Introduction

Abstract

The study of the modern history of the Czechs and Slovaks has been beset by enormous problems during the past four decades. Communist rule led to the elevation of propagandists rather than historians to many of the leading positions in Czechoslovakia’s academic institutions. The Stalin-inspired purges did not have time completely to destroy the objective study of Czech and Slovak history, as was demonstrated by some of the publications which emerged during and shortly after the heady days of 1968. The subsequent ‘normalisation’ of the Academies of Sciences and the universities did great damage to the historical profession, with many of its most talented representatives being driven out of academic life or into emigration. Access to significant quantities of archival material was closed or severely restricted, and printed materials on sensitive topics were locked away in special store-rooms. Independent scholarship could and did survive and develop in the USA, Canada and West Europe, but the number of posts open to specialists in this restricted field was inevitably very limited and real problems of access to materials remained. Consequently the writing of modern Czech and Slovak history is still at an early stage of its development when compared with that of many other countries, although a number of excellent studies have been published. Many important areas are relatively unexplored, significant archival sources remain virgin territory and analysis is still at a preliminary stage on a wide variety of topics.