Many Czechs celebrate May 9 as the anniversary of liberation. This was the day in 1945 when American and Soviet armies liberated Czechoslovakia. The three major areas of Czechoslovakia are Bohemia, Moravia, and Slovakia. Prague (Praha) is the capital.

The national flag, introduced in 1920 has a white stripe over a red stripe, with a blue triangle that extends from the hoist to midpoint.

In 1918, Czechoslovakia was created as seperate state following the collapse of the Austro-Hungarian Empire. During the Middle Ages, the Czechs had a national state in the Kingdom of Bohemia. They lost their independence in 1620 and remained under Austrian rule for nearly three centuries. In 1918, the Slovaks for the first time, entered a common state with the Czechs. They had previously been under Hungarian rule for a thousand years. In March 1939, Hitler's troops established a protectorate over the areas of Bohemia and Moravia and backed the creation of a separate Slovak state. The Carpatho-Ruthenian part of the country was occupied by Hungarian forces. After the Soviet and American armies liberated Czechoslovakia in 1945, a coalition of parties was formed. Then in February 1948, the communists seized power with a bloodless revolution. In May of that same year, a constituent assembly under Communist control approved a new constitution. It declared Czechoslovakia a "peoples' democratic republic". In 1960, the government adopted a socialist constitution like that of the Soviet Union.

                                  By Lavinia Dobler

Prosim (a helpful Czech word to know)

dobry den (Czech Greetings)

Kuchyne (Czech Food)

 Cas (Time)

Penize

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