Mary Heimann’s history of Czechoslovakia is both a supremely competent and detailed narrative account of the short life of a central European state (1918-39 and 1945-92) and a brilliant piece of iconoclasm. For most in the West, Czech history means four things: the Munich crisis and its aftermath, when a plucky democracy was betrayed to Nazi Germany by Britain and France; the communist coup of 1948; the crushing of the Prague Spring in 1968, when Soviet tanks snuffed out a brave experiment in socialism with a human face; and the Velvet Revolution of 1989, when peaceful protest forced the collapse of the regime.
Heimann tells these stories with verve – but makes clear there was more to each than most in the West realise. She argues that Czech and Slovak chauvinism were “among the principal causes of the instability that
led to the Munich crisis” and the same phenomena played a major role in the anti-Jew and anti-gypsy persecutions of WWII. Czechoslovakia, in other words, was not simply a put-upon victim but, to some extent, the architect of its own misfortunes. This is a controversial thesis, but Heimann marshalls her evidence convincingly. She shows that the first Czechoslovak Republic (1918-38) was never a straightforward liberal democratic utopia – it was, as its architects intended, dominated by Czechs, with the Slovaks and other nationalities marginalised and increasingly attracted to authoritarian and fascist anti-Czech nationalism. She then tells the unsettling story of the short-lived second Republic (1938-39 after Munich) in which anti-Semitism took hold as the far right rose in both parts of the country, paving the way for willing co-operation with the Nazis.
After 1968, when the regime was rescued from collapse by Soviet arms, its claims to represent the national interests of its peoples lost all credibility: the next 20 years, Heimann says, felt like a “foreign occupation”. And when the system finally cracked, it took only three years for tensions between Czechs and Slovaks to reach breaking point. The Czech Republic and Slovakia became separate states on January 1 1993. This book is a fascinating study of the enduring importance of nationalism and an eye-opening exposé of the myths behind received historical wisdom. It is essential reading for anyone interested in 20th century central European history.
