Let's say WWI happens and the Habsburg monarchy disintegrates as per OTL.
How feasible would separate Czech and Slovak states be in this scenario?
How feasible would separate Czech and Slovak states be in this scenario?
PC: Separate Czechia and Slovakia post WWI
- Thread starter SavoyTruffle
- Start date
CaliGuy
Banned
Not very; after all, the former would be vulnerable to German domination while the latter would be vulnerable to Polish and Hungarian domination.
Yeah I got that impression. Why are separate Czech and Slovak states more feasible today, though? Is it a more amiable foreign situation in Europe?
CaliGuy
Banned
I am presuming that it is due to the fact that the U.S. is much more involved in Europe than it was in the past; indeed, with the U.S. always being in the background, bullying other countries is harder to do.
Also, Yes, I suspect that if the U.S. had a large military and stayed involved in Europe after the end of World War I, then an independent Czechia and Slovakia would have been at least somewhat safer and more resistant to German/Polish/Hungarian pressure.
That American involvement, I think, is less relevant than the lack of interest in the neighbours of the Czechs and Slovaks--the Germans, the Poles, the Hungarians--in trying to dominate them.
CaliGuy
Banned
Perhaps; indeed, the experience of World War II and Communism really appears to have reduced the desire of Germans, Poles, and Hungarians to dominate the Czechs and Slovaks.
Right. The American presence--the Soviet presence, too--likely did much to deter any potential revanchism in central Europe in the couple of decades immediately after the Second World War. I think that, by the 1970s at the latest, things were stable enough.
CaliGuy
Banned
Agreed; indeed, I think that both of these factors (the U.S./Soviet presence and a lack of interest on the part of larger countries in regards to bullying their smaller neighbors) were and still are important here.