Economic and social context of the establishment of the Czechoslovak Republic in 1914 - 1918

This bachelor thesis deals with the establishment of the Czechoslovak Republic in the years 1914 till 1918. It attempts to clarify the situation of a nation living in the Habsburg monarchy before the establishment of the Czechoslovak Republic. It analyzes also the economic situation of Czech lands and the whole Austria-Hungary before the First World War. In the first place, it concentrates on the Czechs and Slovaks and their efforts that led to secession from the Austrian hegemony. Next, the thesis points out whether the nation's independence from monarchy was considered before the outbreak of war or the war itself caused the destruction of programme ideas of the Czech political parties about the formation of an independent state, or whether the new emerging state was economically prepared for the secession from the Austria-Hungary. The major initiators are mentioned such as T. G. Masaryk, K. Kramář, E. Beneš and others, who stood behind the establishment of a new state. Primarily, the emphasis is placed on the events home and abroad in 1914 - 1918, on the formation of the National Council, on the Kramář project of Slavic Empire and the Masaryk's fight for independent state. In the thesis I prop myself upon published sources and recent professional literature.