BOHEMIA AND THE CZECHS 



By Ales Hrdlicka 



Curator oe Physical Anthropology in the; U. S. National Museum 



IN THEIR memorable answer to the 

 President of the United States on 

 the conditions under which they 

 would conclude peace with Germany, the 

 Allies announced, as one of these condi- 

 tions, the liberation of the Czecho-Slo- 

 vaks from Austria-Hungary. 



This introduces on the international 

 forum a most interesting new factor, of 

 which relatively little has been heard dur- 

 ing the war and which in consequence 

 has largely escaped, in this country at 

 least, the attention which it deserves. 



The same natural law of preservation 

 that rules over individuals rules also over 

 nations — only the strongest survive the 

 struggle for existence. Not the strongest 

 in numbers, nor even physically, but the 

 richest in that healthy virginal life-cur- 

 rent which suffers under defeat, but is 

 never crushed ; which may be suppressed 

 to the limit, yet wells up again stronger 

 and fresher than ever, the moment the 

 pressure relaxes. 



One such nation is surely, it seems, 

 that of the Czechs or Bohemians. A 

 1,500-year-long life-and-death struggle 

 with the race who surround it from the 

 north, west, and south, with a near-burial 

 within the Austrian Empire for the last 

 three centuries, have failed to destroy the 

 little nation or break its spirit. 



As President Wilson has said : "At 

 least two among these many races [of 

 Austria], moreover, are strenuously, 

 restlessly, persistently devoted to inde- 

 pendence. No lapse of time, no defeat 

 of hopes, seems sufficient to reconcile the 

 Czechs of Bohemia to incorporation with 

 Austria. Pride of race and the memories 

 of a notable and distinguished history 

 keep them always at odds with the Ger- 

 mans within their gates and with the gov- 

 ernment set over their heads. They de- 

 sire at least the same degree of autonomy 

 that has been granted to Hungary." * 



*The State, by Woodrow Wilson, revised 

 edition, 191 1, page 740. 



The Czechs are now more numerous, 

 more accomplished, more patriotic than 

 ever before, and the day is inevitably ap- 

 proaching when the shackles will fall and 

 the nation take its place again at the 

 council of free nations. 



WHO ARE; THE BOHEMIANS 



The Czechs* are the westernmost 

 branch of the Slavs, their name being de- 

 rived, according to tradition, from that 

 of a noted ancestral chief. The term Bo- 

 hemia was applied to the country prob- 

 ably during the Roman times and was 

 derived, like that of Bavaria, from the 

 Boii, who for some time before the Chris- 

 tian era occupied or claimed parts of 

 these regions. 



Nature has favored Bohemia perhaps 

 more than any other part of Europe. Its 

 soil is so fertile and climate so favorable 

 that more than half of the country is cul- 

 tivated and produces richly. In its moun- 

 tains almost every useful metal and min- 

 eral, except salt, is to be found. It is the 

 geographical center of the European con- 

 tinent, equally distant from the Baltic, 

 Adriatic, and North seas, and, though in- 

 closed by mountains, is so easily accessi- 

 ble, because of the valleys of the Danube 

 and the Elbe rivers, that it served, since 

 known in history as the avenue of many 

 armies. 



Beside Bohemia, the Czechs occupy 

 Moravia and adjacent territory in Silesia. 

 The Slovaks, who show merely dialectic 

 differences from the Czechs, extend from 

 Moravia eastward over most of northern 

 Hungary, f 



The advent of the Czechs is lost in an- 

 tiquity ; it is known, however, that they 

 cremated their dead, and cremation bur- 

 ials in northeastern Bohemia and in Mo- 

 ravia antedate 500 B. C. Their invasions 

 or spread southwestward, so far as re- 



*The Cz pronounced like ch in cherry. 

 t See "Map of Europe," published by the 

 Geographic Magazine, August, 1915. 



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