Why then did the first case end up in an amicable (‘velvet’) divorce while the other resulted in ethnic warfare where millions were killed by ‘ethnic cleansing-what was the determining factor that made the two Soviet satellites find themselves at such different places? In my essay, I would like to argue that nationalism was the determining factor between the two. In the case of Czechoslovakia, nationalism was never a huge issue, as its minorities were cleansed at an earlier stage leaving both the Czechs and Slovaks in

In the case of Czechoslovakia, the split into the Czech Republic and Slovakia was peaceful and was initiated by the elite. Contrary to this, the Yugoslavian push for separate nation-states’ autonomy was ignited by the people and caused a war to break out in the region.

History-Where did the Nationalistic Attitudes come from?

The June 1992 elections in Czechoslovakia, reflected the growing split between the two lands. The liberal Movement for a Democratic Slovakia (HZDS), led by Slovak Vladímir Meciar, and the conservative Civic Democratic Party, led by Czech Václav Klaus won the two largest representations in parliament; each leader became the prime minister of his own republic. Disagreements occurred between both sides as to how to federally run the country. Mesiac wanted more economic aid and political power for Slovakia and as means of a bargaining chip, he demanded that Slovakia be sovereign. To his surprise, Klaus conceded and put up no defense for Slovakia to do so. Unlike in Yugoslavia where the issue of nationalistic pride played a major factor, Slovakia was no more than a burden to the Czechs. Klaus had three main goals: of economic rationalization, entrenching privatization and wanted to begin to prepare way for entry of Czech people into the E.U. Without Slovakia these goals would be much easier to attain, and as the two had only be united in a marriage of convenience and had separate histories, greatly differing cultural and social traditions, the split was simple. Deemed the ‘velvet divorce’ for the smoothness that it occurred, in January 1993 Czechoslovakia was replaced by two independent states: Slovakia and the Czech Republic.

The Velvet Divorce vs. Ethnic Cleansing

Some topics in this essay:
Czechs Slovaks, NATO United, Slovakia Yugoslavia, Republic Yugoslav, Yugoslavia's Slovenes, Company Montreal, Communist Party, Václav Klaus, War Czechoslovakia, Serbia Serbia, czechs slovaks, czechoslovakia split, ethnic cleansing, ethnic composition, battle kosovo, czech republic, slovaks majority own, slovaks majority, 1993 czechoslovakia, split czech, czechs slovaks majority, republic slovakia, czech republic slovakia, czechoslovakia split czech, split czech republic,