Hi there! Thanks for the video :) Just a little note here, Czechia currently has 6 international airports. I think might've missed the one in České Budějovice, which started taking public flights last year :)
Prague and Bratislava being close to each other and one of closest capitals in the world? I think someones been thinking about Vienna instead of Prague...
@@loleder its the triangle of vienna bratislava and budapest that is really close to each other, but vienna and bratislava in particular, like 50km between them, 70km road-wise. and you can even add 2nd biggest city in czechia, Brno, there, and you have 4th important city really close to others.
But even that is wrong. Kinshasa and Brazzaville are literally across the river from each other. Vienna and Bratislava are 50km apart@@General.Knowledge
I would like to add some interesting cultural aspects as a Czech. 1. Czech and Slovak media are still really connected, there are so many tv shows (for example Czechia and Slovakia got talent) or reality shows that are being made together. Also you would never find only czech or only slovak song playlists / music charts (usually it's written like cz/sk...) in tv or radios here. So many Czech and Slovak movies/ tv shows are also watched a lot in the othe country, and nowdays in the internet era there is only cz/sk RUclips/twitch or some game communities. 2. Slovak and Czechs can freely study in eachothers universities without any fee, like their own citizens. 3. But what is different, is how Czechs or Slovaks are answering the nationality question. Usually Czechs are highlighting their kingdoms and science, Slovaks tend to often highlight their rich Slovak culture with traditional houses, dances, costumes, cousine, way of living... 4. There is also political culture aspect (i would say). For example first political journey by Czech or Slovak ministry or foreigner affairs are every time traditionaly to the other country. And when there was elected Czech President in the start of this year, the president of Slovakia, Zuzana Čaputová, arrived just few hours after the results to congratulate the newly elected president Petr Pavel. I still think some things like this don't really happen in other countries and I like that. :)
On point 4. I watched the innaguration from the USA even tnough I don't know Czech. I was so glad Pter Pavel won. When I saw Zuzanna Caputova do her congratulations, it brought tears to my eyes. It seemed it was less than 4 hours and that she was already there.
It happens in the United Kingdoms of Great Britain and Northern Ireland. And I do miss the name "Czechoslovakia", it was such a lovely name for a country. 6 syllables and it flows so nicely.
In your demographic/immigration breakdown you stated a 70k Romanian population - this is almost certainly a misunderstanding of Romani in your sources. The significant minority in Slovakia is Romani, not Romanian - this is also an ethnicity rather than nationality as the vast majority of Romani people would see themselves as either Slovak or Hungarian when it comes to their nationality.
But there is actually a lot of Romanians, at least here in Czechia, Romanians are literally new Ukrainians, they do all those unqualified jobs which even Ukrainians don't want to do.
I bought some bananas from a Vietnamese shop in Česká Třebová. It was quite a surprise to find such an 'exotic' thing in such a small place as that. I would have expected it in, say, Prague and some of the larger regional capitals. I suppose that illustrates the broad spread of the Vietnamese population in the Czech Republic (because 'Czechia' still doesn't feel right to me!) Is it a hang-over from Communist times, when there would have been very friendly relations between Czechoslovakia and certainly North Vietnam, followed by just plain Vietnam after the North's victory in the Vietnam War?
@@Asdasxel OK, fair enough, you're probably right. 😀 Anyway, Vietnamese shops are mostly just ordinary grocery stores, nothing exotic about them. And yes, they are everywhere, not just big cities.
There are some in Slovakia too. In Bratislava I heard Vietnamese people speaking better Slovak than I do! Props to them for learning a language so different from their own.
Czech here: Most of us really like Slovaks but enjoy making fun of them like older and younger brothers. That's why we call them Bratia (Slovak word for Brothers). In general there is a lot of respect towards them and we acknowledge they are awesome at doing many stuff. The main reason for separation was (to my knowledge) Slovak desire of independence which was granted to avoid friction. Good move, because now we calmly coexist in peace and respect. Slovakia enjoys autonomy and we enjoy being us. Although it's painful to watch sometimes, I admit that :-D
Another Czech here, Slovaks have very similar language and we share a short part of history together, however, there are pretty big differences between us - like religion (as mentioned in the video), opinion on Russia, USA, Ukraine, our culture is also different (and the list goes on). So I'm kinda glad that we can be 2 states, but with a good relationship. And politics in Slovakia, oh boy, that's bizarre, not even Babiš is close.
I think the Czechs were very Noble to let free their Brother Slavs without them having to fight a War moreover, i have in my job met with many Czechs , Slovaks Truck Drivers who seem to get along very well and the separation did not appear to make any hatred between these two related people. Slovaks just wanted to be their own Nation and should have kept their own Currency as the Euro has now taken much of their economic freedom away . Thanks for sharing and all the best to you & Yours ………Abe ( uk )
I don't think that Euro as currency reduced our ecomical freedom, I would say the opposite is true. I'm not only Slovak, but also European and I'm definitely for one, united European currency.
I was sad when Czechia and Slovakia separated in 1993, but it did give me some good material for my classes on Slavic culture for inner city 3rd graders. I talked about how the Czechs and Slovaks separated without bloodshed: "Nobody got shot, nobody went to the hospital, nobody got their leg cut off. Great way to solve problems, by talking and coming to an agreement instead of fighting." The border between Czechia and Slovakia is actually a very friendly and laid back place. When I crossed from Slovakia to Czechia the only question the border guard had for me was, "How does the American woman like riding in a Trabant?"
the same happened between Russia and Ukraine... an independance without one shot fired... untill the American Cabal and their representatives began manipulating Ukrainian politics
@@silveriorebelo2920until putin started his imperial dream actually. it's why we all from soviet occupied countries tried hard to get into NATO before russian bear wakes up hungry again. the issue is that Russia didn't experience such a loss as their counterpart nation to start ww2 experienced.
Most people didnt actually want to divide, majority of both Slovak as well as Czech populations wanted to stay in one country. That is rather interesting. It was mostly Slovak elites that wanted to separate and Czech elites were OK with that.
@@fridericusrex6289I was already yougn adult in the time and I remember that most of us Cezchs where like: 'Realy? But whatever, let's watch and have a fun!' And then I saw more and more slovaks in Praha working as shopassistants. Anyway, in the end they do quite well. Better than we expected. And they deserve it. It was 2nd time in the history where Slovaks has chance to have Slovak state. And it's worth to try in peace time rather than wait for occassion like it was last time. They always felt 2nd in our shared republic. Konfederation fits us probably better than federation or union. Honestly its sometimes hard to find common ground with Moravians in greater Czechia even though it doesn't feel that our siamese twin would like to really depart :)
@@ondrejlukas4727 I personally am very happy that we divided. I did not want to sound as if the split was bad, just stating that at that time support for it between common people was not super high.
I'm a Slovak living Czechia. I've never viewed Czechia as a different country, from my point of view the only different thing is the currency, something which I've grown accustomed to. Yeah sometimes I have to convert beer prices from Korunas to Euros. But besides that I'd struggle to find a difference between us. I believe that none of us truly wanted the dissolution of Czechoslovakia and that it was purely a political decision.
There are plenty of businesses in Switzerland that accepts Euros since most of their trade and tourism comes from Eurozone countries, are there any places like that in Czechia?
@@lucinae8512Some supermarket chains do accept Euro here, but only banknotes and you will receive your change in CZK. Apart from that, maybe some places near the border or some places with lots of tourists would accept it.
@@lucinae8512 It perhaps depends, but in areas close to border, some shops will accept that, card payment is not the issue, but shops in areas that are not touristy or close to borders will most likely not accept it or not officially. (there could be some byzantine regulation around that) But is is already possible for companies that do their business mostly in Euros to keep books in Euro, but the taxes are still paid in CZK, but it seems like that could change soon. As Czech I would say that it is pity that we have not accepted Euro a decade ago.
as a slovak I can confirm we do have more roads, there quality is a lot worse tho lmao. Also the cross on the flag doesnt just represent christianity it is also the same symbol that was used in the flag of the first slovak state, the prinicpality of nitra. Also one of the mountain ranges on the flag isnt in slovakia but in hungary. Also I can confirm the corruption thing, very real, so much corruption everywhere
@@eikozanoid No it's not. Country was picked as a setting only because author of the movie assumed nobody in the US ever heard about Slovakia (which was/is kinda correct).
Just to let foreigners know: Although we are now separate countries, we still share most of the stuff: for example media (TV/internet/games) are still czecho-slovak (CZ/SK) and for example Food and medication are also both CZ/SK - if you buy something in Slovakia, you can see the name of it also in Czech language and vice-versa. So we are still like one country, but there is border between us now.
Yeah, right. People who didnt understood us were kinda shocked we "divorced" without shooting each other like the yugos. They simply did not understood there was no major animosity between us, well apart from some "hospoda" nagging on both sides.
@@matejkovalcik9976 what does the "hospoda" mean? i guess it does not cleanly translate (half of the reason i'm interested) but still, what would a rough explanation mean?
4:20 Hmm? Maybe you're thinking of Bratislava and Vienna, which are indeed very close at only 54 km apart. Bratislava and Prague, however, are a full 290 km apart, which is nothing remarkable or unusual.
8:30 There's one difference: Czechia's parliament is bicameral (lower house is the Chamber of Deputies (Poslanecká sněmovna Parlamentu České republiky) and the upper house is the Senate (Senát Parlamentu České republiky)), while Slovakia's is unicameral, and the house is called the National Council (Národná rada Slovenskej Republiky). 12:50 that was an unexpected shout-out for my tiny Faroe Islands... very nice, thanks. Slovakia is definitely one of my favourite countries in the world but I used to live there so I may be biased. But yeah, I love the country. Need to go back there soon, it's been too long.
i wouldnt go as far as "best friends" there is plenty of bad blood from fourties when Slovaks betrayed the Czechoslovakia and these tensions are back on the rise as Slovakia is turning pro-russian while Czech republic is exact opposite.
I'm afraid I have to spoil your pleasure. The Czech Republic has more history in common with Poland than with Slovakia. This arose to a large extent after the end of the First World War, when the Czech state was being rebuilt. Well, the Czechs also took over the Slovaks. The capital of Slovakia, Bratislava, was stolen by the Czech (sorry, Czechoslovak) army from Hungary.
where did you get that slovakia is prorusian?(from slovakia) i know that one of our political parties had some debete with rusinan but that doesnt mean that we are prorusian .also you said that we betrayed chechoslovakia where did you get that from ? @@Asghaad
@@michalvavro2589are you seriously going to try to deny the betrayal of Slovaks in 1938 ? seriously ? ... Combined with trying to act as if Slovakia at large isnt trying to sabotage the rest of the EU trying to help Ukraine and Slovaks instead jump on the hungarian bandwagon demanding all support for Ukraine being stopped to "force peace" dont worry we will remember that when ruskies come for theyr "hystorically owned land" ...
@@michalvavro2589this is quite outdated, but there was a poll sometime last year i think, and Slovakia came out as one of the most pro-russian country having about 60% pro-russian. While the "betreyal" probably refers to the German occupation of Chzechoslovakia where Slovakia was a puppet/satelite-state while Czechia was an official provice/territory of Germany
I became aware of this at the very end of the Cold War. I had a professor at the University of Toronto, Josef Škvorecký, and on our first day in his class, he told us all rather plainly, "I am Czech, not 'Czechoslovakian'." There was a difference between ethnicity and nationality.
@@fridericusrex6289 I did not say that. On other side, the difference between standard Slovak and standard Czech is smaller then between standard Slovak and Slovak dialects, and smaller then standard Czech and Czech/Moravian dialects. Greetings from Poland.
@@robertab929 Not sure about Slovak dialects, but in case of Czechia that certainly isnt true. I was born in central Moravia (Haná), currently live in Bohemia on the other side of the republic and the differences in dialects are way smaller than differences between Czech and Slovak. And its not just different words, but also the grammar is different. For example Slovak has only 6 cases while Czech language has 7 cases. The only "dialect" which would be different would be the Silesian language, but us Czechs, unlike you Poles recognize it as separate language and Poles consider it dialect of Polish I think. So no one would consider that Czech dialect. Otherwise from souther or western Bohemia all the way up to Czech Silesia or southern Moravia the dialects are way closer to each other than Czech and Slovak languages are.
Do a similar video between Romania and Moldova and other countries that share similarities just like in this video. I think it would be an awesome concept
@@seed_drill7135USSR really sucks they steal land from everyone: Japan, Poland, Czechoslovakia, Romania, Germany etc etc and then they gave it to countries like Belarus and Ukraine 🤮🤮Soviets worst country ever
Some notes concerning this video coming from a Slovak: 1. 5:21 As of 2023, Slovakia's population is 5.7 million, the 300k increasing stemming mainly from Ukrainian immigrants 2. 6:19 I can't say this for Czechia or even the whole of Slovakia, but at least in my social circles from my high school and uni, most young people are not very religious. Many people including I are still tracked as members of various churches while only minimally practicing the religion. 3. 8:19 As others have already mentioned, Czechia has Bicameral parliament while Slovakia has Unicameral parliament. 4. As you already suggested by talking about Slameka, Slovak can be used in various official communications, ranging from a uni thesis or government documents in Czechia and vice versa. 5. 10:24 There are two issues here, first being that Romanis (Gypsies) were mistaken for Romanians, the second being that all the Ukrainian refugees were omitted. 6. 12:18 Almost all of our biggest companies are foreign owned, and this goes double for the manufacturing industry. Due to the structure of our economy, we are located right in the middle income trap, where our current industry relies on paying comparatively lower wages, which in turn forces our young and highly educated population to look for jobs elsewhere in the EU. Among the many consequences of this is that our healthcare is heavily understaffed, for instance it is not uncommon to have to wait for a year before you can undergo a needed examination. 7. 13:49 If it was only a perception. Slovakia might as well be on a course to become the next Greece.
Good points, this Czech would like to offer some response. ad 2. Judging by one's social circle is very tricky. I'm Czech and therefore I should be expected to be an atheist. I'm not (a Catholic), and very few people in my social circes are. ad 3. Moreover, the formulation in the video is pretty unfortunate in the sense, that it seems to suggest, that the president nominates the government ministers. The prime minister does it, the president merely ratifies the prime minister's appointees. ad 4. The minister's name was actually Gustáv Slámečka, not Slameka which doesn't even sound Slovak at all, and doesn't mean anything. I'm quite shocked at the typo making its way to the video (I mean, how hard is it to copy+paste). But I'm even more shocked, that the author of the video didn't choose agent Bureš, a.k.a. Andrej Babiš, a much more high profile case of a Slovak becoming the Czech prime minister (much bigger deal than just a minister of transportation). ad 6. This is exactly the same for us in Czechia.
Czechia actually had conscription, but only until 2004 and also had the alternative of 2 years of civil service, in case one refused to serve in the military due to moral or religious reasons.
Actually, it was a year and half. After the Velvet Revolution, the conscription was shortened from 2 to 1 year and conscientious objectors were allowed to do 1.5 year civil service.
While I enjoy these videos, I would suggest trying to find someone from the relevant country/countries to act as a kind of consultant / fact checker. Saying "but I don't know" or "I would imagine" as much as you did in this video really takes away from the otherwise excellent quality.
Well, depends if you also count the Carpathian Rus. If yes, then yes, Czechoslovakia indeed was founded in 1918 after WW I. However, if you mean the Czechoslovakia without the Carpatian Rus, then no, that one was founded after WW II when the Soviets took the Carpathian Rus and when it was later added into Ukraine's territory.
as a czech student studying in moravia’s capital, it feels like there are almost as many slovak students as czech ones. there’s even something called “slovak night” every year which is basically a big party specifically dedicated to slovakia (and slovak students)
I am neither Czech nor Slovak. Soon after the 1992 split, I asked a Czech official " are the Slovaks still your friends?" He responded ; "No. They are our brothers. One chooses one's friends". 😂😂😂
Interesting detail to add about the Liechtenstein dispute you mentioned in the video. The Czech territory they disputed (Lednice, very beautiful place) is really large in comparison to the size of Liechtenstein itself. So much so, in fact, that if somehow Liechtenstein did get the Lednice Manor and all of its land back from Czechia it would more than double the size of Liechtenstein, meaning there would be literally more of Liechtenstein in Czechia then there would be in Liechtenstein lmao (Liechtenstein is only 160 square km and the Lednice territory is more than 250 square km). This will obviously never happen but it's a hilarious thought.
@@General.Knowledge But that's how it always was during history. The Spanish empire abroad bigger than Spain. The Portuguese empire abroad bigger than Portugal. The British empire bigger than the UK. And so forth.
@@l.n.3372 I would argue that colonial empires are something different than Duke of Lichtenstein owning swaths of land in other countries that are larger than his own country.
@@MrToradragon yeah but it wasnt a different country for most of its history. Behoemia was a part of the HRE and Liechtenstein is all that is left of the HRE today.
Buddy didn’t it collapse because a certain Austrian painter split it in half and then it was occupied by the soviets? I don’t know much about the parliament but I swear that it just happened due to the third Reich rather than political division.
@@DominionOfNewfoundland the first seperation in 1939 was because of the austrian painter. The second collapse in 1992 was because political instability.
5:12 regarding slovak airports: Bratislava is the biggest airport and you would use it for most travels. Your other choice is Košice (second biggest city), it has less flights and it's smaller but you can still get somewhere. Other are small and have few flights, I honestly don't even know where they are. I think there is one in Poprad and Trenčín but I don't know that for sure
As a Slovak I much prefer the current “situationship”, as our joint state was quite Pragocentric. The example of how civilized the split of Czechoslovakia occured and how it is going could serve as a positive example of how a split is done, especially in light of what happened in Yougoslavia at the same time or the current RF/UA war.
What foreign Slovaks send money to build hospital in central Slovakia, government decided to fund building of Bulovka in Prague with these money. That was essence of that state. Nevertheless I must admit that Slovakia made great progress in Czecho-Slovakia and for that I´m sure common state with Czechs, Moravians and Silesians was positive thing.
@@milangacik994 As well as Havel destroying our heavy industry, which was quite profitable at that point in time and employing a lot of people. Still, we were better off together IMO.
You owe your peaceful separation to belonging to the same european culture and shared history. Not so Croats and Serbs, we were never before 1918 in the same civilisation. In the time of Yugoslavia we were held together by force of politics and the military. Exactly the same problem exists in Bosnia and Herzegovina to this day, and is for the time being held together by an international military/political intervention. It is a conflict of three civilisations: Croatian (the one to which belong Slovakia and Czechia), Serbian (same civilisation as Russia, plus nearly 500 years of Ottoman occupation) and the Islamic component (with the affinity with the muslim world).
@@ferdomrkvicka1247 Ice hockey joke from the year 2000 after the ice hockey world championship where Czechia won and Slovakia placed 2nd: OK, now only Moravia has to put together their own ice hockey team… and we got all the medals! 😃
Thanks for this video General Knowledge!! 🤗 The Czech Republic 🇨🇿 and Slovakia 🇸🇰 are two of my favorite countries in Europe; great people, beautiful cities like Prague and Bratislava, excellent beer 🍻… I’m sure that if Czechoslovakia is back, it will be a great country!! 🇪🇸❤️🇨🇿🇸🇰
Díky But i doubt that Czechoslovakia will form again due to our curent political diferences with Slovakia curently being more anti-LGBTQ and with them being so much pro Russian, while Czechia is procesing the right for gay marriages and being so much pro Ukraine
I just have to ask, I was born and lived in Bratislava most of my life, and I am really flattered that you say it is beautiful but I don't understand why do you think that? 😅
Yeah they are, sadly being ruined by the recent rapid development of private luxurious hotels 😔But the question was primarily for the @javiervll8077 I just wanted a honest unbiased opinion of the foreigner, I am really curious. Thank you! 😊
Quite surprised you didn't mention Czechia had a Slovak prime minister for 8 years. Thought he was populist , I think it would be interesting for foreig audience (plus he spoke a weird mix of Czech and Slovak which was kinda funny
@@milangacik994 What is your source for the claim taht Babiš is a jew? From what I found, his mother was a Carpathian German and his father was a Slovak.
@@obrnenydrevokocur9344 Well if you mean Wikipedia... that´s not reliable source of information. His aunt (sister of his mother) living in Australia is staunch adversary of jabbing (vaccination) and she is of Jewish origin. I found this out in times of J3#w jab (CVD19) frenzy when Babiš was proponent of jabbing people (fortunatelly not as that idiot Lula). Tell me how his mother sister can be Jewish and his mother cannot be.... According to rabbinical laws Jew is considered as Jew when his mother is Jewish... I guess you even don´t know, that Putin is Jewish too in same way...
In regards to the minorities in Slovakia - Romas and Romanians are not the same, you better fix that one flag ;-) beside that a good one for somebody not living there 🙂
A helpful video about Czechia and Slovakia; thank you! My friend Maria Petrova found some inconsistencies: 1. Czechoslovakia was established after World War I, not WWII. 2. The dissolution of Czechoslovakia in 1992 was a self-determined decision, not a result of the collapse of the Soviet Block. 3. CZ and SK were jointly ruled under the Habsburg monarchy since 1526 and later under Austria-Hungary, not only during the times of Great Moravia. 4. The reference to Great Moravia in the 9th and 10th centuries is misleading. The region that later became Czechoslovakia was PART of the Great Moravian Empire, not "a version of it." 5. During World War II, the government of Czechoslovakia operated in exile while the country itself was under the administration of Nazi Germany. After the war, Czechoslovakia was reestablished under its pre-1938 borders, except Carpathian Ruthenia, which became part of the Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic, NOT Germany. 6. It is more accurate to specify “Nazi Germany” when referring to Germany during the World War II period.
This was great. I'd be interested in seeing a comparison between the north and south of Italy, as well as a comparison between Spain and Portugal. Also a comparison of the 3 Baltic countries, Latvia, Lithuania and Estonia.
One rather important difference that I like to mention: unlike Slovakia-and I believe unlike any other European country-Czechia has the “shall-issue (that is concealed carry licence)” type of gun law, meaning that Czech citizens have the right to keep and carry guns (and proper ammo with expanding bullets, and silencers and so-called high capacity magazines &c.) for self defence. We are indeed an amazing country! Greetings from Prague.
5:45 about the language. Czech and Slovak are different languages, however the roots of the words are mostly similar, that's why we understand each other. Its like if in English, we said "guod" instead of "good" and "baad" instead of "bad" etc. Slovaks also have a different nose-like accent (and they probably think we have an effeminate one). I think many people know this already but there are still some people that think that one Czechoslovak language existed during Czechoslovakias existence, which was a Czechoslovak propaganda to support the cause that the Czechs and Slovaks are one nation. And also the thing with the capitals being close to each other is not true, but i think you already know that.
Interesting point. I also speak Polish and the Poles make fun of the Czech language (less so of Slovak) calling it "dziecinny", (childish) because of the ending of some words, e.g. "ičky" which to Poles sounds "cutesey". What the Poles don't acknowledge is that Czechs and Slovaks rarely use diminutive forms of words in normal conversation, while Poles use diminutives all the time. Who's "dziecinny" now? LOL
The weird thing is I still find myself sometimes calling it Czechoslovakia, even though I was 5 when they split 🤷♂️ I blame the fact I used to play Italia 90 football well into the 90s 😅
Glad you made video about Slovakia and Czechia glad to see that video I would like to stay in Czechoslovakia NGL but well it is what it is also I think we disolved in 1993 not 1992 but ok Also u asked about the roads in Slovakia they are pretty bad 😅 Veľa šťastia s vašim kanálom General Knowledge
@@matyasbrabec Pravda len my sme sa učili 93 ale nemyslím si že 92 je zle ale formálne rozdelenie a vznik Českej a Slovenskej Republiky bol až v roku 93
My dad was first generation Czech/American. He told me that the reason that Bohemia was not Catholic was that it was controlled by the Austrians for so long and the Czechs resented it. The Catholic Church was a symbol of the Austrians. In addition, the Czechs have a historic link to prereformation in the person of Jan Huss which dates back hundreds of years. My dad said that when Czechs immigrated to the US, they completely dropped any connection with the Catholic Church. Having been under Communist control for many years with the subsequent deemphasis on religion, I'm not surprised about the large number of athiests in the Czech lands.
With the difference that these countries are in Central Europe. Russia is in Eastern Europe, and Belarus and Ukraine also belong there from a cultural and historical context. The center of Europe between the extreme southeast of Europe on the Atlantic coast of Portugal and the extreme northeast of Europe on the Ural Mountains is the border between Belarus and Russia.
I know the story how that map got changed.... in Slovakia. There were these two drunk Russians who drew the borders, without really knowing all the area, really true. Not too much thought nor negotiation. Also what was not mentioned that lot of the so called Hungarian kings actually wrote in Slovak, and these documents are under the lock in Hungary, even now, only available to some scholars.
It would not be better at all. Slovaks desired of their own independence and czechs did not want to pay for development of 'far east'. Both nations had very different priorities and could not even agree on the name of the common state Czechoslovakia/Czecho-Slovakia/Czechia and Slovakia (it was so called 'dash war' between representatives of both nations)..
@@radekmasopust489 It was basically same relation as Scotland and UK have now. UK is sending constant flow of money from England into Scotland and sponsoring their kingdom from work of English people and meanwhile Scots cry about how UK oppresses them and they want independence. If Scottish nationalists want independence in referendum, its rather simple - they should allow voters from England to vote as well and most of them will vote for Scottish independence lol. It was same with Czechoslovakia. When it was formed, Czechia was about 90 % of GDP, provided all institutions and so on. During its existence there was never a time when Slovakia would pay money to Czech part, it was always the other way. For nearly a century Czechs were working so that Slovaks can improve their country and live better life from Czech money. And after those decades they start to shout they arent independent and want higher autonomy? Naturally the response of Czechs was "F off, we can separate completely and you can finally take care of yourselves". And well judging quickly increasing number of Slovak migrants to Czechia, it didnt work that well for Slovaks.
@@fridericusrex6289 AFAIK it was Slovaks, who wanted to split away, kinda. In the end it was mostly about Klaus and Mečiar meeting and deciding for split. But I know for sure there's enough Czechs who dislike or even hate Slovaks. Not to a degree of Yugoslavian civil wars, but enough not to create another Czechoslovakia anytime soon. For the same reasons any similar federation with Austria, Poland, Germany or Hungary would be currently impossible. Anything more united than EU, NATO or programs like ESA. Still too much bad blood and differences among countries which are almost the same (nuclear energy, hyper-correctness, religion or conspiracy theories...). There is some nostalgia for the First Republic: Strong legions, which were on the winning side of the WWI, fighting it all the way through Russia to Vladivostok (with the stop at the only Czechoslovak Naval battle on Baikal), growing industrial power, concrete fortresses capable to send Nazi packing (if the Münnich Betrayal didn't happen)... Now we didn't have any president, who wasn't controversial at some way. In case of Beneš it was being too much to the left, with Masaryk too much to the right and the fact, he kept his office even when unable to do the job. He was also criticized for the moves against nobles and other things. But he made the state possible and he wasn't afraid to make his hand dirty, for example paying assassination of Lenin (to provide some breathing space).
I have a good amount of Slovakian friends, visited the country a couple of times and even went to a wendding there. I have to say that The Slovaks are some of the nicest people I got to know :)
Funny story when I was in the UK at a pub. I've met an older guy and told him that I'm from Slovakia. He said that it must have been hard to grow up in a war torn country after we split up. I've told him: your confusing something here, there was no war or anything. But he wouldn't listen and kept on nagging me about it.
as a Czech Czechs and Slovaks are really connected in media and social medias like its normal for there to be youtube group where are 2 Czechs and 2 Slovaks and in videos they speak their languages normally and they and their fans understand everything
While not everything is spot on, I think the author made a great job researching the subject and it is example of how such material should look like. 👏👍
This is a very well made video and covers a vast amount of time and changes. To do this in such a short video format and at this quality is very hard to accomplish while keeping it both interesting and informative. This video does both. As far as the split is concerned, both countries seem to have thrived in their current forms AND remained very friendly and helpful to each other. So, I would not venture to tell another country to do what I thought they should, especially considering that they are successful.
As a slovak who is now a czech citizen, I'd just like to clarify that Czech and Slovak are more than just dialects, they are truly two distinct languages each with their own set of dialects. They are mutually inteligible, but that is more thanks to exposure. Since we split, there is less slovak content in czechia and so the understanding of slovak in czechia is worse than vice versa, because in slovakia we still get czech movies, or other content on a regular basis. The grammar is similar though not the same, and the vocabulary is different, even though there is an overlap of similar words. I actually started to speak czech, because I got annoyed by not being fully understood, and having to explain.
I always use the name "Czech Republic" in English, rather than Czechia. That's because one of my best friends is Czech and she absolutely despises the name Czechia, she would never use it.
Because she didnt know the word existed in English and didn't get used to it yet but Czechia is catching on very quickly now. It's quite moronic to call a country by its political system rather than the short geographical name. No one says French Republic, Portuguese Republic or Russian Federation for that same reason
@@Wampus_Cat Americans didn't come up with Czechia. The Czechs came up with this as a shorter alternative to the Czech Republic, same as Slovakia vs. Slovak Republic. It has nothing to do with Americans.
@@vkdrk Well, maybe not invented by Americans but it is an English/Latin invention.... Česko is the name used by Czechs. "It (Czechia) is simply the English version of the country’s short name (”Česko”). "Czechia is a standard Latin-derived word." "Historically, the name first appeared in a Latin text in 1602. Its use in English texts dates back to 1841 and 1856." mzv.gov.cz/jnp/en/issues_and_press/factsheets/x2016_04_21_the_completion_of_translations_of_the.html
by the way, I did not literally mean that Americans invented the name Czechia. It's more of a joke. However, Czechia is a Latin/English invention for the Czech's name ”Česko.” more info here: mzv.gov.cz/jnp/en/issues_and_press/factsheets/x2016_04_21_the_completion_of_translations_of_the.html
Beside Prague other international airports in Czechia are small, like one runway, as there is not that great demand for air traffic as much larger airports at Schwechat and Katowice are easily accessible from Moravia.
as someone from Brno, people from here usually fly either from Prague or Vienna, I don't think many people go all the way to Poland for an airport edit: nevermind schwechat is the name of the airport in Vienna
Please don't. Czechs are glad that they aren't pay piggies of Slovak underdeveloped country anymore. We have more shared history with Poland than Slovakia, IMHO.
Thank you for the video I was just visiting Prague and I have been to Bratislava for one day when I was visiting Vienna and i really love the people in Czechia and Slovakia (from what i experienced). The people are very chill and friendly. If you are in Vienna definitely take the bus to Bratislava it is just a short ride! Also I think Czechia has a connection to germany because of the history of prague, many Germans came to prague to a point that there were more Germans than Czechs there until the late 19th century. Also the university in prague had a German and Czech part until after the world wars. But of course also the bordering which invites to drive over to Czechia for some excellent pivo.
14:07 As a proud Slovakian, I ask you should send as much love to the Czechs as I did. 🇨🇿❤🇸🇰 The breakup was purely political disision, crafted by Slovakian political Mafia like this:It's much easier to steal out 2 smaller states than one big. Bet this wasn't what people wanted-71% wanted to remain in Czechoslovakia. Yes there were tensions, but those were so less painfull than for example southern and northern Italy.
Actually split was desired more from Czech side and they just used patriotism on Slovak side carefully fueled by Czech stubborness in questions like Name of country...
It's not matter where is stems from, but I am glad that Slovaks have their own country which they can destroy as much as they want without Czechs paying for it again. Enough that we still have Babiš in politics. We dont want Slovak Mafia ruin even our country. It's very sad tho. So much young Slovaks I meet now in Brno don't even want to go back to Slovakia after university. :(
i love go by train in Slovakia, i went once to Dolný Kubín and oh boy it was amazing, like castle on high rock and track go in the middle of a lake, breathtaking experience. and lovly helpful folks, good beer. so much fuan i had that time :)
I love hearing about the international relationships that are not just alliances, but seem to be true friendships. Like Canada and the Netherlands, or France and the US
Although it may not be the main point of the video introduction, it's rather odd that nothing is said about (1) why they united in 1918, (2) the part of Czechoslovakia annexed by the Soviet Union, (3) why they split, specifically that it seemed like a power grab by leaders that the population did not want but were not consulted on.
Wow. I liked it! Format is good! Straightforward, facts pretty accurate, no much fuss around before anything relevants is said. Pretty gooood! Great job mate! 🙂
I can't explain why, but I still can remember and whistle the two-part Czechoslovak national anthem - the bigger half first followed by a bouncy folk tune for Slovakia.
As an American born Czech, it's good the two peoples had a peaceful split/divorce, which didn't happen after the tragic breakup of the former Yugoslavia. I was there in 1985 and was shocked when crossing the border from Austria and the silence of the streets of Prague during communist rule. It's good that both are free and independent nations now that contribute to a peaceful Europe. I hope to return someday to see Prague that is now part of the European fabric of nations.
Curious about the double cross on the Slovak coat of arms, while it's similar with the Hungarian one due to two countries having historial ties but there are two countries which virtually have no ties with Slovakia have it in their coat of arms - Lithuania & Belarus. The Lithuanian one is on the shield of the Vytis and the Belarusian one is also on one of the Pahonia (both Vytis & Pahonia are kinda the same) and I find it interesting as it's quite coincidental
The double cross is a religious symbol that turned a state symbol of the Kingdom of Hungary. Christianity was spread to the Great Moravia in the 9th century from the Byzantine Empire because the byzantine priests translated the liturgy to the slavic language (priests from present-day Germany and Italy used latin and were not successful). The eastern orthodox church used double cross instead of the normal one I think. Over the years the influence of eastern orthodoxy decreased and was replaced by the roman-catholic influence and the orthodox priests were expelled. But the double cross was still used by the people. Later, Hungarians also adopted the christianity and used local double cross. Present-day Slovakia then became part of the Kingdom of Hungary, which, at some point (not sure when exactly) incorporated the double cross on its coat of arms. I am not sure about Lithuania though. Maybe the influence of the eastern orthodoxy played a role there too.
@@davidkovac7170 as far as I know, I don't think so. Orthodoxy doesn't play a big rule in Lithuania 🤔 The cross is either associated with the Jagiellonian dynasty or Lithuania's rule over parts of Ruthenia (which is parts of Belarus today)
@@davidkovac7170 that is taken from Slovaks, it came from the Great Moravia long time before Hungarian lived in Europe and tried to screw up historical facts.. Than Hungarian"borrowed it" forever... same as many things they have now.
By years getting more against the EU, but still very much against Russia. But people are getting really pissed by actions of the government about Ukraine.
@@tefky7964 Or rather inaction in regard to domestic situation. Or, let's say, not acting quick enough and in way that people would immediately see. On the other hand nobody can solve issues that were piling up for 10, 15 years, in one tenth of the time under adverse geopolitical conditions and with still young market economy. For example energy sector was mismanaged in past decade, for example Czech power grid is missing about 5GWp of solar capacity that could have been installed in past decade and 500-2000 MW of installed capacity in wind, together they would produce between 6 and 10 TWH, or 10-15 % of yearly consumption of electricity in Czechia for price around 80€ per MWH, which is not that bad. While it would not help that much during winter, it would have impact on overall price of electricity and fuel consumption. Development of central heating systems stalled in past decade as well and in some parts those networks had started to fall apart as people started disconnecting from them as locally produced heat and hot water was cheaper. Pump-storage capacity was not increased despite project being on the table at Orlík (seem like it will be done during upcoming refurbishment of the power plant) and already existing need for more energy storage. And so on. And this can't be mitigated in span of one and half year, let alone only by government. Not to mention that if you would came with construction project for new power plant or project for development of newly discovered gas field or any other such thing, it would take quite long time before you would be granted necessary permits due to bureaucratic nature of Czech state. And that is huge problem for future development.
@@MrToradragon Ehhh,ok... I have no idea why you wrote all that, I am not disagreeing with it. Although many people act like governments can solve any issue instantly and sadly its global thing, I am not one of them, which is reason why, even in these days when our government is really unpopular, I try to judge them objectively and not criticize for things they couldn´t change, but the truth is that current government did really many stupid things, often pointlessly (and repeatedly) angering everyone.
Czech political scene always copy the one in Slovakia - their political pools show big support of ANO - which is much more neutral and friendly to the current government in Slovakia.
Czechs are generally more intelligent, so they are less pro-russian. And I say that as a Slovak. Half of this country is crazy and easily manipulated by the constant russian propaganda. Also, most of our pro-russian politicians have no spine, they just say whatever they think that people want to hear. In the past, Fico and co. we pretty pro-European, they just changed their tune when their voting base did.
your video is pretty good, nice strictire and graphics. also your narrarion is clear. But next time research a bit more. You said stuff like "likely, i think, could not find" bit too often. Just take a bit more time and it will be perfect :)
7:20 before joining in one state Czechs had flag with only white and red stripes. After creating Czechoslovakia blue triangle was added to represent Slovakia and stayed in Czech flag til today.
It's a little crazy is Ireland is almost half the size of both of them combined and we have 100,000 Km of roads roads too but serving 5 million people instead of their 16 million! 3 times more miles per person in an area half the size. (All paved)
10,000km of that is crossing just one peat bog; up and down miles and miles and miles. Took us sixteen days and the peat bog was only 1.5 km wide. ;-) !!
The distribution of population and categorization of roads can play huge role, from the map it seems like Ireland has much more farms scattered over countryside which are connected by paved roads, while in Czechia rural population is usually concentrated in villages. I would say tat that has something to do with different societal organization and philosophies in medieval times or something like that.
@@MrToradragon They are remnants of famine days when most of the population was in the now sparsely populated, yet most connected west. The reason we paved all these roads comes down to the British work for food program, which basically widened and flattened these what would be private grass tracks to 2 or 3 cottages and make them public regional roads and now we have to pave them. I live in the countryside and no joke I can take 4 totally different routes from my house to town all taking from 7-10km, then of course all those routes are connected between them at multiple interviles. It's a nightmare for our council budgets. It costs 1mil to repave 1.5km.
On the history, don't forget the role the Czechoslovak Legion. It was important as a Western intervention in the Russian civil war/revolution, fighting on the side of the Whites. UK & FR forces also helped the Whites, but the impact of the Czechoslovak Legion was much greater than "its weight" for a country its size.
One of the most striking contrasts between Czechs and Slovaks is how much their views diverge on the Russia-Ukraine war. It was highlighted months ago in polling by the Slovak think tank GlobSec. Initially, the two countries were in unison in condemning Russia’s invasion and the entire Kremlin pretext for the war. Both of them also supplied military assistance to Ukraine and showed compassion to the flood of Ukrainian refugees. The Czech Republic has maintained its strongly anti-Russia stance, even replacing its populist president with a former NATO general. Meanwhile, large numbers of Slovaks have turned against Ukraine and buying the false Kremlin narrative that NATO “provoked” Russia to invade. The corruption alluded to in the video is personified by Robert Fico, whose first government was brought down by the murder of a journalist investigating corruption involving EU funds. Fico was just re-elected as prime minister, and he ran on a pro-Russia platform that included an end to Slovak military aid to Ukraine. His party is also a major conduit for Russian disinformation campaigns in a NATO country. In short, the Czech Republic and Slovakia have become as different as night and day in their views on Russia.
Bohemia, Moravia, and Slovakia were hammered together in 1918 because individually they were too small to resist reintegration with Austria, Germany, Hungary, or Poland. (Yugoslavia was pushed together for the same reason.) Even then, they required a mutual defense treaty with France to remain viable. France and Britain abrogating their responsibilities at the Munich Conference of 1938 is what led to the partition of the Sudetenland. In a more peaceful Europe, there was not a lot of reason for Czechoslovakia or Yugoslavia to remain together.
"Czechia " is awful. It is now regularly confused with Chechnya. Also, Czechs are no longer Czechs, but Chechians. This was obvious at the Paris Olympics. It was ignorant to chose that name.
10:54, as Czech, we should start spending 2% of HDP on military next year, and few seconds after, there is the possibility, that our goverment may enter into ERM II, so I think that we've could have euro around year 2030.
I hear from some government parties we can have Euro at year 2027, but who knows. If SPD party and ANO party win next elections, I am not much sure about that.
@@StratosCZ I hope, that at least this goverment joins ERM II, but if ANO and SPD will be voted, and they create new goverment, then we will end up like Slovakia.
*Watch my latest comparison video between CALIFORNIA & FLORIDA:* ruclips.net/video/kFcGkpx1WsY/видео.html
in my eyes Slovakia is the most corrupt country in Europe i born in slovakia and i also living here :D
Hi there! Thanks for the video :) Just a little note here, Czechia currently has 6 international airports. I think might've missed the one in České Budějovice, which started taking public flights last year :)
I love how you didn't mention Ruthenia once
Are you from Portugal? im from Slovakia
Prague and Bratislava being close to each other and one of closest capitals in the world? I think someones been thinking about Vienna instead of Prague...
Yeah definitely a mistake, I noticed it myself after uploading the video. Thank you for the correction!
what you meant was probably bratislava and budapest which are actually very close to each other and are both located on the danube
@@loleder its the triangle of vienna bratislava and budapest that is really close to each other, but vienna and bratislava in particular, like 50km between them, 70km road-wise. and you can even add 2nd biggest city in czechia, Brno, there, and you have 4th important city really close to others.
Tak nejblíže to má Bratislava do Vídně a pak do Budapešti. Praha je až třetí.
But even that is wrong. Kinshasa and Brazzaville are literally across the river from each other. Vienna and Bratislava are 50km apart@@General.Knowledge
I would like to add some interesting cultural aspects as a Czech.
1. Czech and Slovak media are still really connected, there are so many tv shows (for example Czechia and Slovakia got talent) or reality shows that are being made together. Also you would never find only czech or only slovak song playlists / music charts (usually it's written like cz/sk...) in tv or radios here. So many Czech and Slovak movies/ tv shows are also watched a lot in the othe country, and nowdays in the internet era there is only cz/sk RUclips/twitch or some game communities.
2. Slovak and Czechs can freely study in eachothers universities without any fee, like their own citizens.
3. But what is different, is how Czechs or Slovaks are answering the nationality question. Usually Czechs are highlighting their kingdoms and science, Slovaks tend to often highlight their rich Slovak culture with traditional houses, dances, costumes, cousine, way of living...
4. There is also political culture aspect (i would say). For example first political journey by Czech or Slovak ministry or foreigner affairs are every time traditionaly to the other country. And when there was elected Czech President in the start of this year, the president of Slovakia, Zuzana Čaputová, arrived just few hours after the results to congratulate the newly elected president Petr Pavel.
I still think some things like this don't really happen in other countries and I like that. :)
I thought you can study freely anywhere as long as you are under the european union and get accepted
On point 4. I watched the innaguration from the USA even tnough I don't know Czech. I was so glad Pter Pavel won. When I saw Zuzanna Caputova do her congratulations, it brought tears to my eyes. It seemed it was less than 4 hours and that she was already there.
It happens in the United Kingdoms of Great Britain and Northern Ireland.
And I do miss the name "Czechoslovakia", it was such a lovely name for a country.
6 syllables and it flows so nicely.
Much of the above is true for all of Europe.
@@MostlyPennyCat as a czech, it sounds communist to me
In your demographic/immigration breakdown you stated a 70k Romanian population - this is almost certainly a misunderstanding of Romani in your sources. The significant minority in Slovakia is Romani, not Romanian - this is also an ethnicity rather than nationality as the vast majority of Romani people would see themselves as either Slovak or Hungarian when it comes to their nationality.
But there is actually a lot of Romanians, at least here in Czechia, Romanians are literally new Ukrainians, they do all those unqualified jobs which even Ukrainians don't want to do.
Yea im romani slovak i was quite confused by the demographic
Could be! Thanks for pointing it out
@@General.Knowledge You're not the first RUclipsr to make this mistake :|
@@AhimtarHoNand will most likely not be the last
You could have also mention vietnamese comunity. There is about 60k - 100k in Czechia.
I bought some bananas from a Vietnamese shop in Česká Třebová. It was quite a surprise to find such an 'exotic' thing in such a small place as that. I would have expected it in, say, Prague and some of the larger regional capitals. I suppose that illustrates the broad spread of the Vietnamese population in the Czech Republic (because 'Czechia' still doesn't feel right to me!) Is it a hang-over from Communist times, when there would have been very friendly relations between Czechoslovakia and certainly North Vietnam, followed by just plain Vietnam after the North's victory in the Vietnam War?
Bananas are sold basically in every grocery store in Czechia, even in the smallest villages.
@@barboradolejsova2156 lol, I think he meant the Vietnamese shop.
@@Asdasxel OK, fair enough, you're probably right. 😀 Anyway, Vietnamese shops are mostly just ordinary grocery stores, nothing exotic about them. And yes, they are everywhere, not just big cities.
There are some in Slovakia too. In Bratislava I heard Vietnamese people speaking better Slovak than I do! Props to them for learning a language so different from their own.
I'm half Czech and half Slovak. I feel like I'm not even multinational, because there's literally no difference between the people :D 🇨🇿♥️🇸🇰
except czechs do more porn. much porn for such small country.
No tak nějaký změny by se našli 😄 ale chápu tvůj point
Ahoj
Taky :)
🇨🇿❤️🇸🇰😄
Czech here: Most of us really like Slovaks but enjoy making fun of them like older and younger brothers. That's why we call them Bratia (Slovak word for Brothers). In general there is a lot of respect towards them and we acknowledge they are awesome at doing many stuff. The main reason for separation was (to my knowledge) Slovak desire of independence which was granted to avoid friction. Good move, because now we calmly coexist in peace and respect. Slovakia enjoys autonomy and we enjoy being us. Although it's painful to watch sometimes, I admit that :-D
Another Czech here, Slovaks have very similar language and we share a short part of history together, however, there are pretty big differences between us - like religion (as mentioned in the video), opinion on Russia, USA, Ukraine, our culture is also different (and the list goes on). So I'm kinda glad that we can be 2 states, but with a good relationship.
And politics in Slovakia, oh boy, that's bizarre, not even Babiš is close.
@@tomas3300 Yes, you're right. But I wish they took Babiš back.
and who is voting for him? @@JohnnyOttosson85
I think the Czechs were very Noble to let free their Brother Slavs without them having to fight a War moreover, i have in my job met with many Czechs , Slovaks Truck Drivers who seem to get along very well and the separation did not appear to make any hatred between these two related people.
Slovaks just wanted to be their own Nation and should have kept their own Currency as the Euro has now taken much of their economic freedom away .
Thanks for sharing and all the best to you & Yours ………Abe ( uk )
I don't think that Euro as currency reduced our ecomical freedom, I would say the opposite is true. I'm not only Slovak, but also European and I'm definitely for one, united European currency.
I was sad when Czechia and Slovakia separated in 1993, but it did give me some good material for my classes on Slavic culture for inner city 3rd graders. I talked about how the Czechs and Slovaks separated without bloodshed: "Nobody got shot, nobody went to the hospital, nobody got their leg cut off. Great way to solve problems, by talking and coming to an agreement instead of fighting." The border between Czechia and Slovakia is actually a very friendly and laid back place. When I crossed from Slovakia to Czechia the only question the border guard had for me was, "How does the American woman like riding in a Trabant?"
the same happened between Russia and Ukraine... an independance without one shot fired... untill the American Cabal and their representatives began manipulating Ukrainian politics
@@silveriorebelo2920until putin started his imperial dream actually. it's why we all from soviet occupied countries tried hard to get into NATO before russian bear wakes up hungry again. the issue is that Russia didn't experience such a loss as their counterpart nation to start ww2 experienced.
Most people didnt actually want to divide, majority of both Slovak as well as Czech populations wanted to stay in one country. That is rather interesting. It was mostly Slovak elites that wanted to separate and Czech elites were OK with that.
@@fridericusrex6289I was already yougn adult in the time and I remember that most of us Cezchs where like: 'Realy? But whatever, let's watch and have a fun!'
And then I saw more and more slovaks in Praha working as shopassistants. Anyway, in the end they do quite well. Better than we expected. And they deserve it. It was 2nd time in the history where Slovaks has chance to have Slovak state. And it's worth to try in peace time rather than wait for occassion like it was last time. They always felt 2nd in our shared republic. Konfederation fits us probably better than federation or union.
Honestly its sometimes hard to find common ground with Moravians in greater Czechia even though it doesn't feel that our siamese twin would like to really depart :)
@@ondrejlukas4727 I personally am very happy that we divided. I did not want to sound as if the split was bad, just stating that at that time support for it between common people was not super high.
I'm a Slovak living Czechia. I've never viewed Czechia as a different country, from my point of view the only different thing is the currency, something which I've grown accustomed to. Yeah sometimes I have to convert beer prices from Korunas to Euros. But besides that I'd struggle to find a difference between us.
I believe that none of us truly wanted the dissolution of Czechoslovakia and that it was purely a political decision.
There are plenty of businesses in Switzerland that accepts Euros since most of their trade and tourism comes from Eurozone countries, are there any places like that in Czechia?
@@lucinae8512not czech citizen but defo thats the case bro. You cant ignore the currency thats all around your country
@@lucinae8512Some supermarket chains do accept Euro here, but only banknotes and you will receive your change in CZK. Apart from that, maybe some places near the border or some places with lots of tourists would accept it.
@@lucinae8512 It perhaps depends, but in areas close to border, some shops will accept that, card payment is not the issue, but shops in areas that are not touristy or close to borders will most likely not accept it or not officially. (there could be some byzantine regulation around that) But is is already possible for companies that do their business mostly in Euros to keep books in Euro, but the taxes are still paid in CZK, but it seems like that could change soon.
As Czech I would say that it is pity that we have not accepted Euro a decade ago.
Well, looking at your political situation over decades, I am kind of glad, we have enough issues ourselves :))
as a slovak I can confirm we do have more roads, there quality is a lot worse tho lmao. Also the cross on the flag doesnt just represent christianity it is also the same symbol that was used in the flag of the first slovak state, the prinicpality of nitra. Also one of the mountain ranges on the flag isnt in slovakia but in hungary. Also I can confirm the corruption thing, very real, so much corruption everywhere
vzhledem k tomu že silnice tady v česku vypadají skoro jakoby po bombardování... vy slováci tam asi musíte mít miny či co
I believe it's ridiculous but I should ask because of my curiosity that is the "Hostel" film real. 🤭
@@eikozanoid No it's not. Country was picked as a setting only because author of the movie assumed nobody in the US ever heard about Slovakia (which was/is kinda correct).
@@sanzannoryuki thanks, man. I thought the same. 🙏
Every post socialistic country suffers from corruption
Just to let foreigners know: Although we are now separate countries, we still share most of the stuff: for example media (TV/internet/games) are still czecho-slovak (CZ/SK) and for example Food and medication are also both CZ/SK - if you buy something in Slovakia, you can see the name of it also in Czech language and vice-versa. So we are still like one country, but there is border between us now.
Yeah, right. People who didnt understood us were kinda shocked we "divorced" without shooting each other like the yugos. They simply did not understood there was no major animosity between us, well apart from some "hospoda" nagging on both sides.
@@matejkovalcik9976 what does the "hospoda" mean? i guess it does not cleanly translate (half of the reason i'm interested) but still, what would a rough explanation mean?
@@rosawoxo Mocking each other for fun.
@@rosawoxo Pub
Simply different politics but we are strongly connected with each other.
As a Czech, we will love our Slovak homies forever ♥️
except when some Slovakian peasant claims their hockey is better
Thanks bro, I’m slovak
díky, bráško :D :D
Díky
Přesně tak! Měli bychom se opět spojit, politikům navzdory a ještě si zpět vymoci ukradenou Podkarpatskou Rus! CZ❤🤝SK
4:20 Hmm? Maybe you're thinking of Bratislava and Vienna, which are indeed very close at only 54 km apart. Bratislava and Prague, however, are a full 290 km apart, which is nothing remarkable or unusual.
8:30 There's one difference: Czechia's parliament is bicameral (lower house is the Chamber of Deputies (Poslanecká sněmovna Parlamentu České republiky) and the upper house is the Senate (Senát Parlamentu České republiky)), while Slovakia's is unicameral, and the house is called the National Council (Národná rada Slovenskej Republiky).
12:50 that was an unexpected shout-out for my tiny Faroe Islands... very nice, thanks.
Slovakia is definitely one of my favourite countries in the world but I used to live there so I may be biased. But yeah, I love the country. Need to go back there soon, it's been too long.
I freaking love when country's are best friends and close relationships in both languages and history.
i wouldnt go as far as "best friends" there is plenty of bad blood from fourties when Slovaks betrayed the Czechoslovakia and these tensions are back on the rise as Slovakia is turning pro-russian while Czech republic is exact opposite.
I'm afraid I have to spoil your pleasure. The Czech Republic has more history in common with Poland than with Slovakia. This arose to a large extent after the end of the First World War, when the Czech state was being rebuilt. Well, the Czechs also took over the Slovaks. The capital of Slovakia, Bratislava, was stolen by the Czech (sorry, Czechoslovak) army from Hungary.
where did you get that slovakia is prorusian?(from slovakia) i know that one of our political parties had some debete with rusinan but that doesnt mean that we are prorusian .also you said that we betrayed chechoslovakia where did you get that from ? @@Asghaad
@@michalvavro2589are you seriously going to try to deny the betrayal of Slovaks in 1938 ? seriously ? ...
Combined with trying to act as if Slovakia at large isnt trying to sabotage the rest of the EU trying to help Ukraine and Slovaks instead jump on the hungarian bandwagon demanding all support for Ukraine being stopped to "force peace"
dont worry we will remember that when ruskies come for theyr "hystorically owned land" ...
@@michalvavro2589this is quite outdated, but there was a poll sometime last year i think, and Slovakia came out as one of the most pro-russian country having about 60% pro-russian.
While the "betreyal" probably refers to the German occupation of Chzechoslovakia where Slovakia was a puppet/satelite-state while Czechia was an official provice/territory of Germany
I became aware of this at the very end of the Cold War. I had a professor at the University of Toronto, Josef Škvorecký, and on our first day in his class, he told us all rather plainly, "I am Czech, not 'Czechoslovakian'." There was a difference between ethnicity and nationality.
There was a difference for him, but not for most people.
Guy lost his connection with reality in Czechoslovakia after so many years in Canadistan...
@@robertab929 What do you mean? Czechoslovak ethnicity never existed. The difference is clear, unless you are American...
@@fridericusrex6289 I did not say that.
On other side, the difference between standard Slovak and standard Czech is smaller then between standard Slovak and Slovak dialects, and smaller then standard Czech and Czech/Moravian dialects.
Greetings from Poland.
@@robertab929 Not sure about Slovak dialects, but in case of Czechia that certainly isnt true. I was born in central Moravia (Haná), currently live in Bohemia on the other side of the republic and the differences in dialects are way smaller than differences between Czech and Slovak. And its not just different words, but also the grammar is different. For example Slovak has only 6 cases while Czech language has 7 cases. The only "dialect" which would be different would be the Silesian language, but us Czechs, unlike you Poles recognize it as separate language and Poles consider it dialect of Polish I think. So no one would consider that Czech dialect. Otherwise from souther or western Bohemia all the way up to Czech Silesia or southern Moravia the dialects are way closer to each other than Czech and Slovak languages are.
Do a similar video between Romania and Moldova and other countries that share similarities just like in this video. I think it would be an awesome concept
He may have done Moldova. Basically the USSR took it as war reparations against Romania.
@@seed_drill7135USSR really sucks they steal land from everyone: Japan, Poland, Czechoslovakia, Romania, Germany etc etc and then they gave it to countries like Belarus and Ukraine 🤮🤮Soviets worst country ever
@@seed_drill7135As far as I know they took it before the war, so I don t know if it should be considered "war reparation".
Great idea! Saudi Arabia VS Iran is the next on one this series, but I'll add Romania vs Moldova to the list :)
@haxel8929 they took it before the war, sure, through a ultimatum, but moldova is the only reason romania joined the war
Some notes concerning this video coming from a Slovak:
1. 5:21 As of 2023, Slovakia's population is 5.7 million, the 300k increasing stemming mainly from Ukrainian immigrants
2. 6:19 I can't say this for Czechia or even the whole of Slovakia, but at least in my social circles from my high school and uni, most young people are not very religious. Many people including I are still tracked as members of various churches while only minimally practicing the religion.
3. 8:19 As others have already mentioned, Czechia has Bicameral parliament while Slovakia has Unicameral parliament.
4. As you already suggested by talking about Slameka, Slovak can be used in various official communications, ranging from a uni thesis or government documents in Czechia and vice versa.
5. 10:24 There are two issues here, first being that Romanis (Gypsies) were mistaken for Romanians, the second being that all the Ukrainian refugees were omitted.
6. 12:18 Almost all of our biggest companies are foreign owned, and this goes double for the manufacturing industry. Due to the structure of our economy, we are located right in the middle income trap, where our current industry relies on paying comparatively lower wages, which in turn forces our young and highly educated population to look for jobs elsewhere in the EU. Among the many consequences of this is that our healthcare is heavily understaffed, for instance it is not uncommon to have to wait for a year before you can undergo a needed examination.
7. 13:49 If it was only a perception. Slovakia might as well be on a course to become the next Greece.
Good points, this Czech would like to offer some response.
ad 2. Judging by one's social circle is very tricky. I'm Czech and therefore I should be expected to be an atheist. I'm not (a Catholic), and very few people in my social circes are.
ad 3. Moreover, the formulation in the video is pretty unfortunate in the sense, that it seems to suggest, that the president nominates the government ministers. The prime minister does it, the president merely ratifies the prime minister's appointees.
ad 4. The minister's name was actually Gustáv Slámečka, not Slameka which doesn't even sound Slovak at all, and doesn't mean anything. I'm quite shocked at the typo making its way to the video (I mean, how hard is it to copy+paste). But I'm even more shocked, that the author of the video didn't choose agent Bureš, a.k.a. Andrej Babiš, a much more high profile case of a Slovak becoming the Czech prime minister (much bigger deal than just a minister of transportation).
ad 6. This is exactly the same for us in Czechia.
and also the 400k hungarians are not immigrants, they literally live on the same place for generations, just the borders changed...
Czechia actually had conscription, but only until 2004 and also had the alternative of 2 years of civil service, in case one refused to serve in the military due to moral or religious reasons.
Actually, it was a year and half. After the Velvet Revolution, the conscription was shortened from 2 to 1 year and conscientious objectors were allowed to do 1.5 year civil service.
While I enjoy these videos, I would suggest trying to find someone from the relevant country/countries to act as a kind of consultant / fact checker. Saying "but I don't know" or "I would imagine" as much as you did in this video really takes away from the otherwise excellent quality.
A great idea it is
That's a good idea!
Just a note: there is almost no Romanian minority in Slovakia, there is a Romani minority, that's a difference
I m quite sure Czechoslovakia was founded after WWI (and not WWII)
yes it is
Well, depends if you also count the Carpathian Rus. If yes, then yes, Czechoslovakia indeed was founded in 1918 after WW I. However, if you mean the Czechoslovakia without the Carpatian Rus, then no, that one was founded after WW II when the Soviets took the Carpathian Rus and when it was later added into Ukraine's territory.
We refer to it as "First republic" and "Second republic"... you know birth affter wwi and reborn affter wwii xD
Finally! An actually good video about Czechia and Slovakia
Jsem tak rád, že General Knowladge udělal video zrovna o nás a v této kvalitě
Vám sa to stáva častejšie, mi zase sme v úžase a skrajší nám celý týždeň
@@ChrisW101 však vám to také přeji, především bych rád viděl více videí o historii Slovenska protože ta jdou poměrně vzácná
Ďakujeme. Je naozaj vzácne vidieť takéto videá, a hlavne porovnania.
@@renote5559 Vlaste väčšina toho je iba: Morava, Československo, Nemecko, Československo, Slovensko a všetko iné Maďari a Uhory
Thanks :)
as a czech student studying in moravia’s capital, it feels like there are almost as many slovak students as czech ones. there’s even something called “slovak night” every year which is basically a big party specifically dedicated to slovakia (and slovak students)
I am neither Czech nor Slovak. Soon after the 1992 split, I asked a Czech official " are the Slovaks still your friends?" He responded ; "No. They are our brothers. One chooses one's friends". 😂😂😂
We Slovaks ser it exactly same way
Interesting detail to add about the Liechtenstein dispute you mentioned in the video. The Czech territory they disputed (Lednice, very beautiful place) is really large in comparison to the size of Liechtenstein itself. So much so, in fact, that if somehow Liechtenstein did get the Lednice Manor and all of its land back from Czechia it would more than double the size of Liechtenstein, meaning there would be literally more of Liechtenstein in Czechia then there would be in Liechtenstein lmao (Liechtenstein is only 160 square km and the Lednice territory is more than 250 square km).
This will obviously never happen but it's a hilarious thought.
It would be very funny for a country's posession abroad to be bigger than the country itself.
@@General.Knowledge
But that's how it always was during history. The Spanish empire abroad bigger than Spain. The Portuguese empire abroad bigger than Portugal. The British empire bigger than the UK. And so forth.
@@General.KnowledgeDenmark and Greenland
@@l.n.3372 I would argue that colonial empires are something different than Duke of Lichtenstein owning swaths of land in other countries that are larger than his own country.
@@MrToradragon yeah but it wasnt a different country for most of its history. Behoemia was a part of the HRE and Liechtenstein is all that is left of the HRE today.
every car has a Czech Engine Light, they must be good machinists
My buddy's band used to have a sound technician who was a Slovak. They had a Czech one too.
Our Czech teacher has a shirt with "Czech me out" written on it
No, that is because Czechia is the assembly line of Europe :)
Czech car, Skoda, is now part of VW. Is the engine Czech? Mystery to me.
@@zvast it's made in Czechia, just the bigwigs speak German
Fun fact:chechoslovakia collapsed because of dissagreements between chechian and slovakian side of the parlament.
Buddy didn’t it collapse because a certain Austrian painter split it in half and then it was occupied by the soviets?
I don’t know much about the parliament but I swear that it just happened due to the third Reich rather than political division.
I think split, partition, or separation is more appropriate term, rather than collapse.
@@DominionOfNewfoundlandCzechoslovakia was disbanded in 1992 so the 3rd Reich was probably not the reason why they split up haha
@@DominionOfNewfoundland the first seperation in 1939 was because of the austrian painter. The second collapse in 1992 was because political instability.
Chechian?
5:12 regarding slovak airports: Bratislava is the biggest airport and you would use it for most travels. Your other choice is Košice (second biggest city), it has less flights and it's smaller but you can still get somewhere. Other are small and have few flights, I honestly don't even know where they are. I think there is one in Poprad and Trenčín but I don't know that for sure
Bratislava, Košice, Poprad, Žilina, Piešťany a Sliač.
And then there is also the Schwechat/Vienna airport the Austrians have kindly built for us :-P
@@MichalBrat This made me laugh, because it's true. :D
@@MichalBrat like Pandorf and other shopping centres in Kitsee and Hainburg :D
As a Slovak I much prefer the current “situationship”, as our joint state was quite Pragocentric. The example of how civilized the split of Czechoslovakia occured and how it is going could serve as a positive example of how a split is done, especially in light of what happened in Yougoslavia at the same time or the current RF/UA war.
What foreign Slovaks send money to build hospital in central Slovakia, government decided to fund building of Bulovka in Prague with these money. That was essence of that state. Nevertheless I must admit that Slovakia made great progress in Czecho-Slovakia and for that I´m sure common state with Czechs, Moravians and Silesians was positive thing.
@@milangacik994 As well as Havel destroying our heavy industry, which was quite profitable at that point in time and employing a lot of people. Still, we were better off together IMO.
You owe your peaceful separation to belonging to the same european culture and shared history. Not so Croats and Serbs, we were never before 1918 in the same civilisation. In the time of Yugoslavia we were held together by force of politics and the military.
Exactly the same problem exists in Bosnia and Herzegovina to this day, and is for the time being held together by an international military/political intervention. It is a conflict of three civilisations: Croatian (the one to which belong Slovakia and Czechia), Serbian (same civilisation as Russia, plus nearly 500 years of Ottoman occupation) and the Islamic component (with the affinity with the muslim world).
@@ferdomrkvicka1247 Morava + Slovensko = ❤
@@ferdomrkvicka1247 Ice hockey joke from the year 2000 after the ice hockey world championship where Czechia won and Slovakia placed 2nd: OK, now only Moravia has to put together their own ice hockey team… and we got all the medals! 😃
Thanks for this video General Knowledge!! 🤗 The Czech Republic 🇨🇿 and Slovakia 🇸🇰 are two of my favorite countries in Europe; great people, beautiful cities like Prague and Bratislava, excellent beer 🍻… I’m sure that if Czechoslovakia is back, it will be a great country!! 🇪🇸❤️🇨🇿🇸🇰
Thanks!😊😊
I'am from Czech republic
Díky
But i doubt that Czechoslovakia will form again due to our curent political diferences with Slovakia curently being more anti-LGBTQ and with them being so much pro Russian, while Czechia is procesing the right for gay marriages and being so much pro Ukraine
I just have to ask, I was born and lived in Bratislava most of my life, and I am really flattered that you say it is beautiful but I don't understand why do you think that? 😅
@@timinigi no, myslem hsem to obecně, sám jsem nebyl v Bratislavě ale jezdívám do Žiliny, a co vím tak Slovenské hory jsou nádherné 😌
Yeah they are, sadly being ruined by the recent rapid development of private luxurious hotels 😔But the question was primarily for the @javiervll8077 I just wanted a honest unbiased opinion of the foreigner, I am really curious. Thank you! 😊
Quite surprised you didn't mention Czechia had a Slovak prime minister for 8 years. Thought he was populist , I think it would be interesting for foreig audience (plus he spoke a weird mix of Czech and Slovak which was kinda funny
He was a PM for 4 years, not 8. He may yet get to 8 though.
He is Jewish, not Slovak... He happened to be born in Slovakia.
@@milangacik994 just because he behaves like jew doesn't mean he's jew
@@milangacik994
What is your source for the claim taht Babiš is a jew? From what I found, his mother was a Carpathian German and his father was a Slovak.
@@obrnenydrevokocur9344 Well if you mean Wikipedia... that´s not reliable source of information. His aunt (sister of his mother) living in Australia is staunch adversary of jabbing (vaccination) and she is of Jewish origin. I found this out in times of J3#w jab (CVD19) frenzy when Babiš was proponent of jabbing people (fortunatelly not as that idiot Lula). Tell me how his mother sister can be Jewish and his mother cannot be.... According to rabbinical laws Jew is considered as Jew when his mother is Jewish... I guess you even don´t know, that Putin is Jewish too in same way...
In regards to the minorities in Slovakia - Romas and Romanians are not the same, you better fix that one flag ;-) beside that a good one for somebody not living there 🙂
Non religious doesn't mean atheist in most cases
Not believing in any higher power is literal definition of atheism.
@@jannovak5481 "Non-religious" and "not believing in any higher power" aren't necessarily the same thing.
A helpful video about Czechia and Slovakia; thank you!
My friend Maria Petrova found some inconsistencies:
1. Czechoslovakia was established after World War I, not WWII.
2. The dissolution of Czechoslovakia in 1992 was a self-determined decision, not a result of the collapse of the Soviet Block.
3. CZ and SK were jointly ruled under the Habsburg monarchy since 1526 and later under Austria-Hungary, not only during the times of Great Moravia.
4. The reference to Great Moravia in the 9th and 10th centuries is misleading. The region that later became Czechoslovakia was PART of the Great Moravian Empire, not "a version of it."
5. During World War II, the government of Czechoslovakia operated in exile while the country itself was under the administration of Nazi Germany. After the war, Czechoslovakia was reestablished under its pre-1938 borders, except Carpathian Ruthenia, which became part of the Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic, NOT Germany.
6. It is more accurate to specify “Nazi Germany” when referring to Germany during the World War II period.
ad 2) 1993* 1st of January
My part of Minnesota has. a lot of people who's ancestry is Czech. We even have a New Prague, Mn.
This was great. I'd be interested in seeing a comparison between the north and south of Italy, as well as a comparison between Spain and Portugal. Also a comparison of the 3 Baltic countries, Latvia, Lithuania and Estonia.
Rather Baltics + Finland in single comparison.
Lithuania and Latvia are using Baltic languages.
Estonia and Finland are using Ugro-Finnic languages.
why would you like that the author of the video 'compare' Spain and Portugal?? - because they are neighbors?
@@silveriorebelo2920yes, why not?
comparing the Baltic states is pointless, no one knows which is which
I found slovakian people to be simpler, nicer and warmer than czech people
One rather important difference that I like to mention: unlike Slovakia-and I believe unlike any other European country-Czechia has the “shall-issue (that is concealed carry licence)” type of gun law, meaning that Czech citizens have the right to keep and carry guns (and proper ammo with expanding bullets, and silencers and so-called high capacity magazines &c.) for self defence. We are indeed an amazing country! Greetings from Prague.
unfortunately czechia is also very expensive and a bit orwellian, there are radars everywhere, even in tiny villages
5:45 about the language. Czech and Slovak are different languages, however the roots of the words are mostly similar, that's why we understand each other. Its like if in English, we said "guod" instead of "good" and "baad" instead of "bad" etc. Slovaks also have a different nose-like accent (and they probably think we have an effeminate one). I think many people know this already but there are still some people that think that one Czechoslovak language existed during Czechoslovakias existence, which was a Czechoslovak propaganda to support the cause that the Czechs and Slovaks are one nation. And also the thing with the capitals being close to each other is not true, but i think you already know that.
Interesting point. I also speak Polish and the Poles make fun of the Czech language (less so of Slovak) calling it "dziecinny", (childish) because of the ending of some words, e.g. "ičky" which to Poles sounds "cutesey". What the Poles don't acknowledge is that Czechs and Slovaks rarely use diminutive forms of words in normal conversation, while Poles use diminutives all the time. Who's "dziecinny" now? LOL
dialects within the German language differ much more than Czech and Slovak languages
@@cimbalok2972 yeah thats true friend of mine from poland ask me once whats word for czech twins in polish? -> 2 pepíčci z jedný pičky
The weird thing is I still find myself sometimes calling it Czechoslovakia, even though I was 5 when they split 🤷♂️ I blame the fact I used to play Italia 90 football well into the 90s 😅
fun fact: if Czechoslovakia would have qualofied for the 1994 world cup it would have competed as Czechoslovakia despite not existing at that point
Glad you made video about Slovakia and Czechia glad to see that video
I would like to stay in Czechoslovakia NGL but well it is what it is also I think we disolved in 1993 not 1992 but ok
Also u asked about the roads in Slovakia they are pretty bad 😅
Veľa šťastia s vašim kanálom General Knowledge
Ono záleží no, 92 se to dotáhlo do konce a 1.1.1993 v 0:01 už to byly 2 státy, takže bych úplně neřek že 1992 je špatně
@@matyasbrabec Pravda len my sme sa učili 93 ale nemyslím si že 92 je zle ale formálne rozdelenie a vznik Českej a Slovenskej Republiky bol až v roku 93
@@kristiandobias5533 Jojo, taky jsme se učili 93, ale v roce 92 už to bylo úplně jasný
As I was born in Czechoslovakia, I will be forever feeling like Czechoslovak and that the czechs are part of us slovaks. ❤
Nazdar ❤
Fun fact: Slovak people can speak Czech without a problem, but Czech people usually can’t speak Slovak well :D
We all sound like a parody of Meky“ Žbirka when we try it.
And it’s getting worse.
My dad was first generation Czech/American. He told me that the reason that Bohemia was not Catholic was that it was controlled by the Austrians for so long and the Czechs resented it. The Catholic Church was a symbol of the Austrians. In addition, the Czechs have a historic link to prereformation in the person of Jan Huss which dates back hundreds of years. My dad said that when Czechs immigrated to the US, they completely dropped any connection with the Catholic Church. Having been under Communist control for many years with the subsequent deemphasis on religion, I'm not surprised about the large number of athiests in the Czech lands.
We (Czechia) will be raising the defence budget to 2% od GDP next year
Javol, general. Now you will also have your own MIC (Military Industrial Complex) milking your tax money.
@@Cyclonut96 pal, we got one. brenn for example are quite effective machine guns when british SAS use them. what do yo think?
Czechia and Slovakia had the most calm break up in Eastern European history so there is that.
it could probably even stay together weren't it for the goverment(s) at the time ig
Where is Chechia ?By the way, they are not Eastern Europe, but Central Europe
Probably in the Top 5 peaceful in the entire world
No resentment, just plain old simple mutual respect
Admirable
With the difference that these countries are in Central Europe. Russia is in Eastern Europe, and Belarus and Ukraine also belong there from a cultural and historical context. The center of Europe between the extreme southeast of Europe on the Atlantic coast of Portugal and the extreme northeast of Europe on the Ural Mountains is the border between Belarus and Russia.
Because it was a fake split nobody wanted, it was literally just like 5 people in the government that held power
we didnt decided to split. Our goverment agreed without letting anyone know
@general.Knowledge I didn't see mentioned Podkarpatská Rus which was taken from Czechoslovakia after WWII by SSSR.
I know the story how that map got changed.... in Slovakia. There were these two drunk Russians who drew the borders, without really knowing all the area, really true. Not too much thought nor negotiation. Also what was not mentioned that lot of the so called Hungarian kings actually wrote in Slovak, and these documents are under the lock in Hungary, even now, only available to some scholars.
I don't know if it was better if the two countries stay united, but I think there is some nostalgia for the old Czechoslovak days in both countries.
Certainly not after the last elections in Slovakia.
It would not be better at all. Slovaks desired of their own independence and czechs did not want to pay for development of 'far east'. Both nations had very different priorities and could not even agree on the name of the common state Czechoslovakia/Czecho-Slovakia/Czechia and Slovakia (it was so called 'dash war' between representatives of both nations)..
@@radekmasopust489 It was basically same relation as Scotland and UK have now. UK is sending constant flow of money from England into Scotland and sponsoring their kingdom from work of English people and meanwhile Scots cry about how UK oppresses them and they want independence. If Scottish nationalists want independence in referendum, its rather simple - they should allow voters from England to vote as well and most of them will vote for Scottish independence lol. It was same with Czechoslovakia. When it was formed, Czechia was about 90 % of GDP, provided all institutions and so on. During its existence there was never a time when Slovakia would pay money to Czech part, it was always the other way. For nearly a century Czechs were working so that Slovaks can improve their country and live better life from Czech money. And after those decades they start to shout they arent independent and want higher autonomy? Naturally the response of Czechs was "F off, we can separate completely and you can finally take care of yourselves". And well judging quickly increasing number of Slovak migrants to Czechia, it didnt work that well for Slovaks.
@@fridericusrex6289 AFAIK it was Slovaks, who wanted to split away, kinda. In the end it was mostly about Klaus and Mečiar meeting and deciding for split. But I know for sure there's enough Czechs who dislike or even hate Slovaks. Not to a degree of Yugoslavian civil wars, but enough not to create another Czechoslovakia anytime soon. For the same reasons any similar federation with Austria, Poland, Germany or Hungary would be currently impossible. Anything more united than EU, NATO or programs like ESA. Still too much bad blood and differences among countries which are almost the same (nuclear energy, hyper-correctness, religion or conspiracy theories...).
There is some nostalgia for the First Republic: Strong legions, which were on the winning side of the WWI, fighting it all the way through Russia to Vladivostok (with the stop at the only Czechoslovak Naval battle on Baikal), growing industrial power, concrete fortresses capable to send Nazi packing (if the Münnich Betrayal didn't happen)... Now we didn't have any president, who wasn't controversial at some way. In case of Beneš it was being too much to the left, with Masaryk too much to the right and the fact, he kept his office even when unable to do the job. He was also criticized for the moves against nobles and other things. But he made the state possible and he wasn't afraid to make his hand dirty, for example paying assassination of Lenin (to provide some breathing space).
Really? I don't have nothing against Slovaks, but I'm so happy we are not together, especially with Fico government.
I have a good amount of Slovakian friends, visited the country a couple of times and even went to a wendding there. I have to say that The Slovaks are some of the nicest people I got to know :)
Funny story when I was in the UK at a pub. I've met an older guy and told him that I'm from Slovakia. He said that it must have been hard to grow up in a war torn country after we split up. I've told him: your confusing something here, there was no war or anything. But he wouldn't listen and kept on nagging me about it.
as a Czech Czechs and Slovaks are really connected in media and social medias like its normal for there to be youtube group where are 2 Czechs and 2 Slovaks and in videos they speak their languages normally and they and their fans understand everything
While not everything is spot on, I think the author made a great job researching the subject and it is example of how such material should look like. 👏👍
This is a very well made video and covers a vast amount of time and changes. To do this in such a short video format and at this quality is very hard to accomplish while keeping it both interesting and informative. This video does both.
As far as the split is concerned, both countries seem to have thrived in their current forms AND remained very friendly and helpful to each other. So, I would not venture to tell another country to do what I thought they should, especially considering that they are successful.
Good job! But what about our Czech Vietnamese community??? Third largest and would certainly deserve a mention.
They are just an outsiders society, being there only for economic benefit, like the gypsies.
Me from Slovakia. I must admit I was surprised how well researched this video was. +1
As a slovak who is now a czech citizen, I'd just like to clarify that Czech and Slovak are more than just dialects, they are truly two distinct languages each with their own set of dialects. They are mutually inteligible, but that is more thanks to exposure. Since we split, there is less slovak content in czechia and so the understanding of slovak in czechia is worse than vice versa, because in slovakia we still get czech movies, or other content on a regular basis. The grammar is similar though not the same, and the vocabulary is different, even though there is an overlap of similar words. I actually started to speak czech, because I got annoyed by not being fully understood, and having to explain.
As a slovak citizen I love it❤
R.I.P Czechoslovakia 1918-1992 😔
Overall very good work, thank you for this work.
I always use the name "Czech Republic" in English, rather than Czechia. That's because one of my best friends is Czech and she absolutely despises the name Czechia, she would never use it.
Because she didnt know the word existed in English and didn't get used to it yet but Czechia is catching on very quickly now. It's quite moronic to call a country by its political system rather than the short geographical name. No one says French Republic, Portuguese Republic or Russian Federation for that same reason
as czech, honestly i've never understood this, czechia is just as good/bad as czech republic, just shorter
@@Ogeroigres Actually everyone says "Russian Federation" now for some reason 😀
@@Pidalin In informal speech, no one "normal" says that. Not even in the news.
@@Ogeroigres Ofcourse, in normal speech noone says that, but politicians use it on purpose to make fun of Russia or something. 😀
Not gonna lie though, the name Czechoslovakia was a pretty cool name.
ya, but Americans can not say long names or words. And that's also why they came up with Czechia.
@@Wampus_Cat Americans didn't come up with Czechia. The Czechs came up with this as a shorter alternative to the Czech Republic, same as Slovakia vs. Slovak Republic. It has nothing to do with Americans.
@@vkdrk Well, maybe not invented by Americans but it is an English/Latin invention.... Česko is the name used by Czechs. "It (Czechia) is simply the English version of the country’s short name (”Česko”). "Czechia is a standard Latin-derived word." "Historically, the name first appeared in a Latin text in 1602. Its use in English texts dates back to 1841 and 1856." mzv.gov.cz/jnp/en/issues_and_press/factsheets/x2016_04_21_the_completion_of_translations_of_the.html
by the way, I did not literally mean that Americans invented the name Czechia. It's more of a joke. However, Czechia is a Latin/English invention for the Czech's name ”Česko.”
more info here: mzv.gov.cz/jnp/en/issues_and_press/factsheets/x2016_04_21_the_completion_of_translations_of_the.html
just recently found out I’m Slovak and this video was really informative! I can’t wait to visit.
Beside Prague other international airports in Czechia are small, like one runway, as there is not that great demand for air traffic as much larger airports at Schwechat and Katowice are easily accessible from Moravia.
as someone from Brno, people from here usually fly either from Prague or Vienna, I don't think many people go all the way to Poland for an airport
edit: nevermind schwechat is the name of the airport in Vienna
@@jirimatejka7394 Sure, but it is closer for folks from Northern Moravia and Czech Silesia to Katowice, than to Vienna.
Such a great video, even though I am Czech and I know most of these things, it was still so entertaining to watch. Great job overall!
I am Slovak-Canadian, I want to make Czechoslovakia great again! 🇨🇿❤️
Please don't. Czechs are glad that they aren't pay piggies of Slovak underdeveloped country anymore. We have more shared history with Poland than Slovakia, IMHO.
No, thanks.
Thanks but not, look who is new slovakia president
No, thank you!
I'd rather keep czechia as clean as it is. Don't wanna drop down lists
As a slovak i appreciate a relatively large creator making a video about us! 🇸🇰🇸🇰❤️❤️
I did not expect this video to pop out from my notifications today, but I am happily suprised. ❤ from Slovakia
Thank you for the video I was just visiting Prague and I have been to Bratislava for one day when I was visiting Vienna and i really love the people in Czechia and Slovakia (from what i experienced). The people are very chill and friendly. If you are in Vienna definitely take the bus to Bratislava it is just a short ride!
Also I think Czechia has a connection to germany because of the history of prague, many Germans came to prague to a point that there were more Germans than Czechs there until the late 19th century. Also the university in prague had a German and Czech part until after the world wars. But of course also the bordering which invites to drive over to Czechia for some excellent pivo.
14:07 As a proud Slovakian, I ask you should send as much love to the Czechs as I did. 🇨🇿❤🇸🇰 The breakup was purely political disision, crafted by Slovakian political Mafia like this:It's much easier to steal out 2 smaller states than one big. Bet this wasn't what people wanted-71% wanted to remain in Czechoslovakia. Yes there were tensions, but those were so less painfull than for example southern and northern Italy.
Actually split was desired more from Czech side and they just used patriotism on Slovak side carefully fueled by Czech stubborness in questions like Name of country...
It's not matter where is stems from, but I am glad that Slovaks have their own country which they can destroy as much as they want without Czechs paying for it again. Enough that we still have Babiš in politics. We dont want Slovak Mafia ruin even our country. It's very sad tho. So much young Slovaks I meet now in Brno don't even want to go back to Slovakia after university. :(
@@jannovak5481 Sad reality, but dont fall into trap of hopeless, because that's exactly what Fico wants.
i love go by train in Slovakia, i went once to Dolný Kubín and oh boy it was amazing, like castle on high rock and track go in the middle of a lake, breathtaking experience. and lovly helpful folks, good beer. so much fuan i had that time :)
Czechia and Slovakia were together as Czechoslovakia starting at the end of World War 1 not 2 (which you correct 2 minutes later).
He said they were REJOINED at the end of WW2.
I love hearing about the international relationships that are not just alliances, but seem to be true friendships. Like Canada and the Netherlands, or France and the US
Czechia has more international flights in and out, to and from outside Europe locations.
I admire those civilized countries who separeted with respect for each other and remain friends.
Although it may not be the main point of the video introduction, it's rather odd that nothing is said about (1) why they united in 1918, (2) the part of Czechoslovakia annexed by the Soviet Union, (3) why they split, specifically that it seemed like a power grab by leaders that the population did not want but were not consulted on.
Wow. I liked it! Format is good! Straightforward, facts pretty accurate, no much fuss around before anything relevants is said.
Pretty gooood! Great job mate! 🙂
If Prague and Bratislava are one of the closest capitals then Wien is a district of Bratislava :D
Well, we joke that Bratislava is Vienna's suburb 😄. (I'm a proud Bratislava girl, btw.)
I can't explain why, but I still can remember and whistle the two-part Czechoslovak national anthem - the bigger half first followed by a bouncy folk tune for Slovakia.
Do a comparison of - Australia & New Zealand, American & Manu Samoa.
As an American born Czech, it's good the two peoples had a peaceful split/divorce, which didn't happen after the tragic breakup of the former Yugoslavia. I was there in 1985 and was shocked when crossing the border from Austria and the silence of the streets of Prague during communist rule. It's good that both are free and independent nations now that contribute to a peaceful Europe. I hope to return someday to see Prague that is now part of the European fabric of nations.
We would not say the Soviet regime was friendly. We call it Soviet occupation.
@General.Knowledg tnx for the informative video. I learned some new facts about our european neigthbours.
Curious about the double cross on the Slovak coat of arms, while it's similar with the Hungarian one due to two countries having historial ties but there are two countries which virtually have no ties with Slovakia have it in their coat of arms - Lithuania & Belarus.
The Lithuanian one is on the shield of the Vytis and the Belarusian one is also on one of the Pahonia (both Vytis & Pahonia are kinda the same) and I find it interesting as it's quite coincidental
That as something to do with religion, rather than with history.
The double cross is a religious symbol that turned a state symbol of the Kingdom of Hungary. Christianity was spread to the Great Moravia in the 9th century from the Byzantine Empire because the byzantine priests translated the liturgy to the slavic language (priests from present-day Germany and Italy used latin and were not successful). The eastern orthodox church used double cross instead of the normal one I think. Over the years the influence of eastern orthodoxy decreased and was replaced by the roman-catholic influence and the orthodox priests were expelled. But the double cross was still used by the people. Later, Hungarians also adopted the christianity and used local double cross. Present-day Slovakia then became part of the Kingdom of Hungary, which, at some point (not sure when exactly) incorporated the double cross on its coat of arms. I am not sure about Lithuania though. Maybe the influence of the eastern orthodoxy played a role there too.
@@davidkovac7170 as far as I know, I don't think so. Orthodoxy doesn't play a big rule in Lithuania 🤔
The cross is either associated with the Jagiellonian dynasty or Lithuania's rule over parts of Ruthenia (which is parts of Belarus today)
@@davidkovac7170 that is taken from Slovaks, it came from the Great Moravia long time before Hungarian lived in Europe and tried to screw up historical facts.. Than Hungarian"borrowed it" forever... same as many things they have now.
Im Czech And I Can Confirm Almost everything in this video
Slovakia just elected a pro-russian government.
I have no idea what the sentiments are like in Czechia. If someone knows, pls enlighten me.
By years getting more against the EU, but still very much against Russia. But people are getting really pissed by actions of the government about Ukraine.
@@tefky7964 Or rather inaction in regard to domestic situation. Or, let's say, not acting quick enough and in way that people would immediately see. On the other hand nobody can solve issues that were piling up for 10, 15 years, in one tenth of the time under adverse geopolitical conditions and with still young market economy. For example energy sector was mismanaged in past decade, for example Czech power grid is missing about 5GWp of solar capacity that could have been installed in past decade and 500-2000 MW of installed capacity in wind, together they would produce between 6 and 10 TWH, or 10-15 % of yearly consumption of electricity in Czechia for price around 80€ per MWH, which is not that bad. While it would not help that much during winter, it would have impact on overall price of electricity and fuel consumption. Development of central heating systems stalled in past decade as well and in some parts those networks had started to fall apart as people started disconnecting from them as locally produced heat and hot water was cheaper. Pump-storage capacity was not increased despite project being on the table at Orlík (seem like it will be done during upcoming refurbishment of the power plant) and already existing need for more energy storage. And so on.
And this can't be mitigated in span of one and half year, let alone only by government. Not to mention that if you would came with construction project for new power plant or project for development of newly discovered gas field or any other such thing, it would take quite long time before you would be granted necessary permits due to bureaucratic nature of Czech state. And that is huge problem for future development.
@@MrToradragon Ehhh,ok...
I have no idea why you wrote all that, I am not disagreeing with it. Although many people act like governments can solve any issue instantly and sadly its global thing, I am not one of them, which is reason why, even in these days when our government is really unpopular, I try to judge them objectively and not criticize for things they couldn´t change, but the truth is that current government did really many stupid things, often pointlessly (and repeatedly) angering everyone.
Czech political scene always copy the one in Slovakia - their political pools show big support of ANO - which is much more neutral and friendly to the current government in Slovakia.
Czechs are generally more intelligent, so they are less pro-russian. And I say that as a Slovak. Half of this country is crazy and easily manipulated by the constant russian propaganda. Also, most of our pro-russian politicians have no spine, they just say whatever they think that people want to hear. In the past, Fico and co. we pretty pro-European, they just changed their tune when their voting base did.
Thank you for making this video. I love your content and thanks again from slovakia.
your video is pretty good, nice strictire and graphics. also your narrarion is clear. But next time research a bit more. You said stuff like "likely, i think, could not find" bit too often. Just take a bit more time and it will be perfect :)
7:20 before joining in one state Czechs had flag with only white and red stripes. After creating Czechoslovakia blue triangle was added to represent Slovakia and stayed in Czech flag til today.
The flag with white and red stripes is flag of Bohemia.
It's a little crazy is Ireland is almost half the size of both of them combined and we have 100,000 Km of roads roads too but serving 5 million people instead of their 16 million!
3 times more miles per person in an area half the size. (All paved)
10,000km of that is crossing just one peat bog; up and down miles and miles and miles. Took us sixteen days and the peat bog was only 1.5 km wide. ;-) !!
60% of slovakia are mountains up to 2650m high and ireland is only flat.
it might have something to do with the fact that you didn't have 40 years of communist decline and a Russian occupation.@@JxH
The distribution of population and categorization of roads can play huge role, from the map it seems like Ireland has much more farms scattered over countryside which are connected by paved roads, while in Czechia rural population is usually concentrated in villages. I would say tat that has something to do with different societal organization and philosophies in medieval times or something like that.
@@MrToradragon They are remnants of famine days when most of the population was in the now sparsely populated, yet most connected west.
The reason we paved all these roads comes down to the British work for food program, which basically widened and flattened these what would be private grass tracks to 2 or 3 cottages and make them public regional roads and now we have to pave them.
I live in the countryside and no joke I can take 4 totally different routes from my house to town all taking from 7-10km, then of course all those routes are connected between them at multiple interviles. It's a nightmare for our council budgets. It costs 1mil to repave 1.5km.
It's so funny that Poland got baptised from Czechs in 966, now Poland is mostly a christian country while czechs are atheist.
On the history, don't forget the role the Czechoslovak Legion. It was important as a Western intervention in the Russian civil war/revolution, fighting on the side of the Whites. UK & FR forces also helped the Whites, but the impact of the Czechoslovak Legion was much greater than "its weight" for a country its size.
One of the most striking contrasts between Czechs and Slovaks is how much their views diverge on the Russia-Ukraine war. It was highlighted months ago in polling by the Slovak think tank GlobSec. Initially, the two countries were in unison in condemning Russia’s invasion and the entire Kremlin pretext for the war. Both of them also supplied military assistance to Ukraine and showed compassion to the flood of Ukrainian refugees.
The Czech Republic has maintained its strongly anti-Russia stance, even replacing its populist president with a former NATO general. Meanwhile, large numbers of Slovaks have turned against Ukraine and buying the false Kremlin narrative that NATO “provoked” Russia to invade. The corruption alluded to in the video is personified by Robert Fico, whose first government was brought down by the murder of a journalist investigating corruption involving EU funds. Fico was just re-elected as prime minister, and he ran on a pro-Russia platform that included an end to Slovak military aid to Ukraine. His party is also a major conduit for Russian disinformation campaigns in a NATO country. In short, the Czech Republic and Slovakia have become as different as night and day in their views on Russia.
Bohemia, Moravia, and Slovakia were hammered together in 1918 because individually they were too small to resist reintegration with Austria, Germany, Hungary, or Poland. (Yugoslavia was pushed together for the same reason.) Even then, they required a mutual defense treaty with France to remain viable. France and Britain abrogating their responsibilities at the Munich Conference of 1938 is what led to the partition of the Sudetenland.
In a more peaceful Europe, there was not a lot of reason for Czechoslovakia or Yugoslavia to remain together.
Back then the language differences were also smaller over all, akin to German and Austrian German.
Of these four only Germany alone was strong enough to pose a threat to Czechia's independence.
Small correction, Bohemia and Moravia were part of one country for most of the time since some 9th century.
We love you Czech bros and please dont be angry at us for what Fico did to our diplomatic relationships.
As a Czech I appriciate your video. And also thank you for using the word Czechia
"Czechia " is awful. It is now regularly confused with Chechnya. Also, Czechs are no longer Czechs, but Chechians. This was obvious at the Paris Olympics. It was ignorant to chose that name.
We love Slovakian 🇸🇰 brothers from Russia 🇷🇺
Peace ☮
10:54, as Czech, we should start spending 2% of HDP on military next year, and few seconds after, there is the possibility, that our goverment may enter into ERM II, so I think that we've could have euro around year 2030.
I hear from some government parties we can have Euro at year 2027, but who knows. If SPD party and ANO party win next elections, I am not much sure about that.
@@StratosCZ I hope, that at least this goverment joins ERM II, but if ANO and SPD will be voted, and they create new goverment, then we will end up like Slovakia.
@@radored7750 Not that bad then. ODS betrayed Czechia.
mr. Rapeseed vs. mr. Tomato vs. mr. Violet
now I heard that we probably won't spend 2% next year, I guess that we just can't afford that
Great video! Thanks. I think I'll slow down the speed of your speech next time, though!