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Article: Czechoslovakia, Relations with
- Article from:
- Encyclopedia of Russian History
- Author:
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CZECHOSLOVAKIA, RELATIONS WITH
Both the Soviet Union and Czechoslovakia were born from the collapse of European empires at the close of World War I. While the USSR rose directly from the rubble of the Russian Empire, the Paris Peace Conference crafted Czechoslovakia from Austro-Hungarian lands. From the outset, the Czech lands (Bohemia and Moravia) and Slovakia had as many differences as similarities, and tensions between the two halves of the state would resurface throughout its lifetime and eventually contribute to its demise in 1992.
Under the leadership of President Tomas G. Masaryk, Czechoslovakia was spared many of the problems of the interwar period. Its higher levels of ...