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The unofficial name for the split between Czechoslovakia and Slovakia and the Czech Republic in the early 1990s was the Velvet Divorce, so-called for the amicable nature in which it was accomplished.
Table of Contents
The State of Czechoslovakia
After WWI, a number of new entities emerged from the fragmentation of the German and Austrian/Hapsburg empires. Czechoslovakia was a brand-new nation-state that emerged at this time. Fifty percent of the original population was Czech, and they had a strong sense of Czech identity thanks to their long history of Czech life, thought, and statehood; fifteen percent were Slovak, and they had never been in their “own” country despite speaking a language that was very similar to Czech. Germans, Hungarians, Poles, and other peoples were left as a result of boundary disputes after a multilingual empire collapsed.
FIRST ISSUE of the Day: Slovakia Sc 150-151/SG 145-146 issues January 1993. Slovakia became an independent state on January 1, 1993 after the peaceful dissolution of Czechoslovakia, known as the Velvet Divorce. Sc151 was issued on January 1st, Sc150 on January 2nd. #Philately pic.twitter.com/vvDUMNStJy
— First Issues Collectors Club (@First_Stamps) September 2, 2021
In the late 1930s, with Hitler at the helm of Germany, the Nazis began to target Czechoslovakia, first for its substantial German population and later for the rest of the country, which they eventually annexed. After WWII, the Soviet Union invaded and eventually occupied Czechoslovakia, installing a communist government there. Czechoslovakia remained in the ‘eastern bloc’ of the Cold War despite opposition to the regime and the ‘Prague Spring of 1968,’ which witnessed a thaw in communist governance that bought invasion from the Warsaw Pact.
The Velvet Revolution
When the 1980s came to a close, Soviet President Mikhail Gorbachev was met with uprisings across Eastern Europe, an inability to match Western military spending, and an urgent need for internal reforms. His decision was as unexpected as it was abrupt: he effectively ended the Cold War by eliminating the prospect of armed action by the Soviet Union and its client states.
Without the support of the Russian army, communist governments across Eastern Europe collapsed. In the fall of 1989, a wave of protests swept across Czechoslovakia; they were called the “Velvet Revolution” for their nonviolence and success in toppling the communist regime. Free elections were held the following year. It was then that Václav Havel was elected president, and the country experienced a boom in private enterprise, democratic parties, and a new constitution.
The Velvet Divorce
With the gunpoint cement of communism gone, the newly democratic Czechoslovakia gathered to negotiate the new constitution and how to administer the nation, and they found many issues dividing the Czech and Slovak communities in Czechoslovakia.
Many Czechs felt the Slovaks had too much influence for their numbers, and vice versa, due to the disparate sizes and growth rates of the twin economies. The local federalist government only made matters worse by establishing separate ministries and cabinets for the two main populations. Separating them into two different states became a popular topic of conversation.
Vaclav Klaus was elected Prime Minister of the Czech Republic in 1992, while Vladimir Meciar was elected Prime Minister of the Slovak Republic. They discussed whether to strengthen regional ties or allow for greater autonomy because of their divergent policy priorities and expectations of the government. Others have claimed that Meciar was a separatist, while others say that Klaus is now in the forefront of calls for national partition. A departure was likely in either case.
Havel resigned as president of a unified Czechoslovakia rather than oversee the separation when he was met with opposition, and no other leader commanded enough popularity to take his place. Politicians were unsure of public opinion on the matter, but negotiations were so amicable that they were dubbed “Velvet Divorce.” Rapid development ultimately resulted in the dissolution of Czechoslovakia on December 31, 1992, with the establishment of the independent states of Slovakia and the Czech Republic on January 1, 1993.
Significance
Europe is still haunted by the horrors of the Yugoslav wars and ethnic cleansing that followed the fall of communism in Eastern Europe and the subsequent Velvet Revolution. Contrast this with the peaceful breakup of Czechoslovakia, which demonstrated the possibility of state collapse and the subsequent formation of new states without resorting to military force.
Additionally, the Velvet Divorce provided stability to central Europe during a moment of immense instability, allowing the Czechs and Slovaks to avoid a period of intensive legal and political fighting and cultural friction in order to concentrate on state construction. Relationships are still strong and there have been few calls for a return to federalism.
