Ferdinand I. Habsburg was elected king in 1526 (the Austro-German Habsburg dynasty ruled Bohemia until 1918). Rudolf II (reigned 1576-1611) was the last king to live permanently in Prague.
Due to increasing Germanization and religious disputes, as the Habsburgs supported the struggle of the Catholic Church against the Protestants - Evangelical Lutherans, Reformed, Bohemian Brethren and others - and invited the Jesuits in 1556, a conflict broke out between the Bohemian Protestants and the Habsburgs in 1618 (Defenestration of Prague), which led to the Thirty Years' War, which lasted from 1618 to 1648. On November 8, 1620, the Bohemian rebels were defeated at the Battle of White Mountain near Prague. The country lost its political independence, the Habsburgs were declared heirs to the Bohemian throne, Catholicism was recognised as the sole religion and the entire education system was entrusted to the Jesuits. The German language was put on an equal footing with Czech.
Many Czech nobles and burghers emigrated, and their property was confiscated. The influence of foreigners increased (in the mid-17th century they owned around half of all Czech aristocratic property). The economic decline and the new obligations led to a peasant uprising in 1680. Between 1741 and 1748, Czechia was involved in the War of the Austrian Succession and between 1756 and 1763 in the Seven Years' War.
During the reign of Empress Maria Theresa (1740-1780) and her son Joseph II (1765-1790), reforms were carried out in the country. The Czech parliament was effectively dissolved in 1749. After the peasant uprising of 1775, the corvee was reduced, and in 1781 the peasants were granted personal freedom, and an edict of religious tolerance was issued. At the end of the 18th century, the country's industry evolved rapidly. The country became famous for its textiles, glass and porcelain. A national bourgeoisie and intellectual class began to grow in the cities.
In the late 18th and early 19th centuries, a national rebirth, initially pan-Slavism, led to the foundation of the modern Czech country. Czech scientists and cultural figures such as J. Dobrovský, J. Jungmann, F. Palacký, and others contributed to increasing national awareness. The Czech language was enhanced, national culture was preserved, and national values were pursued throughout the past.
The National Museum (established in 1818) and Matice česká (Mother of the Czechs) (formed in 1831) were significant cultural institutions and promoted Czech book publication.
In the 1850s, there were also political calls to turn the Austrian Empire into a federation and offer Slavic people’s autonomy (Austro-Slavism). The French Revolution and the revolutionary events of 1848 in Europe impacted proponents of national revival. Although the Austrian army destroyed the Prague Uprising, serfdom was eventually abolished. During the Industrial Revolution in the second half of the nineteenth century, the Czech Republic became Central Europe's most industrialised region. More Czechs became politically active, and parties were founded. The most important, the Czech National Party (formed in 1860), was divided in 1877 between conservative Old Czechs and liberal (reformist) Young Czechs
Their common goal was to restore Czech peasant rights and transform Austria-Hungary (beginning in 1867) into the Austro-Hungarian Empire.
Reviews