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Six days later, Klaus and Mečiar agreed to secede Czechoslovakia into two separate states at a meeting in Bratislava. Czechoslovak President Václav Havel resigned, rather than oversee the secession, which he had opposed. [2] In a September 1992 opinion poll, only 37% of Slovaks and 36% of Czechs favoured dissolution. [3]
Meanwhile, one plank of the reform program had been carried out: in 1968–69, Czechoslovakia was turned into a federation of the Czech Socialist Republic and Slovak Socialist Republic. The theory was that under the federation, social and economic inequities between the Czech and Slovak halves of the state would be largely eliminated.
Czechoslovakia had fielded a modern army of 35 divisions and was a major manufacturer of machine guns, tanks, and artillery, most of them assembled in the Škoda factory in Plzeň. Many Czech factories continued to produce Czech designs until converted to German designs. Czechoslovakia also had other major manufacturing companies.
Reunited into one state after the war, the Czechs and Slovaks set national elections for the spring of 1946. The democratic elements, led by President Edvard Beneš, hoped the Soviet Union would allow Czechoslovakia the freedom to choose its own form of government and aspired to a Czechoslovakia that would act as a bridge between East and West.
Czechoslovakia wanted to hold onto this area because of its many valuable mines. Czechoslovakia sent Czech troops into the German area to stop disorders, and the Vienna press printed reports of Czech troops firing on and killing Germans in that area, including 15–20 in Kaaden, three in Eger, and two in Karlsbad.
The administrative system initially adopted was a unitary one; the country was not divided into federative components but into 23 administrative units, [46] though the government included the post of “Minister for Slovakia”. In 1928 Czechoslovakia was divided into 4 lands, with presidents and own representation. [47]
Over the following two years, more substantial disputes arose between the two halves of the federation. In 1992, Czech and Slovak politicians agreed to split the country into the two states of the Czech Republic and Slovak Republic—the so-called Velvet Divorce—which became effective on 1 January 1993.
On 31 December 1992, Czechoslovakia peacefully split into two countries, the Czech Republic and the Slovak Republic. The dissolution of Czechoslovakia occurred mainly due to national governance issues between the Slovaks and Czechs (the two major ethnicities comprising the former Czechoslovakia).