91 Years Since the Founding of Czechoslovakia

Today is October 28. Just an ordinary day here in the States. But in the Czech Republic where I spent nearly 8 years, this is a national holiday, perhaps the most important of the year.

It's a holiday kin to our July 4 commemoration of independence. On this day Czechs hearken back to 1918 when Czechoslovakia was formed out of the ruins of the Austro-Hungarian empire. Thanks to the diplomacy of Tomáš Garrigue Masaryk, the right to self-determination was one of President Woodrow Wilson's main tenets. Wilson trumpeted 14 points that he thought would iron out the problems that created the First World War.

Czechs had enjoyed independence before but had never been united with Slovaks. Though Czechs and Slovaks speak very similar languages, their paths had always been quite different. The creation of a multi-ethnic state was awkward but successful. Czechoslovakia flourished in the interwar period (known in Czech as the "First Republic"). The gross national product of Czechoslovakia, a land rich in natural resources and a skilled labor force, was the 5th largest in the world!

The Czech Republic is now separate from Slovakia. In 1992, the two divorced peacefully. Now both are part of the European Union. They have an open border and friendly relations.

Czechs today, however, are still leery of ceding away too much of their independence. They are the last of 27 EU nations to ratify a new European constitution that is to transform how the EU is governed -- it's known as the Lisbon treaty. They have legitimate fears based on history about giving too much sovereignty to a centralized government. They've been down that path before and aren't too sure it's in their best interests.