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Czech Rep. and Slovakia celebrate Czechoslovakia's birthday

100 yrs ago. Joint ceremonies in nations that split in 1993

02 November, 22:00

(ANSA) - PRAGUE - The three colours of Czechoslovakia screened on the beautiful facade of the National Museum of Prague, and a videoclip featuring 100 year history, then the taking down of the flags of the Czech Republic and Slovakia amid the crowd's applause in Wenceslas Square. The re-opening of the symbolic identity museum, after five-year restoration work, coincided with the celebrations for the country's independence day, on October 28th, sealed by the fireworks show on the Vltava, which began exactly at the 7.18pm: the figures of that 1918 that crowned the efforts of the founding fathers Tomáš Garrigue Masaryk (1850-1937), Edvard Beneš (1884-1948) and Milan Rastislav Štefánik (1880-1919). Joint celebrations are being held in two nations that split in 1993 and were then reunited in the European Union in 2004, each one with its own identity. Ceremonies are taking place everywhere, museums and monuments can be visited for free, historic buildings are open to the public with guided tours.

The history which started in 1918 somehow involves Italy. In the bulletin of victory signed by General Armando Diaz, No. 1268 at noon on November 4, 1918, alongside "51 Italian, 3 British, 2 French divisions" also appears "a Czech-Slovak division". Just a week before, the birth of Czechoslovakia had been proclaimed, a republic that gathered the historical, spiritual and cultural heritage of the glorious Kingdom of Bohemia of the kings and emperors incorporated by the Habsburgs in 1620, including Bohemia, Moravia, Silesia and Slovakia.

On November 14, 1915 Masaryk had conceived and disseminated a programmatic manifesto of the birth of the Czech nation and constituted the National Council together with Beneš. That was the first act of formal recognition of Czechoslovakia and came from Rome. On April 21, 1918, Italy's premier Vittorio Emanuele Orlando and General Štefánik signed a "Convention between the Italian Government and the National Council of the Czechoslovak countries" which recognised the Czechoslovak military units in grey-green Italian uniform, from Alpine troops, but with national red and white shields in place of the Royal Army stars.

This was one of the three cores of the glorious Czechoslovak Legions created in Russia, France and Italy. The Slovak Štefánik (astronomer, military, pilot, diplomat and man of Letters), had arrived in Rome from Paris in early 1916 with a twofold goal: raise the tone of propaganda to encourage the desertion of Czech and Slovak soldiers in the imperial ranks and proselytise among war prisoners. On May 24 he assigned, during a solemn ceremony at the Altar of the Fatherland, the fighting flag to the 6th Czechoslovak special division consisting of two brigades and four regiments, 350 officers and 12,500 soldiers. Under the command of General Andrea Graziani, the division was incorporated into the 9th Army of the Royal Troops.

On June 15, the Czechoslovakians in grey-green uniform had the baptism of fire on the Montello and in Fossalta di Piave, fighting bravely. In these battles 62 soldiers died, 101 were injured and 18 were missing: 11 of them, captured by the Austrians, were hanged as traitors. The Slavic military with the red and white shields were at the forefront on September 21 defence operation at Dosso Alto di Nago: out of the 5 missing soldiers, 4 were hanged by the Austrians at the foot of the castle of Arco, where a monument was built in 1919 to commemorate them, on land donated to the current Czech Republic.

On October 23, the Czechoslovak Corps was formed under the command of General Luigi Piccione, resulting from the 6th and 7th divisions, totalling about 25,000 men. The proclamation of the Republic of Czechoslovakia brought with it a wave of enthusiasm and Italy's decisive victory over Austria at Vittorio Veneto paves the way for legionaries to go back home, to a free and democratic country, even if the problems related to that 'birth' within the complex redesigning of the European map, contains the seeds of future epochal conflicts. (ANSA).

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