What do you think?
Rate this book
Czechoslovakia
Located at the heart of Europe between east and west, Czechoslovakia was, in many ways, the epicenter of twentieth-century European history. This extensive guide begins with the country's formation in 1918 from the ruins of an empire. It remained a beacon of democracy until the Nazi invasion and fell under communist rule until the Czechoslovakian "Velvet Revolution" of 1989. L Maria Dowling's history of Czechoslovakia features themes of government: nationalism, democracy, and authoritarian rule and guides the reader through the particularly rich and varied experiences of Czechoslovakian power and culture in twentieth-century Europe including the burst of popular democracy during the "Prague Spring of 1968".
- GenresHistory
208 pages, Paperback
First published May 3, 2002
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews
January 30, 2018
a competent job
Telling ninety years of a national history is no joke. You can fill up hundreds of pages about a single individual after all. So, when you set out to tell the modern history of a nation that has not been peripheral to 20th century history, but rather, right spang in the middle of it, you have to make a lot of hard choices. If you plan to confine your history to 167 pages, then you REALLY have to select carefully and must be ready to gloss over a huge amount of material. Still, if you don't at least refer to a number of topics, critics will have your hide; readers with special interests will complain or trash your book. Given these points, I think Dowling has done an excellent job with CZECHOSLOVAKIA, part of Arnold Press' series called "Brief Histories".
I especially liked the arrangement of chapters here, which accurately reflect the periods lived through by the people of this unfortunate country. We start with World War I and the making of the state out of two separate sections of Austria-Hungary. After covering the 20 years from 1918-1938 as the First Republic and the betrayal of Central Europe's only democracy by Britain and France at Munich, we get into the Nazi occupation and resistance. What follow are sections on the Communist takeover in 1948, the long dreary period of Stalinist and post-Stalinist rule, the hope of the Prague Spring which was soon crushed by Soviet tanks, then 20 more years of political and cultural repression combined with economic and environmental disaster. Dissent rumbled throughout, finally coalescing and triumphing in the unbelievable year 1989 with the Velvet Revolution. Two years later, Czechoslovakia disappeared from world maps, probably forever, replaced by two smaller national states. A reader like myself, with only a general idea of the events described, can learn a great deal. Dowling presents problems, questions, or trends in succinct sentences, then discusses each. For people not familiar with Central European history, the basic differences between the Czech lands and Slovakia stemming from very different historical experience will be eye-opening. My one criticism of the book is that it concentrates heavily on political fignres and events. Everyone from Vaclav Havel to Josef Skvorecky, from Milos Forman to Alfons Mucha rates mentions, but the cultural, economic, and social are subordinated to the political. As I said in the beginning, an author has to make hard choices in a book of this length. Overall, it is a very competent job.
Telling ninety years of a national history is no joke. You can fill up hundreds of pages about a single individual after all. So, when you set out to tell the modern history of a nation that has not been peripheral to 20th century history, but rather, right spang in the middle of it, you have to make a lot of hard choices. If you plan to confine your history to 167 pages, then you REALLY have to select carefully and must be ready to gloss over a huge amount of material. Still, if you don't at least refer to a number of topics, critics will have your hide; readers with special interests will complain or trash your book. Given these points, I think Dowling has done an excellent job with CZECHOSLOVAKIA, part of Arnold Press' series called "Brief Histories".
I especially liked the arrangement of chapters here, which accurately reflect the periods lived through by the people of this unfortunate country. We start with World War I and the making of the state out of two separate sections of Austria-Hungary. After covering the 20 years from 1918-1938 as the First Republic and the betrayal of Central Europe's only democracy by Britain and France at Munich, we get into the Nazi occupation and resistance. What follow are sections on the Communist takeover in 1948, the long dreary period of Stalinist and post-Stalinist rule, the hope of the Prague Spring which was soon crushed by Soviet tanks, then 20 more years of political and cultural repression combined with economic and environmental disaster. Dissent rumbled throughout, finally coalescing and triumphing in the unbelievable year 1989 with the Velvet Revolution. Two years later, Czechoslovakia disappeared from world maps, probably forever, replaced by two smaller national states. A reader like myself, with only a general idea of the events described, can learn a great deal. Dowling presents problems, questions, or trends in succinct sentences, then discusses each. For people not familiar with Central European history, the basic differences between the Czech lands and Slovakia stemming from very different historical experience will be eye-opening. My one criticism of the book is that it concentrates heavily on political fignres and events. Everyone from Vaclav Havel to Josef Skvorecky, from Milos Forman to Alfons Mucha rates mentions, but the cultural, economic, and social are subordinated to the political. As I said in the beginning, an author has to make hard choices in a book of this length. Overall, it is a very competent job.
October 4, 2015
Dull and Manichaean, this book is probably acceptable for instilling civic pride in Czech schoolchildren, but not much else. In this narrative, the people of the nation in question are long-suffering under foreign domination, but their love of freedom endures; their leaders are men of stunning virtue (though sometimes too trusting) and their enemies are treacherous and wicked. Do I know anything to refute this? Not really; only that it's what every boring national mythology looks like. If the narrative is slightly more plausible here, with Czechoslovakia retaining democratic institutions longer here than elsewhere, I am not left with much explanation for why.
June 28, 2025
A worthy achievement by Dowling to summarise the complex histories of the Czech and Slovak nations. A difficult balance to highlight the histories of two nations/peoples (perhaps weighted towards the Czechs) but, overall, thoroughly engaging, well-researched and an excellent primer to those new to the history of central Europe - the interwar period and drift toward the velvet divorce are the standout chapters for me.
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews