country in Central Europe. The country is bordered by Germany to the west, Austria to the south, Slovakia to the east and Poland to the north. Its capital and largest city, with 1.3 million inhabitants, is Prague. The Czech Republic includes the historical territories of Bohemia and Moravia and a small part of Silesia.
The Czech state, formerly known as Bohemia, was formed in the late 9th century as a small duchy around Prague, at that time under the dominance of the powerful Great Moravian Empire. After the fall of the Empire in 907, the centre of power was transferred from Moravia to Bohemia, under the Přemyslids. Since 1002 it was formally recognized as part of the Holy Roman Empire.[10][11] In 1212 the duchy was raised to a kingdom and during the rule of Přemyslid dukes/kings and their successors, the Luxembourgs, the country reached its greatest territorial extent (13th–14th century). During the Hussite wars the kingdom faced economic embargoes and crusades from all over Europe. Following the Battle of Mohács in 1526, the Kingdom of Bohemia was gradually integrated into the Habsburg monarchy as one of its three principal parts, alongside the Archduchy of Austria and the Kingdom of Hungary. The Bohemian Revolt (1618–20) lost in the Battle of White Mountain, led to Thirty Years War and further centralization of the monarchy including forced recatholization and Germanization. With the dissolution of the Holy Roman Empire in 1806, the Bohemian kingdom became part of the Austrian Empire. In the 19th century the Czech lands became the industrial powerhouse of the monarchy and the core of the Republic of Czechoslovakia which was formed in 1918, following the collapse of the Austro-Hungarian Empire after World War I. After 1933, Czechoslovakia remained the only democracy in central and eastern Europe.
After the Munich Agreement, Polish annexation of Zaolzie and German occupation of Czechoslovakia and the consequent disillusion with the Western response and gratitude for the liberation of the major portion of Czechoslovakia by the Red Army, the Communist Party of Czechoslovakia won the majority in the 1946 elections. In the 1948 coup d'état, Czechoslovakia became a communist-ruled state. In 1968, the increasing dissatisfaction culminated in attempts to reform the communist regime. The events, known as the Prague Spring of 1968, ended with an invasion by the armies of the Warsaw Pact countries (with the exception of Romania); the troops remained in the country until the 1989 Velvet Revolution, when the communist regime collapsed. On 1 January 1993, Czechoslovakia peacefully dissolved into its constituent states, the Czech Republic and the Slovak Republic.
In 2006, the Czech Republic became first former member of the Comecon to achieve the status of a developed country according to the World Bank.[12] In addition, the country has the highest human development in Central and Eastern Europe,[13] ranking as a "Very High Human Development" nation. It is also ranked as the third most peaceful country in Europe and most democratic and healthy (by infant mortality) country in the region. It is a pluralist multi-party parliamentary representative democracy, a member of the European Union, NATO, the OECD, the OSCE, the Council of Europe and the Visegrád Group.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Czech_Republic
Czechs
Czechs, or Czech people (Czech: Češi, Czech pronunciation: [ˈtʃɛʃɪ], archaic Czech: Čechové [ˈtʃɛxɔvɛː]) are a West Slavic ethnic group of Central Europe, living predominantly in the Czech Republic. Small populations of Czechs also live in Slovakia, Austria, Ukraine, the United States, the United Kingdom, Chile, Argentina, Canada, Germany, Russia and other countries. They speak the Czech language, which is closely related to the Slovak and Upper Sorbian language.[13]
Among the ancestors of the Czechs are ancient Slavic peoples who inhabited the regions of Bohemia, Moravia, and Upper Silesia from the 6th century onwards. Czech people also descend from Germanic and Celtic tribes who intermingled with Slavic invaders.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Czechs
Czech language
Czech (pron.: /ˈtʃɛk/; čeština Czech pronunciation: [ˈt͡ʃɛʃcɪna]) is a West Slavic language with about 12 million native speakers; it is the majority language in the Czech Republic and spoken by Czechs worldwide. The language was known as Bohemian in English until the late 19th century. Czech is similar to and mutually intelligible with Slovak, the Sorbian languages and, to a lesser extent, with other Slavic languages.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Czech_language
Czech Proverbs
Family
¶ Don't be a lion in your house.
Friends
¶ Do not protect yourself by fence, but rather by your friends.
Work
¶ Bez práce nejsou koláče.
Literal translation: There are no cakes without a job.
References
Czech Republic
[9]^ Oxford English Dictionary, second edition, Oxford University Press, 1989.
[10]^ Mlsna, Petr; Šlehofer F. and Urban D. (2010). "The Path Of Czech Constitutionality". 1st edition (in : (Bilingual) - Czech, English). Praha: Úřad Vlády České Republiky (The Office of the Government of the Czech Republic). pp. 10–11. Retrieved 31 October 2012.
[11]^ Čumlivski, Denko (2012). "800 let Zlaté buly sicilské" (in czech). National Archives of the Czech Republic (Národní Archiv České Republiky). Archived from the original on 1 October 2012. Retrieved 31 October 2012.
[12]^ a b Velinger, Jan (28 February 2006). "World Bank Marks Czech Republic's Graduation to 'Developed' Status". Radio Prague. Retrieved 22 January 2007.
[13]^ a b "Human Development Report 2009" (PDF). UNDP.org. Retrieved 25 April 2010.
Czechs
[13]^ Czech language, alphabet and pronunciation
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Czech_Republic
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Czechs
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Czech_language
