The meaning of Czech history and World War II

Abstract

This thesis focuses on the decade of 1938–1948 in Czechoslovak history. It examines the sources of Czechoslovak conduct within this momentous period and argues that the “Czechoslovak Road to Socialism” and “Czechoslovak Journey to the Soviet Bloc” were primarily driven by domestic dynamics set in motion at latest in the transformative nineteenth century. This thesis frames both “journeys” within the theoretical framework of the “Meaning of Czech History” formulated by Czech intellectuals and politicians František Palacký (1798–1876) and Tomáš Garrigue Masaryk (1850–1937). It argues that the majority of the Czech population saw implementation of People’s Democracy after the end of World War II, qualitatively different from its Stalinist namesake, as realization of the self–imposed “historical mission” of the Czech nation. This factor remains largely overlooked by existing scholarship. At the same time, this thesis contends that the recalibration of Czechoslovak foreign policy during and after World War II was less about an exclusive partnership with the Soviet Union and more about ensuring Czechoslovakia’s national security vis–à–vis Germany. This aspect, while generally acknowledged, remains inadequately explored. This thesis centers on the agency of the Czechoslovak non–Communist elite. Existing scholarship still tends to explore the events in Central and Eastern Europe, including Czechoslovakia, through the intentions of the Great Powers, primarily the United States and the Soviet Union. In this sense, it remains confined within the Cold War narrative. Furthermore, political visions, plans and programs of the non–Communist elite are relegated to the level of an academic exercise or measured nearly exclusively against the Communist agenda. It thus appears that the Czechoslovak non–Communists were passive recipients of Communist proposals merely tempering Communist radicalism. This thesis aims to correct this approach and position the Czechoslovak non–Communists to the role of active agents with clearly defined aims and methods to achieve them. It aims to demonstrate that the conceptualizations, initiatives, and concrete measures taken towards the implementation of Czechoslovak form of People’s Democracy after World War II came from the Czechoslovak non–Communist elite, united in the years of 1938–1945 in the Czechoslovak Resistance, both home and in exile.