Tschechien - Österreich

The ties between Austria and the neighbouring regions of Bohemia and Moravia have been closer than with most of Austria´s other neighbours. In both countries German and Czech speaking people lived side by side. In 1527 Ferdinand I of Habsburg was made king of Bohemia. Not only Ferdinand I but also Rudolf II resided in Prague and it was from Prague that Austria became involved in the Thirty Years´ War. From the 17^th  century onwards the Austrian aristocracy owned property and land in Czechia, and it was especially land belonging to the Protestant nobility that fell to Austria and was given by Ferdinand to Austrian noblemen as a compensation for services rendered. The "Renewed Land Ordinance" promulgated by Ferdinand II in 1627 strengthened the position of the rulers in the Bohemian lands, a situation that was of course not at all satisfactory for Bohemia. The Bohemian Chancellery was later moved to Vienna. From the 17^th to the 19^th centuries Bohemian noblemen exercised a major influence at the Viennese court in politics and military affairs. For Maria Theresia and Joseph II the social and economic changes in Bohemia and Moravia were amongst the main problems in Austrian politics. Joseph II abolished serfdom and promoted the use of Czech as a literary language that had developed from a central Bohemian dialect (school books, textbooks and devotional books were published and a chair for Czech language and literature was established in Prague). At the end of the 18^th  century a large number of Germans and Czechs began to settle in Vienna and other industrial towns in Austria. From the second half of the 19^th  century onwards the nationalist movements in Bohemia influenced Austrian politics and finally led to considerable estrangement. In the First World War Austria could not rely on the loyalty of Czech troops and "Czech legions" were established in Russia, Italy and France. Czech emigrants around T. G. Masaryk and E. Beneš succeeded in 1918 in persuading the USA to recognise the Czechs as a belligerent nation, and on October 28, 1918 before the end of the war the Czechoslovak Republic was proclaimed in Prague.

In the interwar period, although relations between Austria and the Czechoslovak Republic remained close, the conflicts between the German-speaking and Czech-speaking population groups continued to be a major problem. In October, 1938 the Czechoslovak Republic had to cede border territories which were mainly settled by Germans to the Third Reich, southern Bohemia and southern Moravia were made Austrian gaus. On March 14, 1939 Czechoslovakia was proclaimed the "Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia". After 1945 all German-speaking inhabitants had to leave the country, in 1948 the Czechoslovak Republic was turned into a people´s democracy and the Iron Curtain was established at the borders. Until 1989 relations were reduced to a minimum. Since then efforts have been made to normalise relations between Austria and Czechoslovakia.

Literature: K. Bosl (ed.), Handbuch der Geschichte der Böhmischen Länder, 4 vols., 1967-1974; F. Prinz, Deutsche Geschichte im Osten Europas. Böhmen und Mähren, 1991.