Eastern Europe · CZE

Czechia

The story · 11 chapters

How it was drawn

Celtic Boii, Germanic Marcomanni and then Slavs settled Bohemia and Moravia, which became a medieval kingdom, a Habsburg land, half of Czechoslovakia from 1918 and Czechia in 1993.

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Through the ages

Rivals in history

The kingdoms, empires and states Czechia fought or stood against, from the first to today.

Roman Empire166 to 180
The Marcomanni and their neighbours the Quadi crossed the Danube into Roman lands. Emperor Marcus Aurelius fought them for over a decade in the Marcomannic Wars, which ended soon after his death in 180 with a peace made by his son Commodus.
Kingdom of the Franks631 to 658
The Frankish king Dagobert I attacked Samo's Slavic realm after Frankish merchants were killed there. Samo's army defeated the Franks at Wogastisburg in 631, and his realm stayed independent until his death around 658.
Magyars895 to 907
Hungarian horsemen settled the Carpathian Basin from about 895. Their attacks helped destroy Great Moravia in the first years of the tenth century, and after that Bohemia, not Moravia, became the centre of Czech statehood.
Poland under the Piasts1003 to 1137
Boleslaw the Brave of Poland seized Prague in 1003 and kept Moravia for some years after. Duke Bretislav I raided Poland around 1039 and carried off relics from Gniezno. The two states fought over Silesia until the Peace of Klodzko in 1137.
House of Habsburg1273 to 1278
King Ottokar II of Bohemia ruled Austria, Styria, Carinthia and Carniola, but refused to recognise Rudolf of Habsburg as German king. Rudolf took Austria from him, and Ottokar was killed at the Battle on the Marchfeld in 1278.
Holy Roman Empire under Sigismund1420 to 1434
Emperor Sigismund claimed the Bohemian throne, and five crusades were launched against the Hussites between 1420 and 1431. All failed, at Vitkov Hill in 1420 and at Domazlice in 1431. The radical Hussites were finally beaten by moderate Hussites at Lipany in 1434.
Kingdom of Hungary1468 to 1479
Matthias Corvinus of Hungary invaded Bohemia in 1468 and was elected king by Catholic lords against George of Podebrady. The Peace of Olomouc in 1479 left Matthias with Moravia, Silesia and Lusatia until his death in 1490.
Habsburg Monarchy1618 to 1620
Protestant nobles threw imperial officials from a window of Prague Castle in 1618 and elected their own king, opening the Thirty Years' War. Habsburg armies crushed them at the White Mountain in 1620, and rebel leaders were executed or exiled.
Kingdom of Prussia1740 to 1866
Frederick II of Prussia seized almost all of Silesia, a Bohemian crown land, in 1742. Prussian armies invaded Bohemia again in 1744 and 1757, besieging Prague, and the peace of 1763 confirmed the loss. In 1866 Prussia beat Austria at Hradec Kralove, in Bohemia.
Nazi Germany1938 to 1945
Hitler demanded the Sudetenland, and Britain and France agreed at Munich in 1938. Germany occupied the rest of Bohemia and Moravia in March 1939. Czech agents sent from London killed Reinhard Heydrich in 1942, and the Nazis destroyed the village of Lidice in revenge.
Soviet Union1968 to 1991
Warsaw Pact armies led by the Soviet Union invaded on 21 August 1968 to end the Prague Spring reforms of Alexander Dubcek. Soviet troops stayed until 1991, two years after the Velvet Revolution brought down communist rule.

Today

Czechia now

At the close of World War I, the Czechs and Slovaks of the former Austro-Hungarian Empire merged to form Czechoslovakia, a parliamentarian democracy. During the interwar years, having rejected a federal system, the new country's predominantly Czech leaders were frequently preoccupied with meeting the increasingly strident demands of other ethnic minorities within the republic, most notably the Slovaks, the Sudeten Germans, and the Ruthenians (Ukrainians).

Capital: Prague
Government: parliamentary republic
Head of government: Andrej Babiš
Head of state: Petr Pavel
Languages: Czech
Area: 78,871 km²

Through time

Then and now

Population10.8 million2023 · 8.9 million in 1950
Life expectancy79.8 years2023 · 64.4 years in 1950
GDP per person$32,2472022
Living in cities73%2025 · 54% in 1950
Political regimeLiberal democracy2025 · Closed autocracy in 1950
Military alliancesNATO2024 · None of these in 1950
Military spending1.8% of GDP2025
War deathsNone2025

Population: HYDE 3.3, Gapminder and UN WPP. GDP per capita: Maddison Project Database 2023. Urban share: UN WPP. Life expectancy: Riley, HMD, UN WPP. Literacy: OWID historical estimates, World Bank, UNESCO. Military spending: SIPRI. War deaths: UCDP. Political regime: V-Dem, Regimes of the World. All via Our World in Data (CC BY 4.0). Alliances and organization memberships: compiled by Atlas. Satellites in orbit: CelesTrak SATCAT. Modern borders, backcast.

Relations

Close partners and tensions

Close partners

United States
France
United Kingdom
Germany
Poland

Summarised from World Bank and Wikipedia data, updated 23 October 2026.

Rivals in history

The kingdoms, empires and states Czechia fought or stood against, from the first to today.

Roman Empire166 to 180

The Marcomanni and their neighbours the Quadi crossed the Danube into Roman lands. Emperor Marcus Aurelius fought them for over a decade in the Marcomannic Wars, which ended soon after his death in 180 with a peace made by his son Commodus.

Kingdom of the Franks631 to 658

The Frankish king Dagobert I attacked Samo's Slavic realm after Frankish merchants were killed there. Samo's army defeated the Franks at Wogastisburg in 631, and his realm stayed independent until his death around 658.

Magyars895 to 907

Hungarian horsemen settled the Carpathian Basin from about 895. Their attacks helped destroy Great Moravia in the first years of the tenth century, and after that Bohemia, not Moravia, became the centre of Czech statehood.

Poland under the Piasts1003 to 1137

Boleslaw the Brave of Poland seized Prague in 1003 and kept Moravia for some years after. Duke Bretislav I raided Poland around 1039 and carried off relics from Gniezno. The two states fought over Silesia until the Peace of Klodzko in 1137.

House of Habsburg1273 to 1278

King Ottokar II of Bohemia ruled Austria, Styria, Carinthia and Carniola, but refused to recognise Rudolf of Habsburg as German king. Rudolf took Austria from him, and Ottokar was killed at the Battle on the Marchfeld in 1278.

Holy Roman Empire under Sigismund1420 to 1434

Emperor Sigismund claimed the Bohemian throne, and five crusades were launched against the Hussites between 1420 and 1431. All failed, at Vitkov Hill in 1420 and at Domazlice in 1431. The radical Hussites were finally beaten by moderate Hussites at Lipany in 1434.

Kingdom of Hungary1468 to 1479

Matthias Corvinus of Hungary invaded Bohemia in 1468 and was elected king by Catholic lords against George of Podebrady. The Peace of Olomouc in 1479 left Matthias with Moravia, Silesia and Lusatia until his death in 1490.

Habsburg Monarchy1618 to 1620

Protestant nobles threw imperial officials from a window of Prague Castle in 1618 and elected their own king, opening the Thirty Years' War. Habsburg armies crushed them at the White Mountain in 1620, and rebel leaders were executed or exiled.

Kingdom of Prussia1740 to 1866

Frederick II of Prussia seized almost all of Silesia, a Bohemian crown land, in 1742. Prussian armies invaded Bohemia again in 1744 and 1757, besieging Prague, and the peace of 1763 confirmed the loss. In 1866 Prussia beat Austria at Hradec Kralove, in Bohemia.

Nazi Germany1938 to 1945

Hitler demanded the Sudetenland, and Britain and France agreed at Munich in 1938. Germany occupied the rest of Bohemia and Moravia in March 1939. Czech agents sent from London killed Reinhard Heydrich in 1942, and the Nazis destroyed the village of Lidice in revenge.

Soviet Union1968 to 1991

Warsaw Pact armies led by the Soviet Union invaded on 21 August 1968 to end the Prague Spring reforms of Alexander Dubcek. Soviet troops stayed until 1991, two years after the Velvet Revolution brought down communist rule.

Czechia now

Capital

Prague

Government

parliamentary republic

Head of government

Andrej Babiš

Head of state

Petr Pavel

Languages

Czech

Area

78,871 km²

Then and now

Population10.8 million2023 · 8.9 million in 1950

Life expectancy79.8 years2023 · 64.4 years in 1950

GDP per person$32,2472022

Living in cities73%2025 · 54% in 1950

Political regimeLiberal democracy2025 · Closed autocracy in 1950

Military alliancesNATO2024 · None of these in 1950

Military spending1.8% of GDP2025

War deathsNone2025