Czech divorce with the C. and K. monarchy

In the summer of 1914, the Austro-Hungarian army went to war filled with optimism. In their polished uniforms and with bands playing “God Save the Emperor” or “Radetzky March”, though Greater German melodies could also be heard. However, after four years of war, Austria-Hungary had already disappeared from the map of Europe. Czech politics had also changed in the process. At the beginning of the war, there was no significant political party in the Czech lands that was programmatically advocating for an independent state. It was only the increased pressure from militaristic circles, which dismantled the democratic institutions in the Austrian part of the monarchy, and Austria’s alignment with Prussian Germany that led the Czech political representation (both at home and in exile) down the path to independence.

The Czech representatives rejected the timid attempts by Emperor Charles (1916–1918) to federalise Austria and, through the group around T. G. Masaryk, which was organising the Czechoslovak legions, gained the support of the Entente statesmen. At the end of October 1918, at the moment when “the Czechoslovak State came into being”, bands were once again playing in the streets: instead of Austrian military marches, the melodies of František Kmoch resounded.