Czechoslovakism

Czechoslovakism (Czech: Čechoslovakismus, Slovak: Čechoslovakizmus) is the nationalism of Czechoslovaks and Czechoslovak culture either for which Czechs and Slovaks embrace a Pan-Slavic state in which they function as constituent nations (political form), or for which the two nations form a single West Slavic ethnic group (ethnic form of Czechoslovakism). Czechoslovakism is based on natural cultural and language affinity of Czechs and Slovaks and has roots in early romantic national movements (works of Ján Kollár or František Palacký). The idea had been continuously developed and supported by common meetings and organizations like Czech-Slavic Unity (Českoslovanská jednota), where Czech sympathies for Slovaks and their spontaneous reactions on oppression of Slovaks in the Kingdom of Hungary played a partial role. However, both nations also developed other alternatives like Austro-Slavism, close collaboration with other non-Hungarian nations in the Kingdom of Hungary or pan-Slavic orientation on Russia. Before World War I, Czechoslovakism was further developed by Tomáš Garrigue Masaryk and Edvard Beneš, based on the premise that Czechs and Slovaks are one people who had become divided due to Austro-Hungarian imperial rule and Hungarian assimilationist policies in particular. These Czechoslovakists noted that a united Czechoslovak people existed in the historical state of Great Moravia, where the Slavonic tribes of Bohemia, Moravia, and Slovakia were formerly embraced within Great Moravia. Czechoslovakists typically emphasize secularism to break down the religious divide between Czechs and Slovaks.

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