The Economic Costs of Establishing the Defense of the Newly Formed Czechoslovakia in the Years 1918–1925

The bachelor’s thesis provides an insight into the formation of national defense of a newly established nation using the example of Czechoslovakia. It focuses on the years following the end of World War I, when Czechoslovakia had to solidify its position on the international stage and build conditions for stable internal functioning of the state. National defense was a key component of this stabilization. The theoretical part of the thesis focuses on the economic issues of national defense, namely the theory of public goods, and political and economic theories concerning the privatization of defense. Furthermore, it provides the historical context of the formation of Czechoslovakia and its first military operations, with a brief discussion of the political and economic developments of the remaining years of the period under study. The practical part of the thesis thoroughly analyzes defense budgets and expenditures year by year and finds discrepancies in the state final accounts. Furthermore, Czechoslovakia’s defense expenditures are compared with public expenditures, tax revenues, and contemporary data. The central hypothesis of the bachelor's thesis is that Czechoslovakia’s national defense was established at low costs compared to other chapters of the government budget. The data examined in the thesis neither definitively refutes nor confirms the hypothesis.