Editing Bohemia (section)

==History==
{{Further|History of the Czech lands|History of Czechoslovakia}}
[[File:Böhmen Mähren Österreich Schlesien.jpg|thumb|upright=1.3|An 1892 map showing Bohemia proper outlined in pink, [[Moravia]] in yellow, and [[Austrian Silesia]] in orange]]

===Ancient Bohemia===
{{more citations needed|section|date=November 2022}}
Bohemia, like neighboring [[Bavaria]], is named after the [[Boii]], a large [[Celtic nations|Celtic nation]] known to the Romans for their migrations and settlement in northern Italy and other places. Another part of the nation moved west with the [[Helvetii]] into southern France, one of the events leading to the interventions of Julius Caesar's Gaulish campaign of 58 BC. The emigration of the Helvetii and Boii left southern Germany and Bohemia a lightly inhabited "desert" into which [[Suebi]]c peoples arrived, speaking Germanic languages, and became dominant over remaining Celtic groups. To the south, over the Danube, the Romans extended their empire, and to the southeast, in present-day Hungary, were [[Dacians|Dacian]] peoples.

In the area of modern Bohemia, the [[Marcomanni]] and other Suebic groups were led by their king, [[Marobodus]], after being defeated by Roman forces in Germany. He took advantage of the natural defenses provided by its mountains and forests. They were able to maintain a strong alliance with neighboring tribes, including (at different times) the [[Lugii]], [[Quadi]], [[Hermunduri]], [[Semnones]], and [[Buri (Germanic tribe)|Buri]], which was sometimes partly controlled by the [[Roman Empire]] and sometimes in conflict with it; for example, in the second century, they fought [[Marcus Aurelius]].

In late classical times and the early [[Middle Ages]], two new Suebic groupings appeared west of Bohemia in southern Germany, the [[Alemanni]] (in the Helvetian desert) and the Bavarians ([[Baiuvarii]]). Many Suebic tribes from the Bohemian region took part in such movements westward, settling as far away as Spain and Portugal. With them were also tribes who had pushed from the east, such as the [[Vandals]] and [[Alans]].

Other groups pushed southward toward [[Pannonia]]. The last known mention of the Kingdom of the Marcomanni, concerning a queen named [[Fritigil]], is from the fourth century, and she was thought to have lived in or near Pannonia. The Suebian [[Langobardi]], who moved over many generations from the [[Baltic Sea]], via the Elbe and Pannonia to Italy, recorded in a [[Origo Gentis Langobardorum|tribal history]] a time spent in "Bainaib".

After the [[Migration Period]], Bohemia was partially repopulated around the sixth century, and eventually [[Slavic peoples|Slavic]] tribes arrived from the east, and their language began to replace the older Germanic, Celtic, and [[Sarmatians|Sarmatian]] ones. These are precursors of today's Czechs, but the exact amount of Slavic immigration is a subject of debate. The Slavic influx came in two or three waves. The first came from the southeast and east, when the Germanic [[Lombards]] left Bohemia (''circa'' 568 AD). Soon after, from the 630s to 660s, the territory was taken by [[Samo]]'s tribal confederation. His death marked the end of the old "Slavonic" confederation, the second attempt to establish such a Slavonic union after [[Carantania]] in [[Carinthia (province)|Carinthia]].

Other sources (''[[Descriptio civitatum et regionum ad septentrionalem plagam Danubii]]'', Bavaria, 800–850) divide the population of Bohemia into the Merehani, Marharaii, Beheimare (Bohemani), and Fraganeo. (The suffix ''-ani'' or ''-ni'' means "people of-"). Christianity first appeared in the early 9th century, but became dominant only in the 10th or 11th century.

The 9th century was crucial for Bohemia's future. The [[manorialism|manorial system]] sharply declined, as it did in Bavaria. The influence of the central Fraganeo-Czechs grew, as a result of the important cultic center in their territory. They were Slavic-speaking and contributed to the transformation of diverse neighboring populations into a new nation named and led by them with a united "Slavic" ethnic consciousness.<ref>Petr Charvát: "Zrod Českého státu" [Origin of the Bohemian State], March 2007, {{ISBN|80-7021-845-2}}, in Czech</ref>

===Přemysl dynasty===
{{main|History of Bohemia in the High Middle Ages}}
[[File:Přemyslovci erb.svg|thumb|upright|The coat of arms of the [[Přemyslid dynasty]] (until 1253–1262)]]

Bohemia was made a part of the early Slavic state of [[Great Moravia]], under the rule of [[Svatopluk I]] (r. 870–894). After Svatopluk's death Great Moravia was weakened by years of internal conflict and constant warfare, ultimately collapsing and fragmenting because of continual incursions by invading nomadic [[Magyars]]. Bohemia's initial incorporation into the Moravian Empire resulted in the extensive [[Christianization of Bohemia|Christianization of the population]]. A native monarchy arose, and Bohemia came under the rule of the [[Přemyslid dynasty]], which ruled the Czech lands for several hundred years.

The Přemyslids secured their frontiers after the Moravian state's collapse by entering into a state of semivassalage to the [[List of Bohemian monarchs|Frankish rulers]]. The alliance was facilitated by Bohemia's conversion to Christianity in the 9th century. Continuing close relations were developed with the [[East Francia|East Frankish Kingdom]], which devolved from the [[Carolingian Empire]], into [[East Francia]], eventually becoming the [[Holy Roman Empire]].

After a decisive victory of the Holy Roman Empire and Bohemia over invading Magyars in the 955 [[Battle of Lechfeld]], [[Boleslaus I, Duke of Bohemia|Boleslaus I]] of Bohemia was granted [[Moravia]] by German emperor [[Otto the Great]]. Bohemia remained a largely autonomous state under the Holy Roman Empire for several decades. The jurisdiction of the [[Holy Roman Empire]] was definitively reasserted when [[Jaromir, Duke of Bohemia|Jaromír of Bohemia]] was granted fief of the Kingdom of Bohemia by Emperor [[Henry II, Holy Roman Emperor|King Henry II]] of the Holy Roman Empire, with the promise that he hold it as a vassal once he reoccupied Prague with a German army in 1004, ending the rule of [[Bolesław I of Poland]].

The first to use the title of "King of Bohemia" were the Přemyslid dukes [[Vratislav II of Bohemia|Vratislav II]] (1085) and [[Vladislaus II, Duke and King of Bohemia|Vladislaus II]] (1158), but their heirs returned to the title of [[duke]]. The title of king became hereditary under [[Ottokar I of Bohemia|Ottokar I]] (1198). His grandson [[Ottokar II of Bohemia|Ottokar II]] (king from 1253 to 1278) conquered a short-lived empire that contained modern [[Austria]] and [[Slovenia]]. Substantial German immigration began in the mid-13th century, as the court sought to replace losses from the brief [[Mongol invasion of Europe]] in 1241. Germans settled primarily along Bohemia's northern, western, and southern borders, although many lived in towns throughout the kingdom.
{{Clear}}

===Luxembourg dynasty===
[[File:Wappen Königreich Böhmen.png|thumb|upright|The coat of arms of the Kingdom of Bohemia]]

The [[House of Luxembourg]] accepted the invitation to the Bohemian throne with the marriage to the Přemyslid heiress, Elizabeth and the crowning subsequent of [[John I of Bohemia]] (in the Czech Republic known as ''Jan Lucemburský'') in 1310. His son, [[Charles IV, Holy Roman Emperor|Charles IV]], became King of Bohemia in 1346. He founded [[Charles University in Prague]], Central Europe's first university, two years later.

His reign brought Bohemia to its peak both politically and in total area, resulting in his being the first king of Bohemia to be elected [[Holy Roman Emperor]]. Under his rule, the [[Bohemian crown]] controlled such diverse lands as [[Moravia]], [[Silesia]], [[Upper Lusatia]] and [[Lower Lusatia]], Brandenburg, an area around [[Nuremberg]] called New Bohemia, [[Luxembourg]], and several small towns scattered around Germany.

From the 13th century on, settlements of Germans developed throughout Bohemia, making Bohemia a bilingual country. The Germans brought mining technology to the mountainous regions of the [[Sudetes]]. In the mining town of Sankt Joachimsthal (now [[Jáchymov]]), famous coins called Joachimsthalers were coined, which gave their name to the [[thaler]] and the [[dollar]].

Meanwhile, [[Prague German]] intermediated between [[Upper German]] and [[East Central German]], influencing the foundations of modern standard German. At the same time and place, the teachings of [[Jan Hus]], the [[Rector (academia)|rector]] of Charles University and a prominent reformer and religious thinker, influenced the rise of modern Czech.

===Hussite Bohemia===
[[File:Tabor CZ aerial old town from north B1.jpg|thumb|The radical Hussites became known as [[Taborites]], after the town of [[Tábor]] that became their center]]
During the ecumenical [[Council of Constance]] in 1415, Hus was sentenced to be burnt at the stake as a [[Heresy|heretic]]. The verdict was passed even though Hus was granted formal protection by Emperor [[Sigismund, Holy Roman Emperor|Sigismund of Luxembourg]] before the journey. Hus was invited to attend the council to defend himself and the Czech positions in the religious court, but with the emperor's approval, he was executed on 6 July 1415. His execution and five consecutive papal crusades against his followers forced the Bohemians to defend themselves in the [[Hussite Wars]].

The uprising against imperial forces was led by a former mercenary, [[Jan Žižka]] of Trocnov. As the leader of the Hussite armies, he used innovative tactics and weapons, such as howitzers, pistols, and fortified wagons, which were revolutionary for the time and established Žižka as a great general who never lost a battle.

After Žižka's death, [[Prokop the Great]] took over the army's command, and under him the Hussites were victorious for another ten years, to Europe's terror. The Hussite cause gradually splintered into two main factions, the moderate [[Utraquism|Utraquists]] and the more fanatic [[Taborite]]s. The [[Utraquists]] began to lay the groundwork for an agreement with the [[Catholic Church]] and found the more radical views of the Taborites distasteful. Additionally, with general war-weariness and yearning for order, the Utraquists were able to eventually defeat the Taborites in the [[Battle of Lipany]] in 1434. Sigismund said after the battle that "only the Bohemians could defeat the Bohemians."

Despite an apparent victory for the Catholics, the Bohemian Utraquists were still strong enough to negotiate [[freedom of religion]] in 1436. That happened in the so-called [[Compacts of Basel]], declaring peace and freedom between Catholics and Utraquists. It lasted only a short time, as [[Pope Pius II]] declared the compacts invalid in 1462.

In 1458, [[George of Poděbrady]] was elected to the Bohemian throne. He is remembered for his attempt to set up a pan-European "Christian League" that would form all the states of Europe into a community based on religion. In the process of negotiating, he appointed [[Zdeněk Lev of Rožmitál]] to tour the European courts and to conduct the talks. The negotiations were not completed because George's position was substantially damaged over time by his deteriorating relationship with the Pope.

===Habsburg Monarchy===<!--'Habsburg Bohemia' redirects here-->
{{Main|History of the Lands of the Bohemian Crown (1526–1648)|History of the Lands of the Bohemian Crown (1648–1867)}}
[[File:Europe As A Queen Sebastian Munster 1570.jpg|thumb|upright|Bohemia as the heart of ''[[Europa regina]]''; [[Sebastian Münster]], [[Basel]], 1570]]
After the death of King [[Louis II of Hungary and Bohemia]] in the [[Battle of Mohács]] in 1526, Archduke [[Ferdinand I, Holy Roman Emperor|Ferdinand I]] of Austria became the new king of Bohemia, and the country became a constituent state of the [[Habsburg monarchy]].

From 1599 to 1711, Moravia (a [[Lands of the Bohemian Crown|Land of the Bohemian Crown]]) was frequently raided by the [[Ottoman Empire]] and its vassals (especially the [[Crimean Khanate|Tatars]] and [[Principality of Transylvania (1570–1711)|Transylvania]]). Overall, hundreds of thousands were enslaved whilst tens of thousands were killed.<ref>{{cite journal|first=Petra |last=Košťálová|editor-first1=Mateusz|editor-last1=Chmurski|editor-first2=Irina|editor-last2=Dmytrychyn|year=2022 |title=Contested Landscape: Moravian Wallachia and Moravian Slovakia. An Imagology Study on the Ottoman Border Narrative|url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/27185958 |journal=[[Revue des études slaves]] |volume=93 |issue=1 |doi=10.4000/res.5138|issn=2117-718X|publisher=OpenEdition|page=110|jstor=27185958 }}</ref>

Bohemia enjoyed religious freedom between 1436 and 1620 and became one of the most liberal countries of the Christian world during that period. In 1609, Holy Roman Emperor [[Rudolf II, Holy Roman Emperor|Rudolf II]], who made Prague again the capital of the [[Holy Roman Empire|empire]] at the time, himself a Roman Catholic, was moved by the Bohemian nobility to publish ''Maiestas Rudolphina'', which confirmed the older ''Confessio Bohemica'' of 1575.

After Emperor [[Matthias, Holy Roman Emperor|Matthias II]] and then King of Bohemia [[Ferdinand II, Holy Roman Emperor|Ferdinand II]] (later Holy Roman Emperor) began oppressing the rights of [[Protestant]]s in Bohemia, the resulting [[Bohemian Revolt]] led to outbreak of the [[Thirty Years' War]] in 1618. Elector [[Frederick V, Elector Palatine|Frederick V]] of the [[Electorate of the Palatinate]], a [[Calvinist]] Protestant, was elected by the Bohemian nobility to replace Ferdinand on the Bohemian throne and was known as the Winter King. Frederick's wife, the popular [[Elizabeth of Bohemia|Elizabeth Stuart]] and subsequently Elizabeth of Bohemia, known as the Winter Queen or Queen of Hearts, was the daughter of King [[James I of England and VI of Scotland]].

After Frederick's defeat in the [[Battle of White Mountain]] in 1620, 27 Bohemian estates leaders and [[Jan Jesenius]], rector of the [[Charles University]] of Prague, were executed on Prague's Old Town Square on 21 June 1621, and the rest were exiled from the country; their lands were given to Catholic loyalists (mostly of Bavarian and Saxon origin). That ended the pro-reformation movement in Bohemia and the role of Prague as ruling city of the Holy Roman Empire.
[[File:Locator Bohemia within the Holy Roman Empire (1618).svg|thumb|The [[Kingdom of Bohemia]] {{Legend inline|#d40000|}} in 1618 with other Bohemian Crown lands {{Legend inline|#ffb9b9}} within the [[Holy Roman Empire]] {{Legend inline|#fefee9}}(1618).]]

In the so-called "renewed constitution"<!--description needed--> of 1627, German was established as a second official language in the Czech lands. Czech formally remained the kingdom's first language, but both German and Latin were widely spoken among the ruling classes, although German became increasingly dominant, and Czech was spoken in much of the countryside.
[[File:MapBohemia-1742-0423.jpg|alt=Detailed map of Bohemia, 1742|thumb|Detailed map of Bohemia, 1742]]
Bohemia's formal independence was further jeopardized when the Bohemian [[Diet (assembly)|Diet]] approved administrative reform in 1749. It included the indivisibility of the [[Habsburg monarchy#Rulers of the Habsburg Monarchy, 1526–1918|Habsburg Empire]] and the centralization of rule, which essentially meant the merging of the Royal Bohemian Chancellery with the Austrian Chancellery.

At the end of the 18th century, the [[Czech National Revival]] movement, in cooperation with part of the Bohemian aristocracy, started a campaign for restoration of the kingdom's historic rights, whereby Czech was to regain its historical role and replace German as the language of administration. The [[enlightened absolutism]] of [[Joseph II, Holy Roman Emperor|Joseph II]] and [[Leopold II, Holy Roman Emperor|Leopold II]], who introduced minor language concessions, showed promise for the Czech movement, but many of these reforms were later rescinded. During the [[Revolutions of 1848 in the Habsburg areas|Revolution of 1848]], many Czech nationalists called for autonomy for Bohemia from Habsburg Austria, but the revolutionaries were defeated. At the same time, German-speaking towns elected representatives for the [[Frankfurt Parliament|first German Parliament at Frankfurt]]. Towns between [[Karlovy Vary|Karlsbad]] and [[Liberec|Reichenberg]] chose leftist representatives, while [[Cheb|Eger]], [[Rumburk|Rumburg]], and [[Opava|Troppau]] elected conservative representatives.<ref>{{cite book|author=Arnold Suppan|chapter="Germans" in the Austrian Empire and in the Monarchy|title=The Germans and the East|editor1-last=Ingrao|editor2-last=Szabo|publisher=Purdue University Press|year= 2008|pages=156}}</ref> The old Bohemian Diet, one of the last remnants of the independence, was dissolved, although Czech experienced a rebirth as [[romantic nationalism]] developed among the Czechs.

In 1861, a new elected Bohemian Diet was established. The renewal of the old Bohemian Crown ([[Kingdom of Bohemia]], [[Margraviate of Moravia]], and [[Duchy of Upper and Lower Silesia]]) became the official political program of both Czech liberal politicians and the majority of Bohemian aristocracy ("state rights program"), while parties representing the German minority and small part of the aristocracy proclaimed their loyalty to the centralist Constitution (so-called "Verfassungstreue").

After Austria's defeat in the [[Austro-Prussian War]] in 1866, Hungarian politicians achieved the [[Austro-Hungarian Compromise of 1867]], ostensibly creating equality between the empire's Austrian and Hungarian halves. An attempt by the Czechs to create a tripartite monarchy (Austria-Hungary-Bohemia) failed in 1871. The "state-rights program" remained the official platform of all Czech political parties (except for social democrats) until 1918.

Under the state-rights program, appealing to the stability of Bohemia's borders over many centuries, the Czech emancipation movement claimed the right to the whole of the Bohemian lands over the Germans' right to the lands, amounting to a third of Bohemia, where they formed the majority.<ref name="Arburg">{{cite encyclopedia |last= von Arburg|first= Adrian| encyclopedia= Als die Deutschen weg waren Was nach der Vertreibung geschah: Ostpreußen, Sudetenland, Schlesien|title=Abschied und Neubeginn |language= de}}</ref>

===Interbellum===
[[File:Czechoslovakia01.png|thumb|upright=1.25|Bohemia (westernmost area) in Czechoslovakia 1918–1938]]
[[File:Czechoslovakia 1930 linguistic map - en.jpg|thumb|upright=1.25|Linguistic map of interwar Czechoslovakia ({{Circa|1930}})]]

After [[World War I]], the [[Sudeten Germans|German Bohemians]] demanded that the regions with German-speaking majority be included in a [[Republic of German-Austria|German state]]. But Czech political leaders claimed the entire Bohemian lands, including majority German-speaking areas, for Czechoslovakia.<ref>{{cite book|title=Changing Places: Society, Culture, and Territory in the Saxon-Bohemian Borderlands, 1870-1946|first=Caitlin|last=Murdock|publisher=University of Michigan Press|year=2010|page=100}}: "Czech political leaders claimed the entire Bohemian crown lands, including majority German-speaking areas, for Czechoslovakia. In the nineteenth century, Czech nationalist activists had used Bohemia’s historical status as an independent kingdom to argue for Bohemian states rights (Staatsrecht/státní pravo) within the Habsburg Empire"</ref> By the end of October, bilingual towns had been occupied by Czech forces. By end of November, many purely German-speaking towns had been occupied.<ref>{{cite book|chapter=Im Widerstreit der Selbstbestimmungsansprüche: Vom Habsburgerstaat zur Tschechoslowakei - die Deutschen der böhmischen Länder 1918 bis 1919|title=Der Erste Weltkrieg und die Beziehungen zwischen Tschechen, Slowaken, und Deutschen|editor=Hans Mommsen |editor2=Dušan Kováč |editor3=Jiří Malíř|publisher=Klartext|year= 2001|pages=197–198}}: "Schon am 30. Oktober 1918 erreichten den Statsrat erste Meldungen über die teschcische und südslawische Besetzung zweisprachiger Orte entlang der Sprachgrenze. [...] Kaum war der Entschluß zu den Provinzgründungen publik, da begann die tschechische Besetzung von mehrheitlich- oder ausschließlich-deutschen Orten an der Peripherie des deutschen Anspruchsgebiets"</ref> German or Austrian troops, bound by the ceasefire agreement, did not support Bohemian German self-defense, while the Czechoslovak army, an [[Allies of World War I|Entente]] army, could freely operate.<ref>{{cite book|chapter=Im Widerstreit der Selbstbestimmungsansprüche: vom Habsburgerstaat zur Tschechoslowakei–die Deutschen der böhmischen Länder 1918 bis 1919|title=Der Erste Weltkrieg und die Beziehungen zwischen Tschechen, Slowaken und Deutschen|editor=Hans Mommsen |editor2=Dušan Kováč |editor3=Jiří Malíř|publisher=Klartext|year= 2001|pages=203}}: "Die Ausweitung des Konfliktes zum förmlichen Krieg zwischen Deutschösterreich und der Tschechoslowakei war jedoch mit den gesamtsataatlichen Zielen unvereinbar. Deutschösterreich unterstand den Bedingungen des Wafenstillstandes, während andereseits die Tschehslowakei zu den verbündeten Siegersaaten zählte und daher ihre Armee als Ententeheer laut Waffenstilland Beweungsfreiheit in ganz Österreich-Ungarn genoss</ref> The absorption of the German-speaking areas in [[Czechoslovakia]] was hence a ''fait accompli''.<ref>{{cite book|title=Changing Places: Society, Culture, and Territory in the Saxon-Bohemian Borderlands, 1870-1946|first=Caitlin|last=Murdock|publisher=University of Michigan Press|year=2010|page=103}}:"By mid-December, the borderlands were firmly under Czechoslovak control. A Czechoslovak state with the historic borders of the Bohemian crown was a fait accomplit"</ref>

As a result, all of Bohemia (as the largest and most populous land) became the core of the newly formed country of [[Czechoslovakia]], which combined Bohemia, [[Moravia]], [[Czech Silesia]], [[Upper Hungary]] (present-day [[Slovakia]]) and [[Carpathian Ruthenia]] into one state.<ref>{{cite book |last=Preclík|first=Vratislav|title=Masaryk a legie|pages=111–112, 124–125, 128, 129, 132, 140–148, 184–209|publisher=Paris Karviná in association with the Masaryk Democratic Movement, Prague|year=2019|language=cs|isbn=978-80-87173-47-3}}</ref> Under its first president, [[Tomáš Masaryk]], Czechoslovakia became a liberal democratic republic, but serious issues emerged regarding the Czech majority's relationship with the [[Sudeten Germans|German]] and Hungarian minorities.

===German occupation and World War II===
After the [[Munich Agreement]] in 1938, the border regions of Bohemia historically inhabited predominantly by ethnic Germans (the [[Sudetenland]]) were annexed to [[Nazi Germany]]. The remnants of Bohemia and Moravia were then annexed by Germany in 1939, while the Slovak lands became the separate [[Slovak Republic (1939–1945)|Slovak Republic]], a puppet state of Nazi Germany. From 1939 to 1945, Bohemia (without the Sudetenland) and Moravia formed the German [[Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia]].

During [[World War II]], the Germans operated the [[Theresienstadt Ghetto]] for Jews, the Dulag Luft Ost, [[Stalag IV-C]] and Stalag 359 [[German prisoner-of-war camps in World War II|prisoner-of-war camps]] for [[French prisoners of war in World War II|French]], British, Belgian, Serbian, Dutch, Slovak, Soviet, Romanian, Italian and other [[Allies of World War II|Allied]] POWs, and the Ilag IV camp for interned civilians from western Allied countries in the region.<ref>{{cite book|last1=Megargee|first1=Geoffrey P.|last2=Overmans|first2=Rüdiger|last3=Vogt|first3=Wolfgang|year=2022|title=The United States Holocaust Memorial Museum Encyclopedia of Camps and Ghettos 1933–1945. Volume IV|publisher=Indiana University Press, United States Holocaust Memorial Museum|pages=128, 362, 417, 565|isbn=978-0-253-06089-1}}</ref> There were also 17 [[List of subcamps of Flossenbürg|subcamps]] of the [[Flossenbürg concentration camp]], in which both men and women, mostly [[Nazi crimes against the Polish nation|Polish]], Soviet and Jewish, but also French, Yugoslav, Czech, [[Romani people|Romani]] and of several other ethnicities, were imprisoned and subjected to [[Forced labor under German rule during World War II|forced labor]],<ref name=gf>{{cite web|url=https://www.gedenkstaette-flossenbuerg.de/en/history/subcamps|title=Subcamps|website=KZ-Gedenkstätte Flossenbürg|access-date=5 November 2023}}</ref> and 16 subcamps of the [[Gross-Rosen concentration camp]], in which men and women, mostly Polish and Jewish, but also Czechs, Russians, and other people, were similarly imprisoned and subjected to forced labor.<ref name=gr>{{cite web|url=https://en.gross-rosen.eu/historia-kl-gross-rosen/filie-obozu-gross-rosen/|title=Subcamps of KL Groß-Rosen|website=Gross-Rosen Museum in Rogoźnica|access-date=5 November 2023}}</ref>

Nazi authorities brutally suppressed any open opposition to German occupation, and many Czech patriots were executed as a result. In 1942, the Czechoslovak resistance [[assassination of Reinhard Heydrich|assassinated Reinhard Heydrich]], and in reprisal German forces murdered the population of a whole village, [[Lidice massacre|Lidice]]. In the spring of 1945, there were [[Death marches during the Holocaust|death marches]] of prisoners of several subcamps of the Flossenbürg, Gross-Rosen and [[Buchenwald concentration camp]]s in Saxony and Silesia, and Allied POWs from camps in Austria reached the region.<ref name=gf/><ref name=gr/><ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.aussenlager-buchenwald.de|title=Buchenwald war überall - Projekt »Netzwerk der Außenlager«|website=aussenlager-buchenwald.de|access-date=5 November 2023|language=de}}</ref><ref>Megargee; Overmans; Vogt, p. 274</ref>

In May 1945, Allied [[United States Army Central|American]],<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.liberationroute.com/stories/192/liberation-of-pilsen|title=Liberation of Pilsen|website=Liberation Route Europe|access-date=5 November 2023}}</ref> Polish,<ref>{{cite magazine|last=Wołek|first=Karol|year=2020|title=The liberation of the German concentration camp in Holýšov, Czech Republic, by the Polish Armed Forces|magazine=The Warsaw Institute Review|volume=2 |language=pl|issue=13|page= |pages=117–118|issn=2543-9839}}</ref> [[1st Czechoslovak Army Corps in the Soviet Union|Czechoslovak]], Soviet and Romanian troops captured the region, which was then restored to Czechoslovakia. After the war ended in 1945, after initial plans to cede lands to Germany or to create German-speaking cantons had been abandoned,<ref name ="Arburg"/> the vast majority of the Bohemian Germans were [[Expulsion of Germans from Czechoslovakia after World War II|expelled]] by order of the reestablished Czechoslovak central government, based on the [[Potsdam Agreement]]. The Bohemian Germans' property was confiscated by the Czech authorities, and according to contemporary estimates, amounted to a third of the Czechoslovak national income. Germans who were valued for their skills were allowed to stay to pass on their knowledge to the Czech migrants.<ref name="Arburg" /> The expulsion severely depopulated the area, and from then on, locales were called only their Czech names, regardless of their previous demographics. The resettlement of the formerly German-settled areas allowed many poorer people to acquire property, thus "equalizing" Czechoslovak society.<ref name="Arburg" />

===Recent history===
The Communist Party won the most votes in free elections, but not a [[majority|simple majority]]. [[Klement Gottwald]], the communist leader, became prime minister of a coalition government.

[[File:Karlovy Vary Czech Rep.jpg|thumb|Bohemian city [[Karlovy Vary]]]]

In February 1948, the non-communist members of the government resigned in protest against arbitrary measures by the communists and their Soviet protectors in many of the state's institutions. Gottwald and the communists responded with a ''coup d'état'' and installed a pro-Soviet authoritarian state. In 1949, Bohemia ceased to be an administrative unit of Czechoslovakia, as the country was divided into administrative regions that did not follow the historical borders.

In 1989, [[Agnes of Bohemia]] became the first saint from a Central European country to be canonized (by [[Pope John Paul II]]) before the "[[Velvet Revolution]]" later that year.

After the [[Velvet Divorce]] in 1993, the territory of Bohemia remained in the Czech Republic. The new [[Constitution of the Czech Republic]] provided for higher administrative units to be established, providing for the possibility of Bohemia as an administrative unit, but did not specify the form they would take. A 1997 constitutional act rejected the restoration of self-governing historical Czech lands and decided on the regional system that has been in use since 2000.<ref name=const2>{{cite web|url=https://portal.gov.cz/app/zakony/zakonPar.jsp?idBiblio=45807&nr=347~2F1997&rpp=15#local-content|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191228170421/https://portal.gov.cz/app/zakony/zakonPar.jsp?idBiblio=45807&nr=347~2F1997&rpp=15#local-content|url-status=dead|archive-date=28 December 2019|title=Portál veřejné správy|website=portal.gov.cz}}</ref> [[Petr Pithart]], former Czech prime minister and president of the [[Senate of the Parliament of the Czech Republic|Senate]] at the time, remained one of the main advocates of the land system,<ref name="odvaha">Petr Zídek: [http://www.lidovky.cz/dnesnim-politikum-chybi-odvaha-tvrdi-petr-pithart-z-uprchliku-strach-nema-1tj-/zpravy-domov.aspx?c=A151017_130833_ln_domov_mct Dnešním politikům chybí odvaha, tvrdí Petr Pithart. Z uprchlíků strach nemá] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160927080247/http://www.lidovky.cz/dnesnim-politikum-chybi-odvaha-tvrdi-petr-pithart-z-uprchliku-strach-nema-1tj-/zpravy-domov.aspx?c=A151017_130833_ln_domov_mct |date=27 September 2016 }}, Lidovky.cz, 17 October 2015, interview with Petr Pithart</ref> claiming that the primary reason for its refusal was the fear of possible Moravian separatism.<ref name="odvaha" />

Bohemia thus remains a [[historical region]], and its administration is divided between Prague and the [[Central Bohemian Region|Central Bohemian]], [[Plzeň Region|Plzeň]], [[Karlovy Vary Region|Karlovy Vary]], [[Ústí nad Labem Region|Ústí nad Labem]], [[Liberec Region|Liberec]], and [[Hradec Králové Region|Hradec Králové]] [[Regions of the Czech Republic|regions]], as well as most of the [[Pardubice Region|Pardubice]] and [[South Bohemian Region|South Bohemian]] region, and parts of the [[Vysočina Region|Vysočina]] and [[South Moravian Region|South Moravian]] regions.<ref name="Krajské uspořádání" /> In addition to their use in the names of the regions, the historical land names remain in use in names of municipalities, cadastral areas, railway stations<ref>[https://www.cd.cz/cd-online/stanice.php Seznam železničních stanic] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160927060914/https://www.cd.cz/cd-online/stanice.php |date=27 September 2016 }}, List of railway stations, České dráhy (Czech railways) – search for "v Čechách" (17×), "na Moravě" (15×), "Český", "České", "Moravský", "Moravské", etc.</ref> and geographical names.<ref>[http://www.kct-tabor.cz/gymta/VrcholyPohoriCR/geomorfologie.htm Geomorfologické celky ČR] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160502033128/http://www.kct-tabor.cz/gymta/VrcholyPohoriCR/geomorfologie.htm |date=2 May 2016 }} (Geomorphologic areas of the Czech Republic), KČT Tábor</ref> The distinction and border between the Czech lands is also preserved in [[Czech language|local dialects]].

In April 2025 a significant gold treasure was unearthed in north-eastern Bohemia, beneath Zvičina Hill. The hoard, weighing approximately 7 kilograms, includes nearly 4 kilograms of gold coins, with an estimated value exceeding CZK 7.5 million. Discovered hidden in a forested area, this find is considered one of the most remarkable in recent Czech history. The coins are believed to date back to the 18th and 19th centuries, offering valuable insights into the region's historical economy and trade practices. The discovery is currently under examination by experts to determine its origins and historical significance.<ref>{{Cite web |date=2025-04-28 |title=Gold treasure worth millions of crowns unearthed in north-eastern Bohemia |url=https://english.radio.cz/gold-treasure-worth-millions-crowns-unearthed-north-eastern-bohemia-8849516 |access-date=2025-04-28 |website=Radio Prague International |language=en}}</ref>