c. 400BC The Celtic Boii tribe occupies Bohemia
c. AD700 West Slavic tribes settle in the region
863 Cyril and Methodius introduce Christianity to Bohemia
1245 Jewish ghetto is constructed
1346 Charles (Karel) IV becomes Holy Roman Emperor and King of Bohemia
1348 Charles IV founds Charles University, in Prague, the first in Eastern Europe
1352 Construction of St Vitus Cathedral begins under Swabian architect Peter Parler
1357 Construction of the Charles Bridge begins
1378 Death of Charles IV
1403 Jan Hus, Rector
of Charles University, begins preaching against Church corruption
1415 Hus, convicted of heresy and excommunicated, is burnt at the stake at Constance
1419-34 Hussite Wars during which they repel all attacks; considerable religious freedom is finally granted by the Pope
1526 Hapsburg rule begins under Ferdinand I
1618 The Thirty Years War begins with the defenestration of two Catholic councillors
1648 The Thirty Years War ends on Charles Bridge as the Czechs repel the Swedes
29 Oct 1787 Mozart conducts the premiere of
Don Giovanni at the Estates Theater in Prague
1848 Populist revolutions sweep Europe; Prague rebellion is crushed by Austrian troops
28 Oct 1918 Czechoslovakia becomes an independent nation with Tomás¢ Masaryk as first President
1938 Chamberlain, Deladier, Mussolini and Hitler sign the Munich Agreement, ceding the Sudetenland to Germany without the consent of Czechoslovakia
Oct 1938 German troops occupy the Sudetenland
March 1939 German troops occupy the rest of Czechoslovakia; Slovakia becomes a Nazi puppet state
5-9 May 1945 Prague uprising; the city is occupied by the Red Army
1946 First post-war elections; Communists are the largest party with 36% of the vote
Feb 1948 Klement Gottwald leads a Moscow-backed coup d’état and becomes President
5 Jan 1968 Alexander Dubc¢ek becomes First Secretary and introduces humanistic reforms
28 Aug 1968 Prague Spring crushed by invasion of Warsaw Pact troops
16 Jan 1969 Jan Palach sets himself alight in protest at ‘normalization’ imposed by Moscow
Dec 1976 Charter 77 formed by playwright and dissident Václav Havel to monitor human rights offences
Nov 1989 The ‘Velvet Revolution’ – student demonstrations become a full-scale revolution of passive resistance and the Communist government falls
1990 Václav Havel is elected President
1 Jan 1993 The ‘Velvet Divorce’ – Slovakia becomes an independent country
1 May 2004 The Czech Republic joins the EU
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The Columbus World Travel Guide has been published for 26 years and is sold in over 90 countries worldwide.
Word Travels is a comprehensive travel guide covering hundreds of cities and holiday resorts in more than 125 countries.
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