The so-called
"Velvet revolution " ended the communist control of
Czechoslovakia in late 1989. On November 17 the formal
government allowed a demonstration, where people
commemorated the 50th anniversary of a cruel suppression
of a student demonstration in German-occupied Prague.
However, history repeated itself and the students were
brutally beaten by police. As a result a large protest
movement developed. Demonstrations and strikes
occurred across the whole country under the leadership of
Obcanske forum, which was led
by Vaclav Havel, a
dissident playwright and Charter 77 signer. Following the
political turmoil he became the new president of
Czechoslovakia. Ten years after the Velvet Revolution
many political and social changes have occurred within the
former Czechoslovakia. The first major change was the
peaceful split of the country to form two separate states,
the Czech Republic and Slovakia as we know it today.
Following this split much of the former......
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