Editing Prague (section)

===20th century===
[[File:Praha 2009-12-26-27.jpg|thumb|upright|[[Statue of Tomáš Garrigue Masaryk, Prague|Statue]] of Tomáš Garrigue Masaryk near [[Prague Castle]]]]

====First Czechoslovak Republic====
{{Main|First Czechoslovak Republic}}
World War I ended with the defeat of the [[Austro-Hungarian Empire]] and the creation of Czechoslovakia. Prague was chosen as its capital and Prague Castle as the seat of president [[Tomáš Masaryk|Tomáš Garrigue Masaryk]]. At this time Prague was a true European capital with highly developed industry. By 1930, the population had risen to 850,000.

====Second World War====
[[File:Prague liberation 1945 konev.jpg|thumb|The Red Army [[Prague offensive|enters]] Prague in May 1945]]
{{further|German occupation of Czechoslovakia}}
[[Hitler]] ordered the [[German Army (Wehrmacht)|German Army]] to enter Prague on 15 March 1939, and from Prague Castle proclaimed [[Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia|Bohemia and Moravia a German protectorate]]. For most of its history, Prague had been a multi-ethnic city<ref name=TOT1>{{cite web |url=http://www.atlas-europa.de/t04/bevoelkerung/europ_staedte/pdf/BevStaedte-Tabelle_dt.pdf |title=Einwohnerzahl europäischer Städte |quote=Prag insgesamt 1940 928.000 |language=de |access-date=6 July 2018 |archive-date=17 May 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180517074618/http://www.atlas-europa.de/t04/bevoelkerung/europ_staedte/pdf/BevStaedte-Tabelle_dt.pdf |url-status=live}}</ref> with important Czech, German and (mostly native German-speaking) Jewish populations.<ref name=JEW1>{{cite web |url=http://www.jüdische-gemeinden.de/index.php/gemeinden/p-r/1593-prag |title=Aus der Geschichte jüdischer Gemeinden |quote=1937/38 ca. 45.000 |language=de |access-date=21 April 2022 |archive-date=31 March 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220331004340/https://www.xn--jdische-gemeinden-22b.de/index.php/gemeinden/p-r/1593-prag |url-status=live}}</ref> From 1939, when the country was occupied by [[Nazi Germany]], Hitler took over Prague Castle. During the [[Second World War]], most Jews were [[Holocaust|deported and killed]] by the Germans. In 1942, Prague was witness to the assassination of one of the most powerful men in [[Nazi Germany]]—[[Reinhard Heydrich]]—during [[Operation Anthropoid]], accomplished by Czechoslovak national heroes [[Jozef Gabčík]] and [[Jan Kubiš]]. Hitler ordered bloody reprisals.<ref>Bryant, Chad (2007). ''Prague in Black: Nazi Rule and Czech Nationalism''. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, p.&nbsp;167ff. {{isbn|978-0674024519}}</ref>

In February 1945, [[1945 Bombing of Prague|Prague suffered several bombing raids]] by the [[United States Army Air Forces|US Army Air Forces]]. 701 people were killed, more than 1,000 people were injured and some buildings, factories and historic landmarks ([[Emmaus Monastery]], [[Faust House (Prague)|Faust House]], [[Vinohrady Synagogue]]) were destroyed.<ref name="Bombing">{{cite web |url=http://www.praguepost.com/archivescontent/40592-looking-back-at-the-bombing-of-prague.html |title=Looking Back at the Bombing of Prague |website=[[The Prague Post]] |date=14 February 1945 |access-date=4 December 2011 |archive-date=14 January 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120114154013/http://www.praguepost.com/archivescontent/40592-looking-back-at-the-bombing-of-prague.html |url-status=live}}</ref> Many historic structures in Prague, however, escaped the destruction of the war and the damage was small compared to the total destruction of many other cities in that time. According to American pilots, it was the result of a navigational mistake. In March, a deliberate raid targeted military factories in Prague, killing about 370 people.<ref>{{cite web |title=The bombing of Prague from a new perspective |date=13 December 2011 |url=http://www.radio.cz/en/section/czech-history/the-bombing-of-prague-from-a-new-perspective |publisher=Radio Prague |access-date=10 June 2018 |archive-date=20 February 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180220172922/http://radio.cz/en/section/czech-history/the-bombing-of-prague-from-a-new-perspective |url-status=live}}</ref>

On 5 May 1945, two days before Germany capitulated, an [[Prague uprising|uprising]] against Germany occurred. Several thousand Czechs were killed in four days of bloody street fighting, with many atrocities committed by both sides. Fought concurrently with the Prague uprising, the [[Prague offensive]] significantly helped the [[liberation of Czechoslovakia in 1945|liberation of Czechoslovakia]].  At daybreak on 9 May, the {{nowrap|[[3rd Shock Army]]}} of the [[Red Army]] took the capital city almost unopposed. The majority (about 50,000 people) of the German population of Prague either fled or were [[Expulsion of Germans after World War II|expelled]] by the [[Beneš decrees]] in the aftermath of the war.

====Cold War====
{{Main|History of Czechoslovakia (1948–1989)|Czechoslovak Socialist Republic}}
[[File:Havla 1989.jpg|thumb|Velvet Revolution in November 1989]]

Prague was a city in a country under the military, economic, and political control of the [[Soviet Union]] (see [[Iron Curtain]] and [[COMECON]]). The world's largest [[Stalin Monument (Prague)|Stalin Monument]] was unveiled on [[Letná]] hill in 1955 and destroyed in 1962.
The 4th Czechoslovak Writers' Congress, held in the city in June 1967, took a strong position against the regime.<ref>{{cite web |last1=Pehe |first1=Jiří |author-link=Jiří Pehe |title=Post-Communist Reflections of the Prague Spring |url=http://www.pehe.cz/Members/redaktor/post-communist-refections-of-the-prague-spring |website=Jiří Pehe |date=6 November 2008 |access-date=7 September 2017 |archive-date=17 September 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170917092115/http://www.pehe.cz/Members/redaktor/post-communist-refections-of-the-prague-spring |url-status=live}}</ref> On 31 October 1967 students demonstrated at [[Strahov (district of Prague)|Strahov]]. This spurred the new secretary of the [[Czechoslovak Communist Party]], [[Alexander Dubček]], to proclaim a new deal in his city's and country's life, starting the short-lived season of the "[[socialism with a human face]]". It was the [[Prague Spring]], which aimed at the renovation of political institutions in a democratic way. The other [[Warsaw Pact]] member countries, except [[Socialist Republic of Romania|Romania]] and [[People's Republic of Albania|Albania]], were led by the [[Soviet Union]] to repress these reforms through the [[Warsaw Pact invasion of Czechoslovakia|invasion of Czechoslovakia]] and the capital, Prague, on 21 August 1968. The invasion, chiefly by infantry and tanks, effectively suppressed any further attempts at reform. The military occupation of Czechoslovakia by the [[Red Army]] would end only in 1991.{{fact|date=April 2025}} [[Jan Palach]] and [[Jan Zajíc]] committed suicide by [[self-immolation]] in January and February 1969 to protest against the "[[Normalization (Czechoslovakia)|normalization]]" of the country.