Bohemia

Bohemia Historic region which (with Moravia) now comprises the Czech Republic. Its borders with Germany are formed (nw) by the Ore Mountains and (sw) by the Bohemian Forest. The plateau region is drained by the rivers Elbe and Vltava. The major cities are Prague and Plzeň. Bohemia was established as an independent principality at the end of the 9th century. In the 920s, Saint Wenceslas successfully resisted Germanic invasion, but by the end of the 10th century Bohemia formed part of the Holy Roman Empire. In 1198 Ottocar I formed an independent kingdom. At the height of its power during the reign (1253–78) of Ottocar II, Bohemia stretched from the Oder to the Adriatic. Bohemia's golden age was in the reign (1347–78) of Emperor Charles IV, who made Prague his capital. In the reigns of Wenceslas and Sigismund, Bohemia was at the centre of nationalist and religious revolts against imperial domination, including the rebellion of Jan Hus. In 1526 Bohemia was inherited by the Habsburg dynasty. In 1618 the Defenestration of Prague sparked the Thirty Years' War. The process of Germanization was continued by Maria Theresa and Joseph II. Leopold II was the last King of Bohemia. The formation of the Austro-Hungarian Empire failed to satisfy Czech demands for autonomy; independence was finally achieved at the end of World War I under Tomás Masaryk. In the Munich Agreement (1938), Czechoslovakia was forced to cede the Sudetenland to Germany. In 1993, the dissolution of Czechoslovakia saw Bohemia and Moravia join to form the Czech Republic.

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