Bohemia

Bohemia is a region in the Czech Republic forming its western part since 1993. From 1945 to 1992 and also from 1918 to 1939, it was part of Czechoslovakia, and had become its province by the Treaty of Versailles in 1919. During the World War II, Bohemia together with Moravia became a German Protectorate, ie from Munich Agreement in 1938 until the Czechoslovakia was restored by the victorious Allies in 1945.

It was a Slavic kingdom, in the Holy Roman Empire, bounded on the south by Austria, on the west by Bavaria, on the north by Saxony and Lusatia, on the northeast by Silesia, and on the east by Moravia. However, it reduced into a province in the Habsburgs’ Austrian Empire in 1526. In the 16th century the crown was united with the Austrian, but in 1608 religious questions led to the election of the Protestant Frederick V. This was followed by the Thirty Years' War, the extermination of the Protestants, and the restoration of the Austrian House. It was the most northerly province in Austria, two-thirds the size of Scotland, was encircled by mountains, and drained by the upper Elbe and its tributaries. The Erzgebirge separated it from Saxony; the Riesengebirge, from Prussia; the Böhmerwald, from Bavaria; and the Moravian Mountains, from Moravia. After the World War I, Bohemia became a province of Czechoslovakia. At that time, the mineral wealth was varied and great, including coal, the most useful metals, silver, sulphur, and porcelain clay. The climate was mild in the valleys, the soil fertile; flax and hops the chief products; forests were extensive. Dyeing, calico-printing, linen and woollen manufactures, were the chief industries. The glassware was widely celebrated. The region was known for iron-works and sugar-refineries. The transit trade was very valuable. The people were mostly Czechs, of the Slavonic race, Roman Catholics in religion. There was a large and influential German minority of about two millions, with whom the Czechs, who were twice as numerous, did not amalgamate; the former being riled at the official use of the Czech language, and the latter agitating for the elevation of the province to the same status as that of Hungary. Education was better than elsewhere in Austria. There was a university at Prague, the capital. Bohemia, the westernmost province became the industrial heartland of the the Republic of Czechoslovakia in 1919.