Against the wishes of many of its 15 million citizens, Czechoslovakia today split into two countries: Slovakia and the Czech Republic.
A multi-ethnic nation born at the end of World War I in the glow of pan-Slavic brotherhood, Czechoslovakia survived dismemberment by the Nazis and more than four decades of Communist rule only to fall apart after just three years of democracy.
Czechoslovakia's breakup, though peacefully accomplished, adds new potential trouble spots to a Central Europe already convulsed by nationalism. While the Czech Republic's 10.3 million people are almost entirely composed of Czechs, Slovakia's population of 5.2 million includes nearly 600,000 ethnic Hungarians who already feel anxieties about the new Government.
The split, which became effective at midnight, was cheered in the Slovak capital, Bratislava, by bonfires and joyous speeches in the main square.
"Two states have been established," Vladimir Meciar, Prime Minister of Slovakia, said on Thursday. "Living together in one state is over. Living together in two states continues."Continue reading the main story
There was no similar ceremony or celebration in Prague, which was for 74 years the federal capital.
The Czechoslovak flag, which has been adopted by the Czech Republic as its own, remained atop Government buildings as the clocks tolled midnight. Czechoslovakia's federal television, which became Czech Television at midnight, marked the occasion by playing the Czechoslovak national anthem, which has verses in both the Czech and Slovak language, one last time. Shortly after midnight, it played the anthem of the new Czech Republic, which has only the Czech verses.
Czechs in bars and their own homes drank to the new year rather than the birth of a new nation.
Miriam Huskova, a 22-year-old graphic artist, expressed the sentiments of many Czechs. Just three years ago, she stood in Prague's Wenceslas Square with hundreds of thousands of people shouting, "Havel to the Castle," a then seemingly outrageous demand that Vaclav Havel, the dissident playwright, take power from the Communists.
On Thursday night, as the Czechoslavic republic's final hours ticked away, she stood pensively at the fog-shrouded castle. Mr. Havel, Czechoslovakia's only post-Communist President, had left months ago after he was defeated for re-election. Although he is expected to run for president of the Czech Republic, Miss Huskova said it wouldn't be the same. "Three years ago, people came together," she said. "The atmosphere was a little like Christmas eve, when everyone is nice to each other. That's ended, and it's sad."
There is considerable uncertainty about what the next few months and years will bring these Slavic peoples, who speak similar languages and differ mainly in their ancient histories.
Although each country will now have a separate embassy in Washington, the two countries have for the moment agreed to maintain a common currency and customs union to allow free movement of goods. Czechs and Slovaks will not be required to show passports at the 17 newly opened border crossings, and the other 350 roads that link these two countries will remain open to traffic.
But few economists believe the common currency will last long, and if it disappears, the effects could ripple through both countries. Slovakia, the eastern half of what was Czechoslovakia, currently suffers from an 11 percent unemployment rate, four times that of the Czech lands.
Saddled with heavy industry by Communist central planners who sought to modernize Slovakia, the republic historically ran a trade deficit. In addition, its banks have faced runs as anxious Slovak depositors moved their savings into Czech banks.
These factors could push the Slovak Government to run a deficit and print money, moves that would instantly mean the end of the common currency.
Slovak officials have warned of hard times ahead, but insist their country will eventually reap major benefits from independence. They note that the lion's share of foreign investment in Czechoslovakia thus far has gone to the Czech lands, a fact they attribute to the bias of federal officials in Prague rather than the demands of the market.
Although the Czech Government estimates that trade between the republics will fall at least 10 percent in the next year, they too speak optimistically. Some even talk of a Czech economic take-off over the next two or three years that will propel this nation to European levels.
Diplomats and international analysts see these projections as vastly overstated, and say the possible loss of the Slovak market could even blunt the economic recovery now gathering strength in the Czech Republic.
The breakup of Czechoslovakia was, from its inception, a political matter.
Soon after the Communists were pushed from power by the velvet revolution in November 1989, Slovak leaders began talking openly about eventually creating a separate country.
In the 1990 presidential campaign, Mr. Havel, who had been championed by Czechs and Slovaks alike, was shouted down by the Slovak separatists when he spoke in the same square in which Bratislava residents gathered today. It was a warning, even though the militant nationalist parties won scant support in that election.
Over the next two years, however, resentment of what some Slovaks saw as a distant, arrogant federal Government in Prague, was skillfully fanned by Mr. Meciar, a former Communist who saw the reviving Slovak nationalism as his ticket to power.
With promises to stand up to Prague and slow the economic shock therapy program favored by the Czechs, Mr. Meciar's party finished first in the 1992 elections, gaining about one-third of the vote. In the Czech Republic, the architect of the federal economic program, Vaclav Klaus, won a similar victory. Demands for Referendum
These two men, with vastly different visions of the future, quickly decided they could not govern together and agreed to dissolve the country. Both brushed aside a petition signed by 2.5 million Czechoslovaks demanding a referendum, and with good reason: Even after the dissolution of the state was decided, public opinion polls continued to show that a majority of Czechoslovaks preferred that the country remain as one.
Although Mr. Meciar is seen here in Prague as the prime actor in this drama, some Czechs now acknowledge that Mr. Klaus was entirely willing, even eager, to dispense with the poorer Slovak region of the country.
"Czech selfishness played a significant role in this," said Petr Pithart, Mr. Klaus's predecessor as Czech Prime Minister. "We even started to use a very nasty term -- the money pipeline -- to describe our relations with the Slovaks. We created the impression that the state was being smashed by the Slovaks but really, two motives clashed here, not one."
Mr. Pithart, an ardent opponent of the breakup, said Czechoslovakia as conceived by its first President, T. G. Masaryk, was a mixed nation with Germans, Jews, Czechs and Slovaks, among others. The Germans were expelled after World War II and most of the Jews were killed by the Nazis.
"Culturally, this is a tremendous loss," Mr. Pithart said. "The Slovaks were for us the last mirror, and that we are pushing right out the door." A National Divorce
The breakup, which was carried out in just a few months, has been relatively smooth. Czech and Slovak officials divvied up military equipment, foreign embassies and other assets on a two-to-one ratio reflecting their populations. Even a prisoner exchange has been planned, with 1,500 Slovaks in Czech jails to be traded for 300 convicted Czechs being held in Slovakia.
The breakup has produced its comic side as well. Reporters found a town where the ski chalet is in one country and the slopes in another. They uncovered postal routes that criss-crossed between the two countries and even a village where the train station and the town it serves were in different countries.
At one point, the federal Government was forced to acknowledge that it did not know exactly where the line ran and had been using Nazi-era maps of the Slovak puppet state for guidance.
Still, the problems are real enough and they are keenly felt in Hodonin, the home town of Mr. Masaryk. As the intellectual godfather of the Czechoslovak state, Mr. Masaryk went to the United States near the end of World War I and championed the pan-Slavic ideals that led the World War I allies to preside over the creation in 1918 of Czechoslovakia and Yugoslavia, which brought together Serbs, Croats, Slovenes and Bosnians in a single nation.
Czechs and Slovaks were also separated in the 9th century, when the Czechs seceded from the Great Moravian Empire. The remainder was conquered by Hungarians in the 10th century, and they ruled the Slovak lands until 1918, calling them Upper Hungary. The Czech kingdom eventually became part of the Austro-Hungarian Empire. 75 YEARS AS ONE COUNTRY
1918 -- Thomas G. Masaryk signs the Pittsburgh Agreement with President Wilson, clearing the way for the establishment of a unified state of Czechs and Slovaks.
1938 -- Germany takes over the Czech part of theCzechoslovakia with the pretext of defending the rights of the German ethnic minority. Slovakia becomes a Nazi puppet state.
1948 -- Communists seize power after nearly winning national elections.
1968 -- Czechoslovakia's Communist Party promises "socialism with a human face" in what came to be called the Prague Spring. The Soviet-led Warsaw Pact invades the country to end the liberalization.
November 1989 -- In just 10 days, the "Velvet Revolution" topples Communists, and dissidents take power.
April 1990 -- After bitter debate, Parliament changes the official name of the country to Czech and Slovak Federative Republic.
June 1990 -- Vaclav Havel, dissident playwright, is elected President.
June 1992 -- Vladimir Meciar wins election for Prime Minister in Slovakia and Vaclav Klaus wins in the Czech Republic. They meet to form a government, and immediately begin discussing the breakup of the country.
July 1992 -- President Havel is defeated in his bid for re-election as Slovak forces cast deciding votes.
November 25, 1992 -- Czechoslovak Federal legislators bow to the inevitable and approve the dissolution of the country.
Jan. 1 -- Country goes out of existence.Continue reading the main story