Czechoslovakism

Czechoslovakism is the doctrine that Czechs and Slovaks formed one nation. It helped justify a unified Czechoslovak state despite their distinct languages and histories.

Czechoslovak National Council: An organization founded in Paris during World War I to promote the independence of Czechs and Slovaks from Austria-Hungary. It gave wartime political organization to the national-unity claim.
Czechoslovakia: A Central European state founded in 1918, comprising Czech lands and Slovakia until its peaceful dissolution in 1993. It was the state whose unity Czechoslovakism sought to justify.
Slovak nationalism: A political movement asserting the distinct national identity and political interests of Slovaks. It disputed the claim that Slovaks were merely one branch of a Czechoslovak nation.
Treaty of Trianon: The 1920 peace treaty that defined Hungary’s postwar borders and recognized the new borders of Czechoslovakia. It confirmed the territorial settlement that placed Slovakia within Czechoslovakia.
Tomáš Garrigue Masaryk: A Czech philosopher and politician who became Czechoslovakia’s first president. He advanced Czechoslovak unity as a basis for independence.
Treaty of Saint-Germain-en-Laye: The 1919 peace treaty that recognized the dissolution of Austria-Hungary and established Czechoslovakia’s international status. International recognition turned the unity claim into a recognized postwar state.
Czech nationalism: A movement asserting the distinct national identity and political interests of Czechs. Czech national history supplied one component of the proposed common nation.
1920 Constitution of Czechoslovakia: The constitutional framework of interwar Czechoslovakia, which described the state as belonging to the Czechoslovak nation. Its wording made the doctrine a foundation of constitutional identity.
Milan Rastislav Štefánik: A Slovak astronomer, French military officer, and politician who helped organize Czechoslovak independence abroad. His diplomacy connected Slovak representation to the independence movement.
Czechoslovak language: A constitutional designation for Czech and Slovak, treated as two branches of a single national language in interwar Czechoslovakia. This formulation gave institutional expression to the idea of one nation.

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