As a Balkan Slav, I lived in Prague for two years, and met a lot of Czechs and Slovaks. I realized i connected way easier with Slovaks, my theory was that Slovakia has historically been agricultural like my country of origin and both of us entered Industrial age way later than Czechs or Slovenians. Great channel, mate, can't have enough of it, I am sharing it and bothering people like crazy. Much respect.
Actually Slovenians entered Industrial age later than Czechs, they and Czechs share history of being part Holy Roman and Austrian Empire but unlike Czechia they fully industrialised only after WW1 not before it.
@@rehurekj I was comparing Slovenia to the rest of the former Yugoslavia, not to Czechia. Which doesn’t take value from your remark, just clarifies where I was coming from.
Well Czechia (Bohemia called historically) entered industrial age the earliest out of all slavic/today ex-eastern european countries, Austria-Hungary (today more than 8 countries) empire chose it to become industrial core for the whole empire. Poland, Hungary, all Balkans, Baltics, Romania, Slovenia all entered industrial age later. Thats why after creation of Czechoslovakia in 1918 it became quite rich, cause it inherited 70% of all industrial capabilities of Austria-Hungary empire, exporting weapons, cars, airplanes, steel, most of other industrial powerhouses had much larger population like UK, Germany.
That is, roughly, correct. The reason for that is which part of the Empire one belonged to. Czechs and Slovenes were under austrian, Slovaks and Croats under hungarian part. That's how we mostly differentiated culturaly, mentally... If we were under the same rule I'm pretty sure the differences would be quite negliegable.
The Czech republic has some amazingly beautiful landscapes and castles, unfortunately I never made it to Slovakia as I was heading for Bratislava but the train broke down in Poland and I somehow got diverted to Prague
Yes, the ones from Vojvodina. But i would not consider Slovakia as a Catholic. Yes, they are majority - about 60% are Roman Catholics. But the another 40% are not.
@@metiupapluch A major point of the video was the juxtaposition of predominantly anti-Catholic/Hussitic Bohemia vs Catholic Slovakia, so I wanted to add to the conversation that there are also Slovak protestants. While it is true that there is circa 55% Catholics according to the last census, there are only 5% Protestants, of which I would imagine there s some Hungarians as well. Besides, the author was referring to the historic religious affiliation, not necessarily the current one.
@@Cicero_de_fato I doubt that because hungarians counted everyone who spoke hungarian as one of their own, even if they could be a slovak, romanian etc.
@@Cicero_de_fato My grandparents claimed to have no Hungarian ancestors. I take them at their word. I refuse to take a DNA test because I do not want them to be proved wrong.
@@Cicero_de_fatoIn the south maybe. In the north there is practically zero Hungarians. Plus dont forget forced magyarisation of names in 19th century. Having Hungarised surname =/= being ethnic Hungarian.
As Pole living close to borders both Czech and Slovakia I always wondered why Czechoslovakia divided and what kind of differences those nations have. Great take on that topic, greetings from Silesia.
It divided because 1) Czechoslovakia in the form it took in 1918 made absolutely no sense. There was more Germans than Slovaks in the country and only Bohemia and Moravia were fully developed with Slovakia being basically a paperweight to make the country bigger. Everything that mattered was in the Czech part. 2) For Slovaks the main difference brought by 1918 was that the centre of power move couple of hundreds of miles west and instead of Hungarians who treated them badly they got Czechs who treated them like a stupider smaller brother. The chip on their shoulder considering their identity and independence got a bit smaller, but it totally remained a thing as they kindly demonstrated in 1939 already. Honestly, the only *real* similiarity is the language. In many other things I see Slovaks as a combination of Poles and Hungarians.
@@vh5663Slovensko patrilo k najpriemyselnejším oblastiam Uhorska. 27.februára 1872 boli zrušené cechy, a tým sa uvoľnila cesta živnostenských a priemyselným podnikateľom. Poľnohospodárska kríza spôsobila, že statkárski podnikatelia sa začali sústreďovať na priemysel. Celkovo však Uhorsko v priemyselnej výrobe zaostávalo nielen za Predlitavskom, ale aj za európskym priemerom.Čo sa týka vzťahov medzi Čechmi a Slovákmi tie boli veľmi živé už v stredoveku, hlavne s Moravou, vôbec nie je pravda že majú spoločný len jazyk,len za 80 rokov bolo uzatvorených viac ako 800000 manželstiev medzi Čechmi a Slovákmi.
It was there, but I will still allow myself two comments: 1. Bohemia became an industrial powerhouse in the 19th century, not because of golden Czech hands. But for extensive deposits of coal and ore. So companies from all over Austria-Hungary built their factories there. Then the seizure of Czechia by one ambitious Austrian 20 years later was not so surprising. 2, After WWII, Transcarpatia with their language was lost to the Soviet Union, and in 1947-48, Czechoslovakia got rid of a large part of the German and a smaller part of the Hungarian-speaking population. Which greatly simplified federalization.
I'm a Ukrainian with 100% Slovak father (surname Hitric(h?)). I have no idea how he ended up here, but I'm very excited to learn about this part of my heritage ❤ You never miss with your topics, proud to say that I've been with you since your first vid!
@Black25284 Hi! I meant that I'm Ukrainian by nationality, I was born and raised here. While ethnically I'm Slovak, some Baltic and broadly Eastern European. Unfortunately I only know English, Ukrainian and a bit of German, I chose English because that's what most people will understand :) I was hoping someone would know if his surname is Slovak and what it means!
"The world is not perfectible. You won't change it. Why try? You might as well get completely sh*tfaced instead." As a Romanian and fellow Eastern European, I felt that.
I believe that comment was made in the context of rejecting "woke utopianism". Dostoyevsky predicted and warned against the whole communist- nihilist- woke nonsense 150 years ago. I hope all of the eastern/ Central European countries band together and completely reject the woke (aka globalist invention) nihilism of the west!
Would love a full length video covering the czech national revival. I find it very interesting how a nation was able to resist cultural oppression so well. As a lithuanian it hits close to home.
An interesting parallell. When I visited some years ago I was surprised some clerks knew a word or two of Polish. I would think that would be much more true 3 generations ago with following generations knowing more Russian and now English as secondary.
@@gombe793 most of them aren't exactly polish. They are what we call tuteišiai (tutejszy in polish). Their language is a mix of polish and belorussian. This happened because the region firstly went through belorussification and then experienced polonization, which created this hybrid culture.
@@konplayz not by force. The region simply went through a period of becoming more belorussian through migration and cultural assimilation. If that is not what belorussification is then I am sorry for using the wrong term.
@@jonobidonofanas3677 Considering the weakness of Belarusian identity both in the past and today, i just found it peculiar you “blamed” it on belarusians and not russians.
I loved it! Now, please do Poles, Czechs, and Slovaks. We don't need to go back so long in time; when we did, we could talk to each other and understand.
I'm glad you pointed out that the majority didn't want to separate. Despite the differences, both cultures viewed one another as brothers. The split was instigated and carried through by the politicians. If the Czechoslovakians were still a nation..... imagine what a hockey powerhouse they'd be!!!
It's an interesting case of ethnogenesis and how sometimes even people who are incredibly similar, by differences in shared history, become two distinct nations. It is also interesting that the ethnogenesis of Afrikaaners was talked about a little bit in the previous video, and it's a different case where people of mostly Dutch origin assimilated certain other minorities (Portuguese, French etc) in their ethnogenesis. The ethnogenesis of the USA was touched upon in a pervious video, and especially the black American population has an (even greater) component of this assimilation of people of different origins in their emergence maybe in the 17th or 18th centuries. Given, however, the segregationist character of the two aforementioned multi-racial societies, the ethnogenesis of the different Latin American nations would be an interesting complement to the overall understanding of the dynamic of ethnogenesis.
There is interesting history of stereotypisation too, for example: during the commie times, the evening news on TV were presented by two anchors: one male and one female. But in most cases, the male anchor was Czech and the female Slovak. Slovakia was, in Czech public imagination, always the wilder, more emotional, feminine part of the country, while the Czechs were the more sober, rational, masculine husband. Thing is, I as a Czech only started noticing this when I read about it, while I am sure Slovaks always subconsciously perceived this and it irked them :) How many times have they heard that Slovak is such a beautiful language - when girls speak it? Greetings from Brno, the true capital of Slovakia.
This is great! My grandparents came over to the US around the turn of the century and settled in Minnesota. My dad moved to Montana when he was a kid during the depression and stayed there till I came along. He was a “proud Bohemian” his entire life and instilled that pride in us kids too. I appreciate hearing historical accounts of that area, so thanks for making this!
For me, the biggest tragedy is, that for the 70 or so years we did not adapt some more of the usefull czech characteristics, like pragmatism and inovativness. And about alcohol, you got it wrong my good man. We usually take a shot of spirit, flushed down with beer. Much love to Czechia
I hpoe to come to Praha, as a Leninist-Marxist Turk. I would like to also taste the beer, but you should try Turkish rakı. On the politics though, I think that Czechoslovakia shouldn't be just "greater Czechia", just like the Kingdom of Yugoslavia. The Czechs and The Slovaks should have equal bullsh*t.
Your explanation for some of the differences between Czechs and Slovaks actually also helps explain the current Slovakian political tilt toward Russia in its war against Ukraine, and why the Czech government is a strong supporter of Ukraine.
As a Slovak, let me tell you, that all this russophile stuff is bullshit. It is essentialy a theatre play that current gouvernment parties use to gain support from Husák's children (basicaly our own version of baby boomers). Our gouvernment currently met with Ukrainian foreign minister with whom they discussed potential highway to Ukraine. So no, we are not Putin's little bitch
That's really interesting, I've always found the history of the Czech people fascinating because you're so unique in Europe. I loved traveling in your country mostly because of the people. Maybe I'll go to see Slovakia next. Thanks!
@@stipe3124 Serbia and Montenegro wouldn't have the same effect, since there is probably 40% ethnic Serbs living in Montenegro and a few percentage more of ethnic Montenegrins. The census has been done last year but results are still being processed, so take this with a grain of salt. Not to mention that in Montenegro prior to 1945 there was almost unanimous Serb ethnic feeling, so the story resembles slightly that of Austria vis-a-vis Germany. Croatia - Slovenia would also be tricky, since Slovenia was fully under Austria, while Croatia was (with Slavonia) under Hungarian side, while Dalmatia was governed as an Austrian crownland.
Then again I fear such a video would be made by commie pro-Yugoslavia Serbian who'd say that it is all nonsense and they would be still one people if someone similar to father god Tito came to power after him
I've been recently interested in Austian and Central European history so this was a fun surprise. Love your channel, keep up the great work. 👍🏻 Do you think you could do a video on Austria and its future and its relationship with the Habsburgs? Me: Sees Wilson. ***Anger begins to rise*** P.S. Ironic how the slavic nationalists who wanted their own states separate from the mult-ethnic Austria-Hungary and yet their own states were mult-ethnic and the Czechs and Serbs became the dominant ethnic groups in their respective countries. Great video 👍
As a Slovak I find Czechs as our brother nation and always will. Unfortunately, I was also born after 1993 and thus never experienced the joint state. Yet if there was a vote if we should get back into a federation, I would vote yes. Thank you for probably the best video on Czech and Slovak differences and similarities. Great work as always!
This romanticism is getting ridiculous. During the joint state there was no love for Czechs, after the separation relations got a lot better and people assume it was just like this during those times.
Im afraid vast majority of Czech has absolutely no interest in joining with Slovakia. Quite frankly, I do believe that Czechoslovakia was a mistake. It would make 1000x more sense for Czechs to form a kind of federation with Sudetenland Germans and for Slovaks to do their on thing, which is something you wished for and made clear more than once.
Czechoslovakia wasn't a mistake. Czechs achieved what they wanted, getting a rule over land which was for a centuries controlled by ethnic Germans. Slovakia managed to become independent. Sure Hungarians would like to revise that. While Germans have a basically no chance of getting Suddetenland back. Therefore we don't need to be together anymore, but close nontheless.
@@giovannituber2827 Germans have no chance of getting Sudetenland back because it was never German to begin with (except ww2, of course, when the whole country became a part of Germany). Sure, most of its regions had huge German majority, but it was a part of the Bohemian kingdom since always and that didnt change with Czechoslovakia becoming a thing. What Czechs wanted was to be independent of Austria, not to "controll" Sudetenland.
Good video, I never knew the true relationship between Czechs and Slovaks. And this video shed a lot of light into that topic. It was very neutral, showcasing Czechs in a negative light as well (like their plan to "solve" the German question). I also wanted to note that Slavs being pacifist is not entirely untrue, they are one of the most generous and helpful people you would ever meet. But damn if they are too prideful when it comes to religion and history - and very bad in choosing politicians to lead them. I would love to see you making similar video about Yugoslavia as well, seeing how more and more people (mostly Serbs) see it as a mistake as well.
We are Czechs, not Checks. It could create a confusion, that Slovaks was opressed by constant legal controlers :D :D (I had to do its, it is great pun in misswriting :D :D)
@@radeksilar543 It's ok, I edited it. What can I say? I am a South Slav, I write as I speak. Not that English type where you say one thing and write another.
@@IgorDruzhinin-qo2vjwhy would Rusyns and other Western Ukrainians not be peaceful? In fact, western Ukrainians are likely more peaceful than those in the east. As far as Peace goes for Slavs, Western Slavs are undoubtedly the most peaceful of all Slavs. Essentially being between a Hammer, Second Hammer and an Anvil (ottomans, Germans and Russians) made them not war among one another much, nor expand outwards. Eastern Slavs are war full, the just comes with Russia. Balkans also have some nasty stuff but overall for Europe not that much, and not that much compared to Russia.
This video is a masterpiece on a Czech - Slovak relations. Well done. 👍 As someone who lived in formerly German dominanted borderland (Ústí nad Labem), I can confirm that these regions haven't recovered from the expulsion of Germans till today. Sudden demographic change brings terrible results.
It wasn't the expulsion of Germans, but deindustrialization itself that characterizes the blight of the Ústecký and Karlovarský region. Economic metrics show that Czechoslovakia grew in line with Western Europe throughout the late 1940s and 1950s - there was no GDP loss from expelling a large segment of the population. This was due to the Party's focus on heavy industry development. However, by the 1960s this growth slowed and the plans for economic reform from the early 60s were destroyed by the Soviet invasion in 1968. But had Czechoslovakia remained in the Western bloc, deindustrialization would have hit these regions hard regardless, as we see from the cases of similarly highly industrialized regions like Wallonia in Belgium, Hauts-de-France or England's North. Those places also have the same issues, with only some having been able to refocus - often to service sector niches, like biotech, etc. Socialism for these regions only delayed this by 2 decades from the 1970s, through heavy Soviet subsidies and non-functional markets, so when it did come in the early 90s, it the impact was immediate, since the COMECOM trade network (RVHP) suddenly collapsed and all the Eastern Bloc countries went bankrupt. After all, there were no buyers for these inefficient, dirty and expensive goods and the factories were incredibly outdated compared to the post-Industrial states of the West. Of the factories that did survive, through large FDI capital injections, like Škoda or Zeiss in East Germany, restructuring and investment went hand in hand with firing the surplus employees who were not needed in technologically advanced factories.
It's interesting that the middle of Czech Republic is the most affluent. Shows how it's not always the eastern part that's the poorest, as many seem to think (like in Slovakia, Poland or Romania), but rather how it's dependent upon cultural/historical factors, not just geography. Very interesting video, it explains really well the main differences between the countries.
Central yes but Czech east is also nominally poorer than the west (Bohemia Vs Moravia). But Czechia also has sudets which became desolated after expulsions.
@@tomasvrabec1845 That’s just a stereotype. If we omit Prague (Which we should), Bohemia and Moravia are about the same in terms of development. Maybe even a little in favour of Moravia.
Capital / large cities are almost always affluent. Except for nations with sea access, where ports may play more significant role. Czech Republic is similar in size with Ireland. In Czechia the center is rich and the periphery is poor. In Ireland the centre is poor and coastal cities are rich.
One thing that is truly worthy of admiration is the peaceful dissolution. You guys showed the world, how two civilized nations can deal with difficult problems, state dissolution being among the most difficult. History usually focuses of the bloodshed, but dissolution of Czechoslovakia should be given a lot more attention in historical reflection.
19:00 At the wake of the break up of the Hungarian Kingdom there were even protests in Eastern Slovakia by Slovjaks, who considered themselves separate from Slovaks, and preferred autonomy within Hungary.
Not surprised. The dialectal continuum was almost perfect prior to 1800s. After 1850s it split between Czech and Slovak a LOT due to the standardisation. Hence Moravian declined and standardised Czech (based more in Bohemian Czech) rose up. Meanwhile Slovak, based more on Central and western dialects rose in slovakia, and the regional dialects declined. Even today, a lot of Slovaks from center to west struggle to understand Eastern Slovaks but have no problem with Czech language or even the most Western Czech dialects.
@perseus274 Some of the Slovjaks were actually Rusyns who assimilated during the 19th century after their migration north-to-south into predominantly Slovak speaking settlements, which saw the expansion of the Greek Catholic Church. Earliest census still counted these folks as Rusyns. It's important to note, however, that there was never a separate Slovjak category on any census.
@@vladimirskala why there was migration, I suppose lots of diseases and a revolt of peasants against habsburgs, that meant the Habsburgs after they won called in new subjects from elsewhere to provide them rent.
@@cdgncgn Combination of factors. The more fertile parts of the country, inhabited by Slovaks and Hungarians were decimated by the armies passing through. Also, a growing Rusyn population compared to the declining Hungarian one. Possibly Uzhhorod Union played a small role as well within the context of re-Catholization of Hungarian kingdom. Peter Soltes goes into great detail in his seminal work concerning these events: forumhistoriae.sk/documents/10180/85705/soltes.pdf
This was fascinating, because as a Slovenian I feel as if by some complete happenstance we really do fit kind of between Slovaks and Czechs. On the one hand, when you showed the picture of Slovakian countryside it looks almost exactly the same as Slovenian villages and we have very similar rural/religious population numbers to them. On the other hand, we have industrialization and infrastructure that is closer to Czechs (plus our capitol being more central and also germanized slavs), hence our GDP per capita numbers are so close. I suppose our Carantanian heritage (western slavs that went so far out, that our culture and language got influenced by southern slavs more) somehow came through in the end...though idk how exactly.
I will speak English not my native lenguage slovenian For everyone hear what I say On the one hand, Slovakia and Slovenia are similar. The role of the Catholic Church is incredibly strong, and we didn't have a region either. A probable reason for the fact that we have become rich is the role of the strategic path, which is good for trade and slovenes where historical not only farmers but also traders.also Krain was Majority Slavic and even cities there where Slavic (The only city with a strong German minority was Ljubljana, but it slowly disappeared towards the end in the 19th century).similar story in Gorizia but in Styria was same in other regions with slavs so irony is that we are kinda Barbarians of Slovenia. Another thing is that the Slovenians were incredible negotiators, both in Austria-hungary and Yugoslavia we where quite good with getting there things with parlament.also slovenes manage to being close to power even if we never lead Jernej Kopitar was close ally of Matternich, Ivan Šuštaršič with Franz Ferdinand, Anton Korošec with Alexander karađorđević and Edvard Kardelj with Josip Broz Tito. realistically, the Slovenes managed the impossible despite their size, they had an above-average influence on politics. Zdravo da lahko povem povzetek. Imamo dobro strateško lego,slovenska politika je bila neverjetno dobra pri doseganju svojih ciljev in politiki so nekako bili blizu ljudem na oblasti.
@@domenstrmsek5625 @loonie5468 I don't know much about Slovenia so your comments raised my interest in your country's history a lot. Greetings from Slovakia :)
@@domenstrmsek5625 I would like to mention the "luck" of being in the Austrian part of the Empire - as these things were allowed only by Asutrians. Hungarians did not allow even the "middle intelligentisia" of a minority to have a bit of influence.
I have a question KaiserBauch. How come the Slovak birth rate in 2021 is 1.63 and Czechia's is 1.83? By all acounts I expected this to be the opposite, with the more traditional rural Slovakia having larger birth rate than the more secular progressive Czechia. Do you have an explanation for this?
@rumenok Well, North Korea is much more depressing than South Korea, yet it has a much higher birth rate, so that can't be the answer (assuming you are being serious!)
@@LegiyonEhellout yes, but you forget one small detail - Slovakia is EU member so youth just go to another countries to find proper job and etc. to Czechia as well, North Korea is closed so...
Interesting point, looking it up it seems that history birth rates were higher in Slovakia until 2001, then on par between the two for roughly a decade, and the Slovakia recovers more slowly from the bottom. Perhaps it's explained mostly by economic differences and migration, but migration would reduce the pool of fertile women so both the nominator and the denominator
As stated here. Until 2001 the birth rate was higher in SVK. Then similar. After that, Slovak birth rate went down. Reason is rather simple - Slovakia is worse off hence far more of the younger and able migrate abroad - and mainly migrate into Czechia. That's since 2004. 20 years later - a one Generational circle in Theory, Slovak birth rate is smaller because the Population within Reproductive Age migrated out. Whilst this would likely boost Czech birth rates by the same amount that Slovakia lost it's (more or less). Which seems to align.
will you make more content on central and eastern european countries in particular? if yes poland, romania and ex-yugoslavia would be the most interesting i think
It strikes me that in the video you mentioned Masáryk and even Beneš, but you did not mention one very important person, and that is Milan Rastislav Štefánik, without whom Czechoslovakia would not have happened, since he was the one who led the negotiations in France, since Masáryk was an unknown person to the French, and Milan Rastisav Štefánik was a high-ranking general in the French army who was even behind the organization of the Czechoslovak legions that fought in Russia against the bolsheviks. France, which was just like the USA a big player in whether Czechoslovakia will exist at all, but otherwise quite a good video except for the failure to mention Štefánik, who also took part in the creation of Czechoslovakia .
That is the reality of youtube education. You can teach here your fans how to bake a bread but you can omit the flour in the recipe. Without Štefánik, there would be no Czechoslovak bread!
The cities or city centers as you said were indeed built by German speakers. Because of German states influence, it was simply better/more efficient to speak that language instead, which however does not mean that the individuals behind were not Czech. As an example, Pilsen population has always been Czech dominated, but their language has for centuries been German.
@@ferdomrkvicka1247that can very well be. After Bila Hora Germans totally dominated the country, so after two centuries there was no doubt that one nationality/identity was seen and felt superior. Of course even today, we cant ever hope to match Germany, simply thanks to their geography and compared to us massive population. On an individual level however, i dont see Czechs being somehow inferior to Germans. Its also worth mentioning that vast vast majority of them were serfs and working class just like Czechs. Plus the nation didnt even exist till less than 200 years ago. Sudetendeutschen is completely artificial concept too.
Ďakujem za video, je to naozaj zaujímavá téma, najmä pre mňa ako Slováka narodeného v zahraničí. Spomínal si, že Škótsko je "ultra protestantský región", si si tým istý?
As a belgian this video and the history of Czecho-Slovakia in general is very interesting because it echoes a lot with our own situation right now. I also have one of my best friends who happens to be a Czech woman and she always says that the fate of Belgium is the same as Czechoslovakia, just with more hatred between the north and the south in Belgium.
Belgium as a state was created when religion was still more important than ethnicity. The catholics Flamish people prefered to form a state with the French speaking Wallones, because those were fellow catholics, instead of joining the Protestant Netherlands - who spoke the same language, but had a different confession. Now that religion is of much less importance, the Flamish people don't really understand anymore, why they are not part of the Netherlands but in a state with those Frenchy Wallones.
This was a nice break from your usual videos that end on the glum note of demographic collapse. This is a subject many are aware of, but not particularly knowledgeable about. You have a talent for presenting history in an easily understandable format. Could probably tackle similar subjects just fine.
As to Stur's rejection of liberalism, it's important (so as not to allow modern discourse to distort the historical context) to note that liberalism was mostly associated with Hungarian nationalism, which called for one Hungarian nation and rejected equal rights to all other people (I refrain from the term 'minority' since there was no one people who made up a majority within the kingdom of Hungary).
@perseus274 That's quite a stretch. "Nagy" means big/grand, "kovács" is smith. While the origins of the word kovács is slavic, that doesn't mean every guy named "Smith" (which is just a profession) is a slav, and I don't think "nagy" has anything to do with Slovaks. "Tóth" used to refer to all slavs but was later narrowed down to Slovaks, true, but even if we assume all the 200k people with the Tóth family name had Slovak ancestry that'd only be ~2% of the population.
@perseus274 I think you're mistaking words that are kind of shared between the 2 languages as a sing of Slovak ancestry. For example Molnár comes from the German Müller while Mészáros means butcher, these are just professions. So people with the name Müller, Molnár and Mylnár had the same jobs with different ethnic or regional backgrounds. Orbán actually comes from latin but was mostly used by jews. But it's kind of a complicated thing to argue, since after 1000 ears of shared history I bet most families on both sides could find a Slovak or Hungarian ancestor in their family tree. Especially considering how in the 16th century a lot of Hungarians had to flee north from the Ottoman conquest and after the Ottomans were defeated many other ethnicities were also settled into central Hungary to repopulate devastated areas. One of the towns on southern Hungary (Békéscsaba/Békešská Čaba) still has a significant Slovak minority because of that. I think Slovaks as the closest to us culturally and it's a shame how the 20th century turned out. If we currently had the WWII borders along ethnic lines we'd probably be besties by now, since politically both countries seem to be on the same wavelength.
@@hdaNhun the other guy wrote, mesar in a dialect is meat-guy, meso (officially mäso) is meat. Older for mesar, or mäsiar is rezník.(rezať is to cut, so essentailly, cutter) Meso rewritten into magyar writing would be meszo.(without the a sounding almost o and o soundding like a) Butcher or mesar, mešar, (mesar) Kov is metal. Even in Russian kuvaľda is the big iron piece on which metal is worked on. Another word for smith is Kovaľ. Kovaľ, Kovač. (vs) metal worker. Magyarization made multiethnic multilingual into multiethnic unolingual. Self defeating also.
@@cdgncgn Are you saying that in the 1000+ year history of Hungary, every person whose profession was "butcher" was actually a Slav because the word itself has Slavic origins? By that logic every doctor today is actually Roman, since the origin of the word is latin.
@@Black25284 Yes, I spent about a week combined in both countries as a tourist and enjoyed it. Enough time to get an idea but only a pretty superficial one when you don't speak the language
Very interesting video. I recognize a lot, but has some really interesting details I wasn't aware enough mainly about the Slovaks. I'm both a Czech and Dutch citizen, grown up in the West, but spent many holidays at my grandparents in Prague since the 70's. I also felt a lot of sympathy for the Slovaks, but I was really shocked how the people could vote for their current PM and President. You gave a good background for this.
You are missing one important point - forceful recatolization of the Czech population. We have lost lots of good people, who didn't want to submit and have been forced to flee the country (like J.A. Komenský). I woud say we have lost some of our spine too - so many people changed their faith out of convinience... Freedom of religion wasn't a thing for a long time. Prague used to be czech city in medieval ages before it become "German" for a time, so I wouldn't say that Prague was build exclusively by Germans..
Yes, he is pro German even I would say little masochistic from Czech point of view 😀. Germans originally inhabited mostly the mountains and during the recatolization period moved more into the country because it was almost empty after the 30 years war. So the areas which were purely Germany lets say in the late 19th century were not German at all before 17th century.
yes, if i didnt know better from the vid i wouldnt know majority of Czechs was for like 2 whole centuries non- Catholic and they been forcefully( and superficially as shown by contemporary atheist majority) within one generation converted back to Catholicism after defeat of Czech estates by Habsburg army. In the vid it was merely stated the 17th century loss of sovereignty and often violent recatholisation and Germanisation ordered by our newly hereditary Habsburg monarch is just the accepted interpretation of history of Czechia...
The map you showed at the end is outdated, Ukraine, Baltics, and Finland don't have a Communitarian family structure. I don't quite remember what type they had, only that it was the type that was in Poland, which was greyed out.
Great video - after watching it, the difference between Czechs and Slovaks is graspable. I like how you briefly summarized history, culture and mentality for a deeper look. As a Polish, I am always wondered what the actual difference is between these two
It is amazing... to see how different Catholicism is taken by the Czechs and the Poles. In Czechia it was seen as an enemy to the national identity... while in Poland as a protector of the national tradition, that was keen for us to survive wars, partitions, and the communism... We are so close, but at the same time so far apart. 😀
Same thing happens here between spaniards and catalans. The Catholic Church was a big supporter of Francoist regime and now Catalonia is one of the less religious nations of Europe, which makes catalan nationalism very diferent from irish one
Czechs been Hussites for 2 centuries and been forcefully converted only after they lost war against Catholic Habsburgs, within one generation Czechs lost sovereignty and right to elect own kings, German language was given priority in administration, and majority of people was forced to change, at least superficially, their religion, so one can argue the link between religion and nation, people, was broken by this external action, and as such catholicism was never internalised as a basis of Czech identity and country very quickly secularised once Catholicism stopped being enforced and protected by state after the break up of Austria Hungary. Christian/ Catholic holidays and traditions are still widely observed and happily celebrated in Czechia but they are generally viewed as Czech traditional and not religious holidays in their nature, e.g. Baby Jesus is bringing Xmas gifts but Czechs mostly dont think of him as the same Jesus from Bible and Christian religion.
We are not close, on the contrary: we are miles apart. Mentality is completely different, I would say the only thing that makes Poles and Czechs close is their languages being part of the Western Slavic group - and even with that Czech is a VERY different language.
@@Weisser.Teufel This is what I am saying. Languages are close enough that we can understand each other without much difficulty. However there are words that sound the same but mean completely different things, sometimes this can be very fumy ... like Polish word 'szukać' means 'to look for' Czech word that sounds the same means 'to f*ck'. So when the Pole says 'szukam żonę' which means I am looking for my wife....the Czech will interpret this like "I am f*cking my wife'
@@rehurekj That is utter nonsense. It had not been Hussite for 2 centuries before being forcefully converted very few Bohemians were Hussites. You also ignore that it was moderate Hussites who literally sided with the catholic church against radical Hussites and were recognized by the catholic church and allowed to follow their rite. Moreover, while nominally catholic, the post Napoleonic Austrian Empire did not strictly enforce religion and was generally tolerant of the protestant, orthodox and later Muslim religions in the empire. Keep in mind, throughout all of this Bohemian maintained the Bohemian Diet and controlled its own laws generally ruled by its own aristocracy. You also ignore the fact Czech nationalism was a very new thing. There was little actual distinction between Czechs, German-proper or Austrians until the 19th century. Moreover, early Czech nationalism made no distinction between Czechs and Slovaks with Masaryk creating Czechoslovakia because he believed they were close enough to be the same. They included Carpatho-Rusyns who were more similar to Ukrainians and Russians showing the nationalist anti-foreigners aspect is completely made up and of course make no mention of the Sudetenland. The separatist movement in Austria-Hungary was never nationalist and only political. Czechs remained mostly religious and catholic in the interwar years under the secular liberal government founded by non religious protestant Masaryk. It was only under the communist regime that like other nations religion declined. I'd argue the modern Czech anti-Catholicism had more to due to Czech's loyalty to the communist government. Most of the Czechoslovakian communist party was ruled by Czechs with the only major exception being Husák. The more industrial Czechia fit much better in the communist paradigm than the rural Slovaks. The catholic church in Czechoslovakia however was a massive resistance force against the communists for decades
You really hit the nail on the head with the woke-protestant connection. In the US specifically New England Puritanism...also the most "progressive" region, and with a zealot's religious flavor.
The two shouldn't have separated. And Czechoslovakia should have received the Lusatian region with the Sorbs as a compensation for the lost Zakarpatia.
I moved to Czech Republic 3 years ago and your channel is a way to look deeper into history and culture of these lands. I am Russian, so for me it is interesting to know perspective of people around me, who has their own agenda on their mind.
Growing up in Slovakia as a kid all I was hearing from older people is that life under the communist regime was better. This wasn't just in my family, but it feels like it was a general sentiment of the people at the time. Of course nowadays most people see this period as negative especially younger people who never experienced it. Also I've never seen anyone hating Russia in Slovakia .. at least not before the war in Ukraine started. This is contrary to Czechs who seem to have deep rooted hatred towards Russia almost to the point where you can't even say anything positive about Russia and have rational conversation with them.
I wonder where you lived. I came from the north, north west Slovakia and growing up everyone agreed communism was quite bad. You had few unusual people who liked socialism because it basically gave them a job but they weren't loud nor affluent. Even within the military people kept liking Czechslovakia and hated Russia, especially hated 1968. I listened to countless stories by elderly about the events of 68 and the fear and nonsense it brought. And strong hate towards Russia was definitely a thing even among kids in school in Žilina. Dno how that changed. I would even say that Slovaks have a now cultural sentiment to raise their kids with the words "leave as soon as possible" and many were told this in my wider family as well as in school. Hence probably why... They were from the more liberal, Czech liking and Russia hating population that kept seeing the continuous decline.
@@tomasvrabec1845 I am from western Slovakia. My family were basically your average lower class people .. construction workers, mechanics, farmers etc ... It's possible I lived in a bubble or something, but that's what I remember from 90s and early 2000s. The thing is I also have a lot of family living in Serbia, and it was the same story there. They had their own communist regime and older people there were saying the same thing as here .. life was better under communism... I don't know how old you are, but the anti-russia thing in schools is probably more of a recent thing. Like last 10-15 years mabe.
I can assure you that plenty of Slovaks hate Russia with passion. I would say that mostly middle-aged people. I don't know what the general sentiment is among young people. Plenty of seniors that actually lived in socialism for many years don't have a problem with Russia or the socialist regime. I think that it's probably because of their life experience. They are less naive and can see that all regimes and countries have their share of problems. Perhaps life was great in the West before 2000s, but then things started to change...
Whenever you hear someone say that “things were better back then“, look at what age they are. My grandmother, born 1902, had fond memories of both Austria and 1st Czechoslovak republic. When I was a child, I saw plenty of old people, praising “The Order” that there was during Nazi occupation. Now I see a lot of people beyond 50, who worship the age of “freedom and common sense” - the 1990s… A and yes, the commie fanclub is huge. Thanks to the modern, read, WESTERN, medicine, they are still around in their 80 years of age and bless us with their observations…
I'd love to see a video about slovenians and croats and serbs and other nations regarding national tensions and history. Probably that should be a series of videos. 😁 Great work btw! 💪✌️👍
Why is it that after the Second World War, Czechs were allowed to ethnically cleanse their lands of Germans, but the Slovaks were not allowed to do so with Hungarians, when Hungary was also an Axis nation?
Maybe I am wrong but that was the thing of Soviets, they clean Germans not only from Czechia and Slovakia but also from Poland, Russia, Kazakhstan and many other countries. Here is a link en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flight_and_expulsion_of_Germans_(1944%E2%80%931950)
You definetely hit a point with this video. I'm from Italy, my mother still carries with her the knowledge of the old school geography, and I can strongly percive the different cultural sensibility torwards eastern europe between me and her. To her, eastern europe is associated with a mass of immigrants, mainly coming from poland, and geographically speaking, everything east to Germany is a blank slate. Many, even now, still mistake Czechia and Slovakia for Czechoslovakia, and it's so common of a mistake that has become sinonymus with ignorance in general. My generation seems well more interested in the area, and of course informated, and I know that is mainly due to tourism. Still, even now, after well more of a decade since the creation of the Slovak state, it has some difficulty to slide into people consciousness, so I can only imagine how hard could have been for people from the 80s, if not from the 90s, to actually acknowledge Slovaks as a cultural identity.
I don't agree with the association of woke-ism with Protestantism, especially not in the American context. Although New England like pretty much all the original 13 colonies was originally very Protestant, New England and the Northeast have for over a century been the part of the United States with the highest percentage of Catholics. The South (Southeast) is comparatively the most Protestant/least Catholic and the most anti-woke portion of the country.
Neopentecostal evangelicams are not the traditional type of protestants. As for the point he was making, it's not that protestantism=wokeism. It's that the subjacent cultural trends of idealism, universalism, radicalism etc which manifested themselves in the protestant reformation are the same that manifest themselves in wokeism and that is why wokeism is stronger in areas where classic protestantism was also strongest - since they speak to the same and still existing underlying characteristics of those cultures. Nowadays in western countries, according to Todd, religion mostly exists in a zombified state, and people are post-religious. In areas where religion is still more relevant, you'd not expect less typically non-religious forms of their trends to manifest
@@FOLIPE All of the United States is traditionally Protestant, but the North became majority Catholic and the South remained overwhelmingly Protestant. If any line is going to be drawn between Protestant and Catholic parts of the US, the North clearly is the part that would have to be considered Catholic. Associating it with Protestantism more so than the South is completely backwards.
The thing is that most of the new England settlers of the 17th and 18th century moved westwards, especially to places like Nortwestrn Pacific region or northern California. It is not a surprise that those were the most "progressive" areas in the world in the 2nd half of the 20th century, and nowadays those regions are still well know for being very liberal. Yankee culture is still very alive in modern America.
@@patrickcleburneuczjsxpmp9558 Yes of one were to make that distinction it would be between the north and west and the south, however the point is more about the northeast as the core of American civilization than a contrast to the south. As I said, too, it's historical not contemporary protestantism (or catholicism) since religion today is often zombie
@@FOLIPE Virginia is the oldest of all the US states. The primary author of the Declaration of Independence was a Virginian. The father of the US Bill of Rights was another Virginian. The lead author of the constitution was yet another Virginian. 4 of the first 5 US presidents came from Virginia. Virginia in 1776 was far more populous than any northern state. As of the first census in 1790, Virginia and North Caroline were both (individually) more populous than any northern state, and Virginia and North Carolina together (not even counting the other southern states) were more populous than Massachusetts and the 5 other New England states put together. It's the South and particularly Virginia that represents the core of American civilization.
The famous Czech kitchen is only good again since communism ended. I was there for a visit immediately after the fall of the Iron Curtain and it was horrible. All the restaurants were state owned and had exactly the same menu all over the country and all the dishes tasted like they were made in the same centralized food factory. It was awful, disgusting. Also the food in the shops, cheap (for us as Western foreigners), but the lowest possible quality. Chocolate awful, potatoe chips awful. Bakeries ... awful. Breakfast in the hotel where we stayed ... awful. There were already a few private restaurants, that had popped up just months after the end of communism, those were the only places, that had decent food.
@@ekesandras1481 Interesting. I visited Russia 9 years ago and the food was quite good, especially considering the price (the ruble was in a rough spot at the time). Talking to locals, their assessment was similar to your experience: there was an increase in quality and variety after the fall of the USSR, but it took a while. There's a reason so many people waited for the first McDonald's in a kilometric queue.
I'm an American of Czech decent (Bohemia) from my paternal grandparents. My grandfather had somewhat of a disdain for Slovaks but I never really understood. This has been an excellent description of both nations. I always wanted to visit Czechoslovakia and by my first visit in 1993, it had become 2 countries. I was disappointed that this happened, but I now understand it was inevitable. Thank God it was peaceful! Thank you for an excellent explanation!
About Czechia being the most atheist country In the world. I think many people who say they are religious simply say that on censuses/polls because it’s a part of the ethnic/cultural identity. While for Czechs they never had that link with a specific religious denomination as the Catholic Church was more associated with the Germans. On polls like “do you believe in an afterlife” or “do you think there is a heaven and hell” Czechia isn’t so different from the rest of Europe
About refusing atheism, it was done mostly by church refusing to use Czech language (or any old slavic from back then), while latin and specificaly German was used commonly. Same issue as rular/urban population like in the video. And all attempts to create own church was burried, or remained separated only to countryside, by rulers, crusades, by Vatican rules etc. It naturaly created sceptisicm towards Catholicism or other larger churches. Also, there is a lot of history of power corruption did specifialy by Catholic church, like selling indulgences, taxing religious services, while keeping all taxes for themselfs > banned to have childred, or be excomunicated (was not always complied by small villages comunities, priests was in same position as others, except literacy). Oh, and do not forget for 30 years war, which resulted to crash of most of elites of other churches and also many lords, back then in 16th century.
@@crusader2112 well, it was not part in the original church, before it was common for priests to have children. Celibacy was created to avoid heritage of the church. But issue was, when they started to be hypocritical, in short term, ,,Preach water, drink wine".
@@kaiserbauch9092nerozprávaj hlúposti. Slovenská inteligencia neexistovala? Kto bol Murgaš, Banic, Spisovatelia, Aurel Stodola? Priemysel nebol? Nobelova fabrika v Bratislave, Apollo, najviac železnej Rudy sa ťažilo v oblasti Gemer a oceľ sa vyrábala tam tiež. Naštudujte si informácie.
@@radeksilar543well no. Despite the thousand year rule many Slovaks have nothing to do with any Hungarians. Heck, even after doing genetic tests there are no Hungarians in them for many. Czechs have been more mixed with Germans.
Difficult to understand these speakers of the Slavic language, but it's good that we didn't get to the atrocities in Yugoslavia. And in Romania, it was tried with the wicks between the Mountains, Moldovans and Transylvanians, but without success. They tried to make Russians out of Moldovans, Hungarian Transylvanians and Bulgarian Mountains, but they were left with a swollen lip. Excessive centralization also has bad parts in the unitary development of a country, bringing arguments to enemies.
This is VERY interesting. I do have questions. My grandparents came from Myjava Slovakia near the Czech border. My Grandma traveled to Vienna for work. They were Lutheran. They were Czechoslovakian. And never knew a separate nation. Many of their customs are similar to Czech and less so Slovakia. I know my Grandpa spoke German. Back in 1900 to 1915, during Austria Hungarian empire, was Myjava more of a combination of both nations? Or still distinctly Slovak? I feel little connection to other Slovak customs which I find odd. Any insight is greatly appreciated
Yes, that is a disaster! There is a great religious history in the Czech lands, both Catholic and Husite / Moravian. I hope there will be a great religious revival in the Czech Republic one day. ✝️
Outstanding video. Thanks you Kaiser. Very Detailed. My father was Slovak, grew up in a Slovak enclave in USA and maintained relations with extended family there who he would never meet. I didn’t understand his attitude then but I do now.
I enjoyed it a lot. Very informative and unbiased. I’m just not sure why you get so heated when you talk about LGBTQ 🤷🏼♂️ I’m Polish and gay and all I want is to be treated equally, not discriminated against or not treated like my existence is a danger to the Slavic culture or identity…
I am merely using the flag connecting gay, trans people and people of color as a representation of woke ideology. The ideology is based on perceiving everything in society through lenses of oppression, victimhood and power dynamics. The flag is thus good reprezentation of it, since it puts together groups that have not much in common except being perceived as victims.
@@kaiserbauch9092 this flag represents equality. I’m not sure why you’re connecting it with all these other things you’re mentioning and equaling LGBTQ with victimhood. Don’t we deserve equal treatment?
I also don't get why he put liberalism, communism together and put progressive pride flag on it. Sound like typical dog whistle especially without explaining why he connected those. Sure there are loud problematic people in all groups but the conservatives, anti-progressive tend to be more in positions of power ...
@@wolacco No, we don't deserve equal treatment, because we are not equal. All we need is equality under law and equality of opportunity (which by itself is hard to reach, even if you try). Equality of outcome is unreachable, undesirable and attempts to go that way are grossly destructive.
7:25 Czechs didnt have to accept interpretation of history. Catholic church was objectively connected to Habsburgs and loss of Czech independence and recatholisation/ Germanisation. Before 30yrs war Czechia was overwhelmingly non-Catholic and only after our defeat Catholicism artificially became dominant religion after mere one generation, it was forceful and largely superficial conversion( and i guess one of causes of Czech contemporary atheism) ordered by winning Habsburgs, just like end of independent Czech statehood and factual and later also formal inclusion of Czech lands among their hereditary lands and preference for german language for simplified administration and as centralisation tool. thats no interpretation but actual fact based on what happened and who ordered it to happen( unlike e.g. later demonisation of Austria- Hungary)
@jcoker423 why not? Its been part of the square for centuries and been only demolished after WW1 cos the mob incorrectly assumed this common accessory found in almost all Czech cities is some sort of symbol of Habsburg and/ or Catholic rule over Czechia. It wasn't true and in my opinion destroying buildings and statues and indiscriminately erasing symbols of one's history, complicated as it may be, is barbaric and I'm glad this act of such primitive barbarisms been corrected recently.
Czechs became Protestants (and later Atheists), because they wanted to distance themselves from Catholic Austrians and the German speaking clergy. Slovaks stayed firm Catholics, because they wanted to distance themselves from Protestant Hungarians. Religion is very often just an extension of politics and very seldom such choices are based on theological arguments.
Except the Habsburgs never forced conversion and in fact allowed moderate Hussite rites to continue to exist. The Habsburgs never forced conversations anywhere else in the Holy Roman Empire or in the Austrian dominions. It also makes no sense that a nation that is "artificially" converted never fully ingrains it. Like most pagan barbarians were forced to convert, yet Christianity became the bedrock of their nations. We are talking about 300 years. This also ignores the rapid protestantization of nations like England, Sweden and Denmark. Moreover, under the liberal Czechoslovakia catholicism remained strong in Czechia
@@ekesandras1481 No they didn't. First of all before the 19th century, few czechs saw themselves as massively distinct from Austrians or Germans and mostly relegated to intellectual circles. Second of all under Czechosloakia catholicism remained strong in Czechia. The mass atheism was mainly due to communist dictatorship.
@@jcoker423 How was it a bumbling tower of babel? It was one of the most advanced nations in Europe. The reality is Austria-Hungary was not doomed to fail. Even the claim there needed to be a more federalized system doesn’t work because there was already local governments.
New England started off extremely Protestant but those people’s descendants moved out, resettled, and were demographically replaced by Catholics, at least in major cities
As a Balkan Slav, I lived in Prague for two years, and met a lot of Czechs and Slovaks. I realized i connected way easier with Slovaks, my theory was that Slovakia has historically been agricultural like my country of origin and both of us entered Industrial age way later than Czechs or Slovenians. Great channel, mate, can't have enough of it, I am sharing it and bothering people like crazy. Much respect.
Actually Slovenians entered Industrial age later than Czechs, they and Czechs share history of being part Holy Roman and Austrian Empire but unlike Czechia they fully industrialised only after WW1 not before it.
@@rehurekj I was comparing Slovenia to the rest of the former Yugoslavia, not to Czechia. Which doesn’t take value from your remark, just clarifies where I was coming from.
Well Czechia (Bohemia called historically) entered industrial age the earliest out of all slavic/today ex-eastern european countries, Austria-Hungary (today more than 8 countries) empire chose it to become industrial core for the whole empire. Poland, Hungary, all Balkans, Baltics, Romania, Slovenia all entered industrial age later. Thats why after creation of Czechoslovakia in 1918 it became quite rich, cause it inherited 70% of all industrial capabilities of Austria-Hungary empire, exporting weapons, cars, airplanes, steel, most of other industrial powerhouses had much larger population like UK, Germany.
That is, roughly, correct. The reason for that is which part of the Empire one belonged to. Czechs and Slovenes were under austrian, Slovaks and Croats under hungarian part. That's how we mostly differentiated culturaly, mentally... If we were under the same rule I'm pretty sure the differences would be quite negliegable.
czechs always had much luck during their history and never really got humbled, you can feel that.
Baby, wake up, your favourite Czech released a new video.
Baby nie udri mňa 😂
Your Czech mate
Well I will watch it as soon as I can but I am in school at the moment.
I can't even name another Czech except the odd footballer. Shhhhh!! They don't want anyone to know they exist...
My girlfriend asked me what I was watching, and I answered honestly.
She didn't believe me.
TL;DR:
Czechs are Germanized West Slavs
Slovaks are Hungarianized West Slavs
And Hungarians are a mix of all the populations around them.
And Russia's c. . . s.. ....
So are Poles default west slavs?
@@constantinethecataphract5949 Hungarians are just mixed, drunken Austrians/Czechs/Slovaks larping as the Huns/Mongolians speaking gibberish.
We wuz Germans 'n' shiet.
what if Slovakia and Slovenia formed a union to avoid confusion
Will never happen
Better idea: Czech and Slovenia form a union known as Czechoslovenia. Maximum confusion!
How about Latvia and Lithuania. What if Poland would formed Poland-Latvia commonwealth.
Named Slovenia, Slo from Slovakia and Venia from Slovenia
@@1237barca BREAKING NEWS: CZECHOSLOVENIA ANNOUNCES SPECIAL MILITARY OPERATION IN AUSTRIA TO LINK BOTH ENDS OF COUNTRY
Hi Kaiser! Very fair description, approved from Slovakia! I am enjoying also other of your videos, keep it coming.
My brother visited the Czech Republic in 2016 (and a little bit in Bratislava) and said he had some great times. Oh and the Czechs make the best beer.
I’ve heard about the beer, really inspires me to visit
@@ManBehindTheMask You can definitely buy a case of Pilsner Urquell somewhere!
“German” Pilsner is actually ursprünglich from Czechia
The Czech republic has some amazingly beautiful landscapes and castles, unfortunately I never made it to Slovakia as I was heading for Bratislava but the train broke down in Poland and I somehow got diverted to Prague
You're god damn right.
You’re my favourite UA-camr. Thanks for all the interesting videos about things few talk about.
Fun fact - there is a 40k strong community of Slovaks in Serbia, and they are mostly Lutheran, and not Catholic, like in modern Slovakia.
Yes, the ones from Vojvodina. But i would not consider Slovakia as a Catholic. Yes, they are majority - about 60% are Roman Catholics. But the another 40% are not.
@@metiupapluch A major point of the video was the juxtaposition of predominantly anti-Catholic/Hussitic Bohemia vs Catholic Slovakia, so I wanted to add to the conversation that there are also Slovak protestants. While it is true that there is circa 55% Catholics according to the last census, there are only 5% Protestants, of which I would imagine there s some Hungarians as well. Besides, the author was referring to the historic religious affiliation, not necessarily the current one.
There was also a period in Slovakia when Lutherans had an absolute predominance.
Yup bački petrovac is the place
There is a historic Slovakian minority also in Croatia (Slavonia) and Romania (Banat).
Czechs have names like Vladislav Schmidt, Slovaks have names like Vladislav the Magyar, that's all you need to know.
I’ve never met a Slovak who did not have at least one Hungarian grandparent.
@@Cicero_de_fato I never met a Slovak who has one that doesn't live near the Hungarian border.
@@Cicero_de_fato I doubt that because hungarians counted everyone who spoke hungarian as one of their own, even if they could be a slovak, romanian etc.
@@Cicero_de_fato My grandparents claimed to have no Hungarian ancestors. I take them at their word. I refuse to take a DNA test because I do not want them to be proved wrong.
@@Cicero_de_fatoIn the south maybe. In the north there is practically zero Hungarians. Plus dont forget forced magyarisation of names in 19th century. Having Hungarised surname =/= being ethnic Hungarian.
As Pole living close to borders both Czech and Slovakia I always wondered why Czechoslovakia divided and what kind of differences those nations have. Great take on that topic, greetings from Silesia.
It divided because 1) Czechoslovakia in the form it took in 1918 made absolutely no sense. There was more Germans than Slovaks in the country and only Bohemia and Moravia were fully developed with Slovakia being basically a paperweight to make the country bigger. Everything that mattered was in the Czech part. 2) For Slovaks the main difference brought by 1918 was that the centre of power move couple of hundreds of miles west and instead of Hungarians who treated them badly they got Czechs who treated them like a stupider smaller brother. The chip on their shoulder considering their identity and independence got a bit smaller, but it totally remained a thing as they kindly demonstrated in 1939 already.
Honestly, the only *real* similiarity is the language. In many other things I see Slovaks as a combination of Poles and Hungarians.
@@vh5663 Great comment, thanks for additional feedback. Now it makes even more sense.
@@vh5663Slovensko patrilo k najpriemyselnejším oblastiam Uhorska. 27.februára 1872 boli zrušené cechy, a tým sa uvoľnila cesta živnostenských a priemyselným podnikateľom. Poľnohospodárska kríza spôsobila, že statkárski podnikatelia sa začali sústreďovať na priemysel. Celkovo však Uhorsko v priemyselnej výrobe zaostávalo nielen za Predlitavskom, ale aj za európskym priemerom.Čo sa týka vzťahov medzi Čechmi a Slovákmi tie boli veľmi živé už v stredoveku, hlavne s Moravou, vôbec nie je pravda že majú spoločný len jazyk,len za 80 rokov bolo uzatvorených viac ako 800000 manželstiev medzi Čechmi a Slovákmi.
@@vh5663Czechs and Slovaks were the same people divided by two rules. Czechs belonged to Austrians, Slovaks to Hungarians.
@@fifi23o5 That is only true as long you ignore most of the Czech history and basic facts about the Czech geopolitics of the last +- 1100 years.
Love to both Czechia and Slovakia from Romania 🇨🇿❤🇸🇰❤🇷🇴
I would love to see his takes on Romanian (and esp Transylvanian) history.
Romania is great 🇷🇴 💕
Romania was the only country of the Warsaw Pact that didn't participate in the 1968 invasion to Czechoslovakia. We will never forget that 👍
@@momomarumomonga4885 I don't hate Hungarians
Thank you, I've been to Romania, very beautiful country. Greetings.
It was there, but I will still allow myself two comments:
1. Bohemia became an industrial powerhouse in the 19th century, not because of golden Czech hands. But for extensive deposits of coal and ore. So companies from all over Austria-Hungary built their factories there. Then the seizure of Czechia by one ambitious Austrian 20 years later was not so surprising.
2, After WWII, Transcarpatia with their language was lost to the Soviet Union, and in 1947-48, Czechoslovakia got rid of a large part of the German and a smaller part of the Hungarian-speaking population. Which greatly simplified federalization.
"Got rid" makes this process full of hardship and economical consequences sound so banal.
I'm a Ukrainian with 100% Slovak father (surname Hitric(h?)). I have no idea how he ended up here, but I'm very excited to learn about this part of my heritage ❤ You never miss with your topics, proud to say that I've been with you since your first vid!
Perčo rozprávaš po anglicky?
No ty hovoríš že si Ukrajinská a polovicu Slovenska.
Li ty by si malá vedieť Slovensku históriú 😂
Mimochodom vieš slovenský?
@Black25284 Hi! I meant that I'm Ukrainian by nationality, I was born and raised here. While ethnically I'm Slovak, some Baltic and broadly Eastern European. Unfortunately I only know English, Ukrainian and a bit of German, I chose English because that's what most people will understand :) I was hoping someone would know if his surname is Slovak and what it means!
I would love more videos on Central/Eastern European countries such as Poland, Romania or Bulgaria :)
Throw in Austria and Hungary as well.
Never forget the Turks, there is Istanbul!
@@TsarIsBack not for long
Didn’t know you had a son, good on you!
Also I briefly was seeing a slovak girl, her family made amazing alcohol, super strong too
@@ManBehindTheMask are you American?
@@Black25284 I’m British
@@Black25284 If he were American, what would you make of it?
I could hear he wasn't American, but I would not have guessed he was British.
"The world is not perfectible. You won't change it. Why try? You might as well get completely sh*tfaced instead."
As a Romanian and fellow Eastern European, I felt that.
I believe that comment was made in the context of rejecting "woke utopianism". Dostoyevsky predicted and warned against the whole communist- nihilist- woke nonsense 150 years ago. I hope all of the eastern/ Central European countries band together and completely reject the woke (aka globalist invention) nihilism of the west!
Would love a full length video covering the czech national revival. I find it very interesting how a nation was able to resist cultural oppression so well. As a lithuanian it hits close to home.
An interesting parallell. When I visited some years ago I was surprised some clerks knew a word or two of Polish. I would think that would be much more true 3 generations ago with following generations knowing more Russian and now English as secondary.
@@gombe793 most of them aren't exactly polish. They are what we call tuteišiai (tutejszy in polish). Their language is a mix of polish and belorussian. This happened because the region firstly went through belorussification and then experienced polonization, which created this hybrid culture.
@@jonobidonofanas3677belorussification? I do not think that the belarusian language and identity has been forced onto literally anyone, ever.
@@konplayz not by force. The region simply went through a period of becoming more belorussian through migration and cultural assimilation. If that is not what belorussification is then I am sorry for using the wrong term.
@@jonobidonofanas3677 Considering the weakness of Belarusian identity both in the past and today, i just found it peculiar you “blamed” it on belarusians and not russians.
I loved it! Now, please do Poles, Czechs, and Slovaks. We don't need to go back so long in time; when we did, we could talk to each other and understand.
well, Poles and Hungarians are in terms of ties pretty similar, so it should be more like Visegrad 4 then, which he already did I think
I'm glad you pointed out that the majority didn't want to separate.
Despite the differences, both cultures viewed one another as brothers. The split was instigated and carried through by the politicians. If the Czechoslovakians were still a nation..... imagine what a hockey powerhouse they'd be!!!
Great video which summarised a lot of what I already knew and a lot I didn't know about Czech and Slovak culture. :)
It's an interesting case of ethnogenesis and how sometimes even people who are incredibly similar, by differences in shared history, become two distinct nations. It is also interesting that the ethnogenesis of Afrikaaners was talked about a little bit in the previous video, and it's a different case where people of mostly Dutch origin assimilated certain other minorities (Portuguese, French etc) in their ethnogenesis. The ethnogenesis of the USA was touched upon in a pervious video, and especially the black American population has an (even greater) component of this assimilation of people of different origins in their emergence maybe in the 17th or 18th centuries. Given, however, the segregationist character of the two aforementioned multi-racial societies, the ethnogenesis of the different Latin American nations would be an interesting complement to the overall understanding of the dynamic of ethnogenesis.
There is interesting history of stereotypisation too, for example: during the commie times, the evening news on TV were presented by two anchors: one male and one female. But in most cases, the male anchor was Czech and the female Slovak. Slovakia was, in Czech public imagination, always the wilder, more emotional, feminine part of the country, while the Czechs were the more sober, rational, masculine husband.
Thing is, I as a Czech only started noticing this when I read about it, while I am sure Slovaks always subconsciously perceived this and it irked them :) How many times have they heard that Slovak is such a beautiful language - when girls speak it?
Greetings from Brno, the true capital of Slovakia.
that why most of the leaders of communist Czechoslovakia were Czechs?
Tak pokud vím tak třeba aktuality že sportu uváděl slovák a bylo to příšerné, doslova, ale asi to bylo tou šedivou dobou
Great video! Please do another one on the identitarian issues between Bohemia and Moravia (and Silesia), thank you!
This is great! My grandparents came over to the US around the turn of the century and settled in Minnesota. My dad moved to Montana when he was a kid during the depression and stayed there till I came along. He was a “proud Bohemian” his entire life and instilled that pride in us kids too. I appreciate hearing historical accounts of that area, so thanks for making this!
For me, the biggest tragedy is, that for the 70 or so years we did not adapt some more of the usefull czech characteristics, like pragmatism and inovativness.
And about alcohol, you got it wrong my good man. We usually take a shot of spirit, flushed down with beer. Much love to Czechia
I hpoe to come to Praha, as a Leninist-Marxist Turk. I would like to also taste the beer, but you should try Turkish rakı.
On the politics though, I think that Czechoslovakia shouldn't be just "greater Czechia", just like the Kingdom of Yugoslavia. The Czechs and The Slovaks should have equal bullsh*t.
Don't bother. Commies are not welcome here.
In the more flat and more sunny South of Slovakia, they drink of course wine.
Last time I was this early, Czechoslovakia was still a thing.
Czech and Slovaks are independent since 1993
Your explanation for some of the differences between Czechs and Slovaks actually also helps explain the current Slovakian political tilt toward Russia in its war against Ukraine, and why the Czech government is a strong supporter of Ukraine.
As a Slovak, let me tell you, that all this russophile stuff is bullshit. It is essentialy a theatre play that current gouvernment parties use to gain support from Husák's children (basicaly our own version of baby boomers). Our gouvernment currently met with Ukrainian foreign minister with whom they discussed potential highway to Ukraine. So no, we are not Putin's little bitch
Love this type of videos, please continue
As a hungarian this facinating to listen to
That's really interesting, I've always found the history of the Czech people fascinating because you're so unique in Europe.
I loved traveling in your country mostly because of the people. Maybe I'll go to see Slovakia next.
Thanks!
I wish someone made a version of this video for Croats and Serbs. There are just as many differences between these two.
I know one thing - the comment section would blow up.
You can always have a test video with Croatia and Slovenia difference or Serbia and Montenegro difference 😅
@@stipe3124 Serbia and Montenegro wouldn't have the same effect, since there is probably 40% ethnic Serbs living in Montenegro and a few percentage more of ethnic Montenegrins. The census has been done last year but results are still being processed, so take this with a grain of salt. Not to mention that in Montenegro prior to 1945 there was almost unanimous Serb ethnic feeling, so the story resembles slightly that of Austria vis-a-vis Germany.
Croatia - Slovenia would also be tricky, since Slovenia was fully under Austria, while Croatia was (with Slavonia) under Hungarian side, while Dalmatia was governed as an Austrian crownland.
Then again I fear such a video would be made by commie pro-Yugoslavia Serbian who'd say that it is all nonsense and they would be still one people if someone similar to father god Tito came to power after him
@@BozaCukuranovic3223also croatia have autonomy in Hungarian Slovenia was divided
Defenestration intensifying
Thanks for the in depth explanation of both countries; I always love visiting both our neighbours :)
Greets from Austria
Fascinating narrative that explains so very much. Thank you.
I've been recently interested in Austian and Central European history so this was a fun surprise. Love your channel, keep up the great work. 👍🏻
Do you think you could do a video on Austria and its future and its relationship with the Habsburgs?
Me: Sees Wilson. ***Anger begins to rise***
P.S. Ironic how the slavic nationalists who wanted their own states separate from the mult-ethnic Austria-Hungary and yet their own states were mult-ethnic and the Czechs and Serbs became the dominant ethnic groups in their respective countries. Great video 👍
Who is Wilson?
@@julianbrabsche728 Woodrow Wilson
@@crusader2112 Ah okay the US president
The Austrian relationship with the Habsburgs is terrible, at least for the Habsburgs. Yet they don’t seem to mind.
Great work, keep it up KaiserBauch!
As a Slovak I find Czechs as our brother nation and always will. Unfortunately, I was also born after 1993 and thus never experienced the joint state. Yet if there was a vote if we should get back into a federation, I would vote yes.
Thank you for probably the best video on Czech and Slovak differences and similarities. Great work as always!
This romanticism is getting ridiculous. During the joint state there was no love for Czechs, after the separation relations got a lot better and people assume it was just like this during those times.
Im afraid vast majority of Czech has absolutely no interest in joining with Slovakia. Quite frankly, I do believe that Czechoslovakia was a mistake. It would make 1000x more sense for Czechs to form a kind of federation with Sudetenland Germans and for Slovaks to do their on thing, which is something you wished for and made clear more than once.
Pozdrav z Kanady. Jsem puvodne Ceska ale Slovaci jsou nasi bratri. Snad se jednou oba narody sp[oji.
Czechoslovakia wasn't a mistake. Czechs achieved what they wanted, getting a rule over land which was for a centuries controlled by ethnic Germans. Slovakia managed to become independent. Sure Hungarians would like to revise that. While Germans have a basically no chance of getting Suddetenland back. Therefore we don't need to be together anymore, but close nontheless.
@@giovannituber2827 Germans have no chance of getting Sudetenland back because it was never German to begin with (except ww2, of course, when the whole country became a part of Germany). Sure, most of its regions had huge German majority, but it was a part of the Bohemian kingdom since always and that didnt change with Czechoslovakia becoming a thing. What Czechs wanted was to be independent of Austria, not to "controll" Sudetenland.
I learned a lot. It's a testament to your even handedness that you presented such a sympathetic history of Slovakia, I had no idea.
I'd like to see an episode like this, but about Poles and Lithuanians
Poles and the rest of western slav would be also interesting.
That is probably the best CZ/SK comparison video I've ever seen, as a Slovak.
Good video, I never knew the true relationship between Czechs and Slovaks. And this video shed a lot of light into that topic. It was very neutral, showcasing Czechs in a negative light as well (like their plan to "solve" the German question).
I also wanted to note that Slavs being pacifist is not entirely untrue, they are one of the most generous and helpful people you would ever meet. But damn if they are too prideful when it comes to religion and history - and very bad in choosing politicians to lead them.
I would love to see you making similar video about Yugoslavia as well, seeing how more and more people (mostly Serbs) see it as a mistake as well.
We are Czechs, not Checks. It could create a confusion, that Slovaks was opressed by constant legal controlers :D :D (I had to do its, it is great pun in misswriting :D :D)
@@radeksilar543 It's ok, I edited it.
What can I say? I am a South Slav, I write as I speak. Not that English type where you say one thing and write another.
If you dont count western ukrainians, slavs are pretty peaceful people.
@@IgorDruzhinin-qo2vjwhy would Rusyns and other Western Ukrainians not be peaceful?
In fact, western Ukrainians are likely more peaceful than those in the east.
As far as Peace goes for Slavs, Western Slavs are undoubtedly the most peaceful of all Slavs. Essentially being between a Hammer, Second Hammer and an Anvil (ottomans, Germans and Russians) made them not war among one another much, nor expand outwards.
Eastern Slavs are war full, the just comes with Russia. Balkans also have some nasty stuff but overall for Europe not that much, and not that much compared to Russia.
@@IgorDruzhinin-qo2vj Screw off Kremlobot
This video is a masterpiece on a Czech - Slovak relations. Well done. 👍
As someone who lived in formerly German dominanted borderland (Ústí nad Labem), I can confirm that these regions haven't recovered from the expulsion of Germans till today. Sudden demographic change brings terrible results.
It wasn't the expulsion of Germans, but deindustrialization itself that characterizes the blight of the Ústecký and Karlovarský region. Economic metrics show that Czechoslovakia grew in line with Western Europe throughout the late 1940s and 1950s - there was no GDP loss from expelling a large segment of the population. This was due to the Party's focus on heavy industry development. However, by the 1960s this growth slowed and the plans for economic reform from the early 60s were destroyed by the Soviet invasion in 1968. But had Czechoslovakia remained in the Western bloc, deindustrialization would have hit these regions hard regardless, as we see from the cases of similarly highly industrialized regions like Wallonia in Belgium, Hauts-de-France or England's North. Those places also have the same issues, with only some having been able to refocus - often to service sector niches, like biotech, etc. Socialism for these regions only delayed this by 2 decades from the 1970s, through heavy Soviet subsidies and non-functional markets, so when it did come in the early 90s, it the impact was immediate, since the COMECOM trade network (RVHP) suddenly collapsed and all the Eastern Bloc countries went bankrupt. After all, there were no buyers for these inefficient, dirty and expensive goods and the factories were incredibly outdated compared to the post-Industrial states of the West. Of the factories that did survive, through large FDI capital injections, like Škoda or Zeiss in East Germany, restructuring and investment went hand in hand with firing the surplus employees who were not needed in technologically advanced factories.
It's interesting that the middle of Czech Republic is the most affluent. Shows how it's not always the eastern part that's the poorest, as many seem to think (like in Slovakia, Poland or Romania), but rather how it's dependent upon cultural/historical factors, not just geography. Very interesting video, it explains really well the main differences between the countries.
Central yes but Czech east is also nominally poorer than the west (Bohemia Vs Moravia). But Czechia also has sudets which became desolated after expulsions.
As explained in the video that's because the borderlands, which used to be richer, were disrupted, depopulated and then repopulate with outsiders
@@tomasvrabec1845 That’s just a stereotype. If we omit Prague (Which we should), Bohemia and Moravia are about the same in terms of development. Maybe even a little in favour of Moravia.
Capital / large cities are almost always affluent. Except for nations with sea access, where ports may play more significant role.
Czech Republic is similar in size with Ireland. In Czechia the center is rich and the periphery is poor. In Ireland the centre is poor and coastal cities are rich.
The border land = mountains. They were inhabited by Germans, because the regions were poor.
One thing that is truly worthy of admiration is the peaceful dissolution. You guys showed the world, how two civilized nations can deal with difficult problems, state dissolution being among the most difficult.
History usually focuses of the bloodshed, but dissolution of Czechoslovakia should be given a lot more attention in historical reflection.
19:00 At the wake of the break up of the Hungarian Kingdom there were even protests in Eastern Slovakia by Slovjaks, who considered themselves separate from Slovaks, and preferred autonomy within Hungary.
Not surprised.
The dialectal continuum was almost perfect prior to 1800s.
After 1850s it split between Czech and Slovak a LOT due to the standardisation.
Hence Moravian declined and standardised Czech (based more in Bohemian Czech) rose up.
Meanwhile Slovak, based more on Central and western dialects rose in slovakia, and the regional dialects declined.
Even today, a lot of Slovaks from center to west struggle to understand Eastern Slovaks but have no problem with Czech language or even the most Western Czech dialects.
@perseus274 Some of the Slovjaks were actually Rusyns who assimilated during the 19th century after their migration north-to-south into predominantly Slovak speaking settlements, which saw the expansion of the Greek Catholic Church. Earliest census still counted these folks as Rusyns. It's important to note, however, that there was never a separate Slovjak category on any census.
@perseus274 Magyar Kassa is read as K-h-ss-h alsmost. Your knowledge is very superficial.
@@vladimirskala why there was migration, I suppose lots of diseases and a revolt of peasants against habsburgs, that meant the Habsburgs after they won called in new subjects from elsewhere to provide them rent.
@@cdgncgn Combination of factors. The more fertile parts of the country, inhabited by Slovaks and Hungarians were decimated by the armies passing through. Also, a growing Rusyn population compared to the declining Hungarian one. Possibly Uzhhorod Union played a small role as well within the context of re-Catholization of Hungarian kingdom. Peter Soltes goes into great detail in his seminal work concerning these events: forumhistoriae.sk/documents/10180/85705/soltes.pdf
Often wondered why they split. Now I know in vast and exhaustive detail!
Excellent thorough briefing.
This was fascinating, because as a Slovenian I feel as if by some complete happenstance we really do fit kind of between Slovaks and Czechs. On the one hand, when you showed the picture of Slovakian countryside it looks almost exactly the same as Slovenian villages and we have very similar rural/religious population numbers to them. On the other hand, we have industrialization and infrastructure that is closer to Czechs (plus our capitol being more central and also germanized slavs), hence our GDP per capita numbers are so close. I suppose our Carantanian heritage (western slavs that went so far out, that our culture and language got influenced by southern slavs more) somehow came through in the end...though idk how exactly.
I will speak English not my native lenguage slovenian For everyone hear what I say
On the one hand, Slovakia and Slovenia are similar. The role of the Catholic Church is incredibly strong, and we didn't have a region either. A probable reason for the fact that we have become rich is the role of the strategic path, which is good for trade and slovenes where historical not only farmers but also traders.also Krain was Majority Slavic and even cities there where Slavic (The only city with a strong German minority was Ljubljana, but it slowly disappeared towards the end in the 19th century).similar story in Gorizia but in Styria was same in other regions with slavs so irony is that we are kinda Barbarians of Slovenia.
Another thing is that the Slovenians were incredible negotiators, both in Austria-hungary and Yugoslavia we where quite good with getting there things with parlament.also slovenes manage to being close to power even if we never lead Jernej Kopitar was close ally of Matternich, Ivan Šuštaršič with Franz Ferdinand, Anton Korošec with Alexander karađorđević and Edvard Kardelj with Josip Broz Tito. realistically, the Slovenes managed the impossible despite their size, they had an above-average influence on politics.
Zdravo da lahko povem povzetek. Imamo dobro strateško lego,slovenska politika je bila neverjetno dobra pri doseganju svojih ciljev in politiki so nekako bili blizu ljudem na oblasti.
@@domenstrmsek5625 @loonie5468 I don't know much about Slovenia so your comments raised my interest in your country's history a lot. Greetings from Slovakia :)
@@domenstrmsek5625 I would like to mention the "luck" of being in the Austrian part of the Empire - as these things were allowed only by Asutrians. Hungarians did not allow even the "middle intelligentisia" of a minority to have a bit of influence.
Great video!
I have a question KaiserBauch. How come the Slovak birth rate in 2021 is 1.63 and Czechia's is 1.83? By all acounts I expected this to be the opposite, with the more traditional rural Slovakia having larger birth rate than the more secular progressive Czechia. Do you have an explanation for this?
Slovakia is way more depressing
@rumenok Well, North Korea is much more depressing than South Korea, yet it has a much higher birth rate, so that can't be the answer (assuming you are being serious!)
@@LegiyonEhellout yes, but you forget one small detail - Slovakia is EU member so youth just go to another countries to find proper job and etc. to Czechia as well, North Korea is closed so...
Interesting point, looking it up it seems that history birth rates were higher in Slovakia until 2001, then on par between the two for roughly a decade, and the Slovakia recovers more slowly from the bottom. Perhaps it's explained mostly by economic differences and migration, but migration would reduce the pool of fertile women so both the nominator and the denominator
As stated here.
Until 2001 the birth rate was higher in SVK. Then similar.
After that, Slovak birth rate went down.
Reason is rather simple - Slovakia is worse off hence far more of the younger and able migrate abroad - and mainly migrate into Czechia.
That's since 2004. 20 years later - a one Generational circle in Theory, Slovak birth rate is smaller because the Population within Reproductive Age migrated out. Whilst this would likely boost Czech birth rates by the same amount that Slovakia lost it's (more or less).
Which seems to align.
will you make more content on central and eastern european countries in particular? if yes poland, romania and ex-yugoslavia would be the most interesting i think
It strikes me that in the video you mentioned Masáryk and even Beneš, but you did not mention one very important person, and that is Milan Rastislav Štefánik, without whom Czechoslovakia would not have happened, since he was the one who led the negotiations in France, since Masáryk was an unknown person to the French, and Milan Rastisav Štefánik was a high-ranking general in the French army who was even behind the organization of the Czechoslovak legions that fought in Russia against the bolsheviks. France, which was just like the USA a big player in whether Czechoslovakia will exist at all, but otherwise quite a good video except for the failure to mention Štefánik, who also took part in the creation of Czechoslovakia .
That is the reality of youtube education. You can teach here your fans how to bake a bread but you can omit the flour in the recipe. Without Štefánik, there would be no Czechoslovak bread!
The cities or city centers as you said were indeed built by German speakers. Because of German states influence, it was simply better/more efficient to speak that language instead, which however does not mean that the individuals behind were not Czech. As an example, Pilsen population has always been Czech dominated, but their language has for centuries been German.
Obviously in the eyes of those who executed the expulsion of the German speakers these thoughts were irrelevant.
@@ferdomrkvicka1247that can very well be. After Bila Hora Germans totally dominated the country, so after two centuries there was no doubt that one nationality/identity was seen and felt superior. Of course even today, we cant ever hope to match Germany, simply thanks to their geography and compared to us massive population. On an individual level however, i dont see Czechs being somehow inferior to Germans. Its also worth mentioning that vast vast majority of them were serfs and working class just like Czechs. Plus the nation didnt even exist till less than 200 years ago. Sudetendeutschen is completely artificial concept too.
@@pavelkraus1952 Czech Republic might not be able to match Federal Republic of Germany, but matching German Caliphate? :D Remains to be seen.
Nice video! :)
Ďakujem za video, je to naozaj zaujímavá téma, najmä pre mňa ako Slováka narodeného v zahraničí.
Spomínal si, že Škótsko je "ultra protestantský región", si si tým istý?
I could really see your passion for the subject during this video essay. Absolutely excellent.
As a belgian this video and the history of Czecho-Slovakia in general is very interesting because it echoes a lot with our own situation right now. I also have one of my best friends who happens to be a Czech woman and she always says that the fate of Belgium is the same as Czechoslovakia, just with more hatred between the north and the south in Belgium.
Except that there is almost nothing correct in the video (to put it mildly). The topic is much more complicated.
Belgium as a state was created when religion was still more important than ethnicity. The catholics Flamish people prefered to form a state with the French speaking Wallones, because those were fellow catholics, instead of joining the Protestant Netherlands - who spoke the same language, but had a different confession.
Now that religion is of much less importance, the Flamish people don't really understand anymore, why they are not part of the Netherlands but in a state with those Frenchy Wallones.
This was a nice break from your usual videos that end on the glum note of demographic collapse. This is a subject many are aware of, but not particularly knowledgeable about.
You have a talent for presenting history in an easily understandable format. Could probably tackle similar subjects just fine.
As to Stur's rejection of liberalism, it's important (so as not to allow modern discourse to distort the historical context) to note that liberalism was mostly associated with Hungarian nationalism, which called for one Hungarian nation and rejected equal rights to all other people (I refrain from the term 'minority' since there was no one people who made up a majority within the kingdom of Hungary).
@perseus274 That's quite a stretch. "Nagy" means big/grand, "kovács" is smith. While the origins of the word kovács is slavic, that doesn't mean every guy named "Smith" (which is just a profession) is a slav, and I don't think "nagy" has anything to do with Slovaks. "Tóth" used to refer to all slavs but was later narrowed down to Slovaks, true, but even if we assume all the 200k people with the Tóth family name had Slovak ancestry that'd only be ~2% of the population.
@perseus274 I think you're mistaking words that are kind of shared between the 2 languages as a sing of Slovak ancestry. For example Molnár comes from the German Müller while Mészáros means butcher, these are just professions. So people with the name Müller, Molnár and Mylnár had the same jobs with different ethnic or regional backgrounds. Orbán actually comes from latin but was mostly used by jews.
But it's kind of a complicated thing to argue, since after 1000 ears of shared history I bet most families on both sides could find a Slovak or Hungarian ancestor in their family tree. Especially considering how in the 16th century a lot of Hungarians had to flee north from the Ottoman conquest and after the Ottomans were defeated many other ethnicities were also settled into central Hungary to repopulate devastated areas. One of the towns on southern Hungary (Békéscsaba/Békešská Čaba) still has a significant Slovak minority because of that.
I think Slovaks as the closest to us culturally and it's a shame how the 20th century turned out. If we currently had the WWII borders along ethnic lines we'd probably be besties by now, since politically both countries seem to be on the same wavelength.
@@hdaNhun the other guy wrote, mesar in a dialect is meat-guy, meso (officially mäso) is meat. Older for mesar, or mäsiar is rezník.(rezať is to cut, so essentailly, cutter) Meso rewritten into magyar writing would be meszo.(without the a sounding almost o and o soundding like a) Butcher or mesar, mešar, (mesar) Kov is metal. Even in Russian kuvaľda is the big iron piece on which metal is worked on. Another word for smith is Kovaľ. Kovaľ, Kovač. (vs) metal worker. Magyarization made multiethnic multilingual into multiethnic unolingual. Self defeating also.
@@cdgncgn Are you saying that in the 1000+ year history of Hungary, every person whose profession was "butcher" was actually a Slav because the word itself has Slavic origins? By that logic every doctor today is actually Roman, since the origin of the word is latin.
Great video, I have briefly been to both CZ and SK but it's always good to learn about countries you don't usually hear much about
As a tourist right?
@@Black25284 Yes, I spent about a week combined in both countries as a tourist and enjoyed it. Enough time to get an idea but only a pretty superficial one when you don't speak the language
I would love a similar deep dive on the Baltics and their history.
I concur. 👍
Very interesting and informative!
Fascinating history mixed with anti-gay bigotry.
Based
Very interesting video. I recognize a lot, but has some really interesting details I wasn't aware enough mainly about the Slovaks. I'm both a Czech and Dutch citizen, grown up in the West, but spent many holidays at my grandparents in Prague since the 70's. I also felt a lot of sympathy for the Slovaks, but I was really shocked how the people could vote for their current PM and President. You gave a good background for this.
You are missing one important point - forceful recatolization of the Czech population. We have lost lots of good people, who didn't want to submit and have been forced to flee the country (like J.A. Komenský). I woud say we have lost some of our spine too - so many people changed their faith out of convinience... Freedom of religion wasn't a thing for a long time. Prague used to be czech city in medieval ages before it become "German" for a time, so I wouldn't say that Prague was build exclusively by Germans..
Cyril and Methodius did their apprenticeship here.
Yes, he is pro German even I would say little masochistic from Czech point of view 😀. Germans originally inhabited mostly the mountains and during the recatolization period moved more into the country because it was almost empty after the 30 years war. So the areas which were purely Germany lets say in the late 19th century were not German at all before 17th century.
@@miroslavdusin4325 Yeah. For us Czechs is some sort of self-deminishing very typical :D
yes, if i didnt know better from the vid i wouldnt know majority of Czechs was for like 2 whole centuries non- Catholic and they been forcefully( and superficially as shown by contemporary atheist majority) within one generation converted back to Catholicism after defeat of Czech estates by Habsburg army.
In the vid it was merely stated the 17th century loss of sovereignty and often violent recatholisation and Germanisation ordered by our newly hereditary Habsburg monarch is just the accepted interpretation of history of Czechia...
@@morhaimtyr4173it is a very human thing though to s*** on people who are long time dead.
Thank you for answering thoroughly a question I have been wondering about for 40 years. Here in Texas we have many historically Czech families.
The map you showed at the end is outdated, Ukraine, Baltics, and Finland don't have a Communitarian family structure. I don't quite remember what type they had, only that it was the type that was in Poland, which was greyed out.
Great job !, thank you so much
So neither country have a large muslim community, the beer is great and the women are pretty. Do you have a job for me?
Great video - after watching it, the difference between Czechs and Slovaks is graspable. I like how you briefly summarized history, culture and mentality for a deeper look.
As a Polish, I am always wondered what the actual difference is between these two
It is amazing... to see how different Catholicism is taken by the Czechs and the Poles. In Czechia it was seen as an enemy to the national identity... while in Poland as a protector of the national tradition, that was keen for us to survive wars, partitions, and the communism...
We are so close, but at the same time so far apart. 😀
Same thing happens here between spaniards and catalans. The Catholic Church was a big supporter of Francoist regime and now Catalonia is one of the less religious nations of Europe, which makes catalan nationalism very diferent from irish one
Czechs been Hussites for 2 centuries and been forcefully converted only after they lost war against Catholic Habsburgs, within one generation Czechs lost sovereignty and right to elect own kings, German language was given priority in administration, and majority of people was forced to change, at least superficially, their religion, so one can argue the link between religion and nation, people, was broken by this external action, and as such catholicism was never internalised as a basis of Czech identity and country very quickly secularised once Catholicism stopped being enforced and protected by state after the break up of Austria Hungary.
Christian/ Catholic holidays and traditions are still widely observed and happily celebrated in Czechia but they are generally viewed as Czech traditional and not religious holidays in their nature, e.g. Baby Jesus is bringing Xmas gifts but Czechs mostly dont think of him as the same Jesus from Bible and Christian religion.
We are not close, on the contrary: we are miles apart. Mentality is completely different, I would say the only thing that makes Poles and Czechs close is their languages being part of the Western Slavic group - and even with that Czech is a VERY different language.
@@Weisser.Teufel
This is what I am saying. Languages are close enough that we can understand each other without much difficulty. However there are words that sound the same but mean completely different things, sometimes this can be very fumy ... like Polish word 'szukać' means 'to look for' Czech word that sounds the same means 'to f*ck'. So when the Pole says 'szukam żonę' which means I am looking for my wife....the Czech will interpret this like "I am f*cking my wife'
@@rehurekj That is utter nonsense. It had not been Hussite for 2 centuries before being forcefully converted very few Bohemians were Hussites. You also ignore that it was moderate Hussites who literally sided with the catholic church against radical Hussites and were recognized by the catholic church and allowed to follow their rite. Moreover, while nominally catholic, the post Napoleonic Austrian Empire did not strictly enforce religion and was generally tolerant of the protestant, orthodox and later Muslim religions in the empire. Keep in mind, throughout all of this Bohemian maintained the Bohemian Diet and controlled its own laws generally ruled by its own aristocracy. You also ignore the fact Czech nationalism was a very new thing. There was little actual distinction between Czechs, German-proper or Austrians until the 19th century. Moreover, early Czech nationalism made no distinction between Czechs and Slovaks with Masaryk creating Czechoslovakia because he believed they were close enough to be the same. They included Carpatho-Rusyns who were more similar to Ukrainians and Russians showing the nationalist anti-foreigners aspect is completely made up and of course make no mention of the Sudetenland. The separatist movement in Austria-Hungary was never nationalist and only political.
Czechs remained mostly religious and catholic in the interwar years under the secular liberal government founded by non religious protestant Masaryk. It was only under the communist regime that like other nations religion declined. I'd argue the modern Czech anti-Catholicism had more to due to Czech's loyalty to the communist government. Most of the Czechoslovakian communist party was ruled by Czechs with the only major exception being Husák. The more industrial Czechia fit much better in the communist paradigm than the rural Slovaks. The catholic church in Czechoslovakia however was a massive resistance force against the communists for decades
Wow. That seems pretty fair and balanced to me. Nice job.
You really hit the nail on the head with the woke-protestant connection. In the US specifically New England Puritanism...also the most "progressive" region, and with a zealot's religious flavor.
The zealotry of the New England Protestants in the decades prior to the Civil War precluded any reasonable compromise on the slavery question.
Good video, especially the end
The two shouldn't have separated. And Czechoslovakia should have received the Lusatian region with the Sorbs as a compensation for the lost Zakarpatia.
I moved to Czech Republic 3 years ago and your channel is a way to look deeper into history and culture of these lands. I am Russian, so for me it is interesting to know perspective of people around me, who has their own agenda on their mind.
Thank you. That was very informative.
Growing up in Slovakia as a kid all I was hearing from older people is that life under the communist regime was better. This wasn't just in my family, but it feels like it was a general sentiment of the people at the time. Of course nowadays most people see this period as negative especially younger people who never experienced it.
Also I've never seen anyone hating Russia in Slovakia .. at least not before the war in Ukraine started. This is contrary to Czechs who seem to have deep rooted hatred towards Russia almost to the point where you can't even say anything positive about Russia and have rational conversation with them.
I wonder where you lived.
I came from the north, north west Slovakia and growing up everyone agreed communism was quite bad. You had few unusual people who liked socialism because it basically gave them a job but they weren't loud nor affluent.
Even within the military people kept liking Czechslovakia and hated Russia, especially hated 1968.
I listened to countless stories by elderly about the events of 68 and the fear and nonsense it brought.
And strong hate towards Russia was definitely a thing even among kids in school in Žilina. Dno how that changed.
I would even say that Slovaks have a now cultural sentiment to raise their kids with the words "leave as soon as possible" and many were told this in my wider family as well as in school.
Hence probably why... They were from the more liberal, Czech liking and Russia hating population that kept seeing the continuous decline.
@@tomasvrabec1845 I am from western Slovakia. My family were basically your average lower class people .. construction workers, mechanics, farmers etc ...
It's possible I lived in a bubble or something, but that's what I remember from 90s and early 2000s.
The thing is I also have a lot of family living in Serbia, and it was the same story there. They had their own communist regime and older people there were saying the same thing as here .. life was better under communism...
I don't know how old you are, but the anti-russia thing in schools is probably more of a recent thing. Like last 10-15 years mabe.
I can assure you that plenty of Slovaks hate Russia with passion. I would say that mostly middle-aged people. I don't know what the general sentiment is among young people.
Plenty of seniors that actually lived in socialism for many years don't have a problem with Russia or the socialist regime. I think that it's probably because of their life experience. They are less naive and can see that all regimes and countries have their share of problems. Perhaps life was great in the West before 2000s, but then things started to change...
Whenever you hear someone say that “things were better back then“, look at what age they are. My grandmother, born 1902, had fond memories of both Austria and 1st Czechoslovak republic. When I was a child, I saw plenty of old people, praising “The Order” that there was during Nazi occupation. Now I see a lot of people beyond 50, who worship the age of “freedom and common sense” - the 1990s… A and yes, the commie fanclub is huge. Thanks to the modern, read, WESTERN, medicine, they are still around in their 80 years of age and bless us with their observations…
I'd love to see a video about slovenians and croats and serbs and other nations regarding national tensions and history. Probably that should be a series of videos. 😁 Great work btw! 💪✌️👍
Why is it that after the Second World War, Czechs were allowed to ethnically cleanse their lands of Germans, but the Slovaks were not allowed to do so with Hungarians, when Hungary was also an Axis nation?
Maybe I am wrong but that was the thing of Soviets, they clean Germans not only from Czechia and Slovakia but also from Poland, Russia, Kazakhstan and many other countries. Here is a link en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flight_and_expulsion_of_Germans_(1944%E2%80%931950)
Maybe because the sudetenlands had been taken by Germany before the war and f. Germany
@@FOLIPE The Hungarian parts of Slovakia were also taken by Hungary before the war.
Yes. Stalin wanted to destabilised Germany, not Hungary.
Look up the Benes decrees.
You definetely hit a point with this video. I'm from Italy, my mother still carries with her the knowledge of the old school geography, and I can strongly percive the different cultural sensibility torwards eastern europe between me and her. To her, eastern europe is associated with a mass of immigrants, mainly coming from poland, and geographically speaking, everything east to Germany is a blank slate. Many, even now, still mistake Czechia and Slovakia for Czechoslovakia, and it's so common of a mistake that has become sinonymus with ignorance in general. My generation seems well more interested in the area, and of course informated, and I know that is mainly due to tourism. Still, even now, after well more of a decade since the creation of the Slovak state, it has some difficulty to slide into people consciousness, so I can only imagine how hard could have been for people from the 80s, if not from the 90s, to actually acknowledge Slovaks as a cultural identity.
I don't agree with the association of woke-ism with Protestantism, especially not in the American context. Although New England like pretty much all the original 13 colonies was originally very Protestant, New England and the Northeast have for over a century been the part of the United States with the highest percentage of Catholics. The South (Southeast) is comparatively the most Protestant/least Catholic and the most anti-woke portion of the country.
Neopentecostal evangelicams are not the traditional type of protestants. As for the point he was making, it's not that protestantism=wokeism. It's that the subjacent cultural trends of idealism, universalism, radicalism etc which manifested themselves in the protestant reformation are the same that manifest themselves in wokeism and that is why wokeism is stronger in areas where classic protestantism was also strongest - since they speak to the same and still existing underlying characteristics of those cultures. Nowadays in western countries, according to Todd, religion mostly exists in a zombified state, and people are post-religious. In areas where religion is still more relevant, you'd not expect less typically non-religious forms of their trends to manifest
@@FOLIPE All of the United States is traditionally Protestant, but the North became majority Catholic and the South remained overwhelmingly Protestant. If any line is going to be drawn between Protestant and Catholic parts of the US, the North clearly is the part that would have to be considered Catholic. Associating it with Protestantism more so than the South is completely backwards.
The thing is that most of the new England settlers of the 17th and 18th century moved westwards, especially to places like Nortwestrn Pacific region or northern California. It is not a surprise that those were the most "progressive" areas in the world in the 2nd half of the 20th century, and nowadays those regions are still well know for being very liberal. Yankee culture is still very alive in modern America.
@@patrickcleburneuczjsxpmp9558 Yes of one were to make that distinction it would be between the north and west and the south, however the point is more about the northeast as the core of American civilization than a contrast to the south. As I said, too, it's historical not contemporary protestantism (or catholicism) since religion today is often zombie
@@FOLIPE Virginia is the oldest of all the US states. The primary author of the Declaration of Independence was a Virginian. The father of the US Bill of Rights was another Virginian. The lead author of the constitution was yet another Virginian. 4 of the first 5 US presidents came from Virginia. Virginia in 1776 was far more populous than any northern state. As of the first census in 1790, Virginia and North Caroline were both (individually) more populous than any northern state, and Virginia and North Carolina together (not even counting the other southern states) were more populous than Massachusetts and the 5 other New England states put together. It's the South and particularly Virginia that represents the core of American civilization.
Very interesting material, greeting from Poland... Always happy to visit Slovakia or Czech when im on a vacation
What I noticed from my travels in the old continent, Czech Republic is like Germany with polite and beautiful people. Oh, and better food as well.
As a german: 🥲
As a German:
The Czech Republic is now better
The famous Czech kitchen is only good again since communism ended. I was there for a visit immediately after the fall of the Iron Curtain and it was horrible. All the restaurants were state owned and had exactly the same menu all over the country and all the dishes tasted like they were made in the same centralized food factory. It was awful, disgusting.
Also the food in the shops, cheap (for us as Western foreigners), but the lowest possible quality. Chocolate awful, potatoe chips awful. Bakeries ... awful. Breakfast in the hotel where we stayed ... awful.
There were already a few private restaurants, that had popped up just months after the end of communism, those were the only places, that had decent food.
@@ekesandras1481 Interesting.
I visited Russia 9 years ago and the food was quite good, especially considering the price (the ruble was in a rough spot at the time). Talking to locals, their assessment was similar to your experience: there was an increase in quality and variety after the fall of the USSR, but it took a while. There's a reason so many people waited for the first McDonald's in a kilometric queue.
I'm an American of Czech decent (Bohemia) from my paternal grandparents. My grandfather had somewhat of a disdain for Slovaks but I never really understood. This has been an excellent description of both nations. I always wanted to visit Czechoslovakia and by my first visit in 1993, it had become 2 countries. I was disappointed that this happened, but I now understand it was inevitable. Thank God it was peaceful! Thank you for an excellent explanation!
About Czechia being the most atheist country In the world. I think many people who say they are religious simply say that on censuses/polls because it’s a part of the ethnic/cultural identity. While for Czechs they never had that link with a specific religious denomination as the Catholic Church was more associated with the Germans.
On polls like “do you believe in an afterlife” or “do you think there is a heaven and hell” Czechia isn’t so different from the rest of Europe
It's more like dislike for organized religion and clergy. Not aversion towards spiritulaity, or even god/s.
About refusing atheism, it was done mostly by church refusing to use Czech language (or any old slavic from back then), while latin and specificaly German was used commonly. Same issue as rular/urban population like in the video. And all attempts to create own church was burried, or remained separated only to countryside, by rulers, crusades, by Vatican rules etc. It naturaly created sceptisicm towards Catholicism or other larger churches. Also, there is a lot of history of power corruption did specifialy by Catholic church, like selling indulgences, taxing religious services, while keeping all taxes for themselfs > banned to have childred, or be excomunicated (was not always complied by small villages comunities, priests was in same position as others, except literacy). Oh, and do not forget for 30 years war, which resulted to crash of most of elites of other churches and also many lords, back then in 16th century.
@@radeksilar543 Why is Celibacy considered apart of church corruption?
@@crusader2112 well, it was not part in the original church, before it was common for priests to have children. Celibacy was created to avoid heritage of the church. But issue was, when they started to be hypocritical, in short term, ,,Preach water, drink wine".
@@radeksilar543 I agree Hypocrisy is a problem, but that’s not just a problem for the church, that’s a problem with elites in general.
Keep up the sound good enterta8jing work!Grazie!
Thank you!
@@kaiserbauch9092nerozprávaj hlúposti. Slovenská inteligencia neexistovala? Kto bol Murgaš, Banic, Spisovatelia, Aurel Stodola? Priemysel nebol? Nobelova fabrika v Bratislave, Apollo, najviac železnej Rudy sa ťažilo v oblasti Gemer a oceľ sa vyrábala tam tiež. Naštudujte si informácie.
Based on the current elections in Slovakia, one can conclude:
“Out of all Czechs, Slovaks are the worst”
*or is it Hungarians?
@@radeksilar543well no. Despite the thousand year rule many Slovaks have nothing to do with any Hungarians. Heck, even after doing genetic tests there are no Hungarians in them for many.
Czechs have been more mixed with Germans.
@@tomasvrabec1845 to byl jen vtip :D
Difficult to understand these speakers of the Slavic language, but it's good that we didn't get to the atrocities in Yugoslavia. And in Romania, it was tried with the wicks between the Mountains, Moldovans and Transylvanians, but without success. They tried to make Russians out of Moldovans, Hungarian Transylvanians and Bulgarian Mountains, but they were left with a swollen lip. Excessive centralization also has bad parts in the unitary development of a country, bringing arguments to enemies.
Funny thing Serbians have same sayings about Croats :)
This is VERY interesting. I do have questions. My grandparents came from Myjava Slovakia near the Czech border. My Grandma traveled to Vienna for work. They were Lutheran. They were Czechoslovakian. And never knew a separate nation. Many of their customs are similar to Czech and less so Slovakia. I know my Grandpa spoke German. Back in 1900 to 1915, during Austria Hungarian empire, was Myjava more of a combination of both nations? Or still distinctly Slovak? I feel little connection to other Slovak customs which I find odd. Any insight is greatly appreciated
slovak 100% , the people on the czech side call themself slovak moravians . Or just google Slovácko.
greetings from austria
Great video. Silly question. Where TF do I find the jigsaw puzzle at 9:27? I want it !
There are two west Slavs inside of you. One is a Czech, the other one is a Slovak. Both are based.
Herr Kaiser, das ist wunderbar!
As Slovak, I can sign under 95% of what was said here.
What falls under that 5% then? Just curious.
Zdravím z čech. Skvělý kanál, jen tak dál!
It's a pity Czech Republic has become a secular state. Poles received their baptism from Czechs.
Yes, that is a disaster! There is a great religious history in the Czech lands, both Catholic and Husite / Moravian.
I hope there will be a great religious revival in the Czech Republic one day. ✝️
Poles are fed up with church and religion. Therefore, do not wish others what they do not want themselves.
Outstanding video. Thanks you Kaiser. Very Detailed. My father was Slovak, grew up in a Slovak enclave in USA and maintained relations with extended family there who he would never meet. I didn’t understand his attitude then but I do now.
I enjoyed it a lot. Very informative and unbiased. I’m just not sure why you get so heated when you talk about LGBTQ 🤷🏼♂️ I’m Polish and gay and all I want is to be treated equally, not discriminated against or not treated like my existence is a danger to the Slavic culture or identity…
I am merely using the flag connecting gay, trans people and people of color as a representation of woke ideology. The ideology is based on perceiving everything in society through lenses of oppression, victimhood and power dynamics. The flag is thus good reprezentation of it, since it puts together groups that have not much in common except being perceived as victims.
@@kaiserbauch9092 this flag represents equality. I’m not sure why you’re connecting it with all these other things you’re mentioning and equaling LGBTQ with victimhood. Don’t we deserve equal treatment?
@@wolaccoThis flag represents degeneracy, your polish flag represents equality under the law.
I also don't get why he put liberalism, communism together and put progressive pride flag on it. Sound like typical dog whistle especially without explaining why he connected those.
Sure there are loud problematic people in all groups but the conservatives, anti-progressive tend to be more in positions of power ...
@@wolacco No, we don't deserve equal treatment, because we are not equal. All we need is equality under law and equality of opportunity (which by itself is hard to reach, even if you try). Equality of outcome is unreachable, undesirable and attempts to go that way are grossly destructive.
Very interesting topic, great work, hope to see more
7:25 Czechs didnt have to accept interpretation of history.
Catholic church was objectively connected to Habsburgs and loss of Czech independence and recatholisation/ Germanisation.
Before 30yrs war Czechia was overwhelmingly non-Catholic and only after our defeat Catholicism artificially became dominant religion after mere one generation, it was forceful and largely superficial conversion( and i guess one of causes of Czech contemporary atheism) ordered by winning Habsburgs, just like end of independent Czech statehood and factual and later also formal inclusion of Czech lands among their hereditary lands and preference for german language for simplified administration and as centralisation tool.
thats no interpretation but actual fact based on what happened and who ordered it to happen( unlike e.g. later demonisation of Austria- Hungary)
@jcoker423 why not? Its been part of the square for centuries and been only demolished after WW1 cos the mob incorrectly assumed this common accessory found in almost all Czech cities is some sort of symbol of Habsburg and/ or Catholic rule over Czechia.
It wasn't true and in my opinion destroying buildings and statues and indiscriminately erasing symbols of one's history, complicated as it may be, is barbaric and I'm glad this act of such primitive barbarisms been corrected recently.
Czechs became Protestants (and later Atheists), because they wanted to distance themselves from Catholic Austrians and the German speaking clergy.
Slovaks stayed firm Catholics, because they wanted to distance themselves from Protestant Hungarians.
Religion is very often just an extension of politics and very seldom such choices are based on theological arguments.
Except the Habsburgs never forced conversion and in fact allowed moderate Hussite rites to continue to exist. The Habsburgs never forced conversations anywhere else in the Holy Roman Empire or in the Austrian dominions. It also makes no sense that a nation that is "artificially" converted never fully ingrains it. Like most pagan barbarians were forced to convert, yet Christianity became the bedrock of their nations. We are talking about 300 years. This also ignores the rapid protestantization of nations like England, Sweden and Denmark. Moreover, under the liberal Czechoslovakia catholicism remained strong in Czechia
@@ekesandras1481 No they didn't. First of all before the 19th century, few czechs saw themselves as massively distinct from Austrians or Germans and mostly relegated to intellectual circles. Second of all under Czechosloakia catholicism remained strong in Czechia. The mass atheism was mainly due to communist dictatorship.
@@jcoker423 How was it a bumbling tower of babel? It was one of the most advanced nations in Europe. The reality is Austria-Hungary was not doomed to fail. Even the claim there needed to be a more federalized system doesn’t work because there was already local governments.
New England started off extremely Protestant but those people’s descendants moved out, resettled, and were demographically replaced by Catholics, at least in major cities
The original character continues. Immigrants arrive but assimilate to the pre-existing culture.
@@erichamilton3373 Generally speaking, assimilation is a myth. The reality is ethnic enclaves
@@erichamilton3373 So you say, and so say our elites. But how much schnitzel do the Turks in Berlin consume