Czech Republic History Timeline

Czech Republic's Information

Land Area	77,247 km²
Water Area	1,620 km²
Total Area	78,867km² (#114)
Population	10,644,842 (#86)
Population Density	137.80/km²
Government Type	Parliamentary Republic
GDP (PPP)	$351.00 Billion
GDP Per Capita	$33,200
Currency	Koruna (CZK)
Largest Cities	Prague (1,165,581) Brno (369,559) Ostrava (313,088) Pilsen (164,180) Olomouc (101,268) Liberec (97,770) Ceske Budejovice (96,053) Hradec Kralove (95,195) Usti nad Labem (94,105) Pardubice (88,741) View all cities in Czech Republic

(476AD) Roman Empire collapsed
(550) Slovenes settled in eastern Alps
(700's) Rule of Charlemagne, King of the Franks
(750-800) Slovenes christianized
(830) Great Moravian Empire established
(907) Moravian Empire collapsed with Hungarian invasion
(962) Holy Roman Empire established

1000s – 1500s

(1085) Vratislav II granted the royal crown, became the first Czech king; started the Premyslid dynasty
(1306) Death of King Wenceslas III ended Premyslid dynasty
(1414) John Huss (Jan Hus) conducted Czech sermons in ordinary language; spoke against Catholic Church corruption
(1415) John Huss burnt at the stake
(1420-1434) Hussite Wars
(1458) Hussites elected Czech Protestant, George of Podebrady, as the country's new king
(1526-1790) Hapsburg Dynasty

1700s – 1800s

(1717-1780) Maria Theresa, daughter of Holy Roman Emperor, ruled the Hapsburg lands
(1740-1780) Charles Albert, duke of Bavaria, proclaimed king by the Czech nobility
(1764-1790) King Joseph II reigned; period of Slovene Enlightenment; Czech and Austrian territories subdivided into administrative districts; German established as official language
(1700's-1815) Napoleonic Wars
(1809-1813) Illyrian provinces established by Napoleon included Slovene lands
(1815) Napoleon defeated
(1848) First Slavic congress convened by Czechs; discussion of political consolidation of Slavs, included Czechs, Slovaks, Poles, Ukrainians, Slovenes, Croats and Serbs

1900s

(1918) Last Habsburg Emperor overthrown; after World War I the Austro-Hungarian Empire fell, Czech lands and Slovakia proclaimed establishment of independent Czechoslovakia
(1938) Germany, Britain, France and Italy signed the Munich Pact, gave Hitler the right to invade and claimed Czechoslovakia's border areas
(1939) Hitler's army invaded Czechoslovakia; World War II started
(1942) Slovene Covenant established
(1945) Prague uprising, territories of the Czech Republic liberated; World War II ended
(1945-1989) Communist Era
(1968) Five Warsaw Pact member countries invaded Czechoslovakia, Soviet troops continued to occupy the country until 1989
(1980's) Russian Perestroika introduced by Mikhail Gorbachev, marked the last years of communist Czechoslovakia
(1989) Velvet Revolution brought an end to communism
(1993) Czechoslovakia peacefully split into two independent countries, Czech Republic and Slovakia; Vaclav Havel elected president of Czech Republic; Vaclav Klaus carried on a prime minister, privatization of the public sector top priority
(1995) U.S. funded Radio Free Europe; radio liberty relocated from Munich to Prague
(1996) Vaclav Klaus reappointed prime minister
(1997) NATO issued formal invitations to Poland, Czech Republic, Hungary; collapse of coalition over economic reform programs, Klaus government resigned; caretaker administration led by Josef Tosovsky
(1998) Havel re-elected president; Milos Zeman, leader of the Czech Social Democratic Party, became prime minister; relations with Iran and Iraq strained when Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty started broadcasts to both countries from Prague
(1999) Czech Republic full member of NATO

2000s

(2000) CDP renewed agreement to support Zeman's minority CSDP government; Austria threatened to block Czech EU membership over startup of first reactor at Temelin nuclear power plant
(2001) Czech government and Austria's Chancellor Schuessel moved to settle dispute over Temelin nuclear power plant
(2002) Prague suffered worst flooding in 200 years; EU summit in Copenhagen formally invited Czech Republic to join
(2003) Former Prime Minister Vaclav Klaus elected president; Czechs voted in favor of going ahead with EU membership in 2004
(2004) Czech Republic one of 10 new nations to join the EU; Vladimir Spidla resigned as prime minister; Stanislav Gross appointed premier
(2005) Stanislav Gross resigned as premier, followed by allegations about his financial affairs
(2006) General elections resulted in a hung parliament; President Klaus appointed Mirek Topolanek prime minister for a second time; talks began on forming grand coalition
(2007) U.S. President George Bush visited Czech Republic; hundreds protested against U.S. plans for a radar base near Prague; Czech Republic joined the EU's Schengen Treaty free movement zone
(2008) Vaclav Klaus re-elected president; Czech Republic signed agreement allowing U.S. base components of its planned missile defense system on Czech territory; Russia threatened retaliation
(2008) Long-lost opera, Argippo, written for the Czech capital by Antonio Vivaldi, was performed for the first time in 278 years in Prague
(2008) U.S. agreed to base part of its missile defense system in Czech Republic
(2009) Czech Republic took over EU presidency; Mirek Topolanek, center-right government leader, lost parliamentary vote of confidence; Topolanek resigned
(2009) Six Czech hikers died in avalanche in Austrian Alps
(2009) US President Barack Obama, canceled plans for the missile defense bases in Czech Republic and Poland
(2010) ODS leader Petr Necas formed a coalition government with the right-wing TOP 09 party and the centrist public affairs party