All Very Civilised – Greg and Mandy's Travels

It’s all very civilised really. After a couple of hundreds of years, the Austro-Hungarian empire dissolved at the end of the first world war, and Woodrow Wilson and other political heavyweights decreed that Europe should be divided into autonomous regions that could be stable and self governing. Both the Czech people (who used to be ruled by Austria) and the Slovak people (who used to be ruled by Hungary) thought that this was a good deal, and put up their hands, but realised that they weren’t strong enough to go it alone, so they teamed up and Czechoslovakia was born.

They did quite well at it, and by the 1930’s they were the only functioning democracy in central Europe, with a GDP much larger than Russia to boot. National minorities were assured special protection; in districts where they constituted 20% of the population, members of minority groups were granted full freedom to use their language in everyday life, in schools, and in matters dealing with authorities. Very enlightened. However, Hitler had other plans (sound familiar?)

As Germany became more powerful, Czechoslovakia entered a treaty with Russia to defend them, but this came to little when Germany rolled in with their tanks.

For a year or so after the second world war there was hope that things would get back to the pre-war norm, but in 1948 the Soviets seized power, ostensibly to protect them under the terms of their treaty, and they became card-carrying comrades of the Soviet bloc.

There was a very short period in 1968 when liberalisation seemed to be gaining traction, but in August the Soviets sent in the tanks to several Soviet bloc countries and put paid to that.

Finally in 1989 with the USSR crumbling all around them, in what has become known as the Velvet Revolution, Czech leaders called in their communist overlords and told them that it would be better for all concerned if they just left peaceably, which they did, and democracy was restored without a fight.

In 1993, with things again going swimmingly, the Czech leaders and the Slovak leaders mutually agreed to divide the country back into their (largely) post WWI territories, and so two new countries were reborn.

There we have it folks. Just in case you thought it could never happen. Two countries peacefully decided to amalgamate, peacefully decided to kick out the communists, and peacefully decided to split. All very civilised.

Today we travelled from the Czech capital, Prague, to the Slovak capital, Bratislava, and it was very civilised for us too, sipping our lattes in our first class carriage as we watched the peasants toil away in the passing fields.

After walking from the train station down to the Old Town and finding our apartment, we wandered down to the banks of the Danube River, sat on a bench in the sun, watched the boats and the people, and discussed the meaning of life until 5pm when we joined the Be Free Tours free walking tour concentrating on the communist period between 1945 and 1989. Saw lots of big architectural follies, and places where significant events unfolded, and didn’t get back for tea until 8:30pm.

Did another 27,000 steps today.