Czechoslovakia

About

Czechoslovakia was a country in Central Europe. The country was bordered by Austria and Hungary to the south, Germany to the west and northwest, Poland to the northeast, and Ukraine to the southeast. Czechoslovakia had a hilly and mostly mountainous landscape that covered an area of 127,906 square kilometers (49,385 sq mi) with a mostly temperate continental and oceanic climate. The capital and largest city was Prague; other major cities and urban areas include Brno, Ostrava, Plzeň, Liberec, Bratislava and Košice.

Championed by nationalists and first presidents Tomáš Masaryk and Edvard Beneš, Czechoslovakia declared independence in 1918 amid the dissolution of Austria-Hungary and had its sovereignty affirmed in the Treaty of Saint-Germain-en-Laye. Following the Munich Agreement in 1938, the Sudetenland was annexed by Nazi Germany while the Second Czechoslovak Republic was formed as a client state. In 1939, the German Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia was proclaimed while the Slovak Republic was administered separately and Carpathian Ruthenia was annexed by Hungary. Although the state thus ceased to exist, following the outbreak of World War II, Beneš formed a government-in-exile that was recognised by the Allies.