Independent Bohemia | Page 2

an immense service to the League of Nations as a bulwark of peace and conciliation among the various peoples of Central Europe.
The break-up of Austria will, of course, affect enormously the constitution of the future Europe, and in our last chapter we have tried to give an outline of these impending changes of conditions and international relations. The break-up of Austria was bound to come sooner or later, whether some misinformed critics or prejudiced pro-Austrian politicians liked it or not. We ourselves were always convinced, and we declared openly, that Austria could not survive this war, because she was at war with the majority of her own subjects, who wished for nothing more than for her destruction. Unfortunately the fact that the sympathies of the thirty million of Austrian Slavs and Latins were on the side of the Entente, constituting such an incontestable moral asset for the Allies as it does, has not always been fully appreciated by Allied public opinion. We ourselves, however, never doubted for a moment that the Allied cause would ultimately triumph and that we would achieve our independence, because we knew that in struggling for this aim we were only carrying out the unanimous will of our whole nation. Without waiting for any pledges, without regard as to which side would be victorious, our nation has from the beginning staked its all on the Allied victory and has contributed with all its powers to hasten it. Despite all adverse circumstances, our people, at first completely at the mercy of their enemies, ruthlessly persecuted and tortured by them, nevertheless remained firm and resolute. Their attitude was most outspoken and courageous at all times, and they have also rendered the Allies active assistance, which is being duly appreciated by them. It is chiefly due to the efforts of the subject peoples themselves, of whom the Czechs have certainly been the most outspoken, that the collapse of Austria has occurred, which finally sealed the fate of Kaiserism and of the Pan-German plans of Mitteleuropa.
To-day our hopes for a better future are at last being fulfilled as a result of the Allies' complete victory, assuring the creation of a new and just international order. Our much-afflicted yet undaunted people already consider themselves as independent. The Peace Conference, at which the Czecho-Slovak Government will be represented, will only confirm the existence of an independent Czecho-Slovak State.
In conclusion, we should like to express our deep gratitude to all our English friends for their valuable assistance in our struggle for the realisation of our ideals. We especially wish to thank once more the British Government for the generous step taken by them in recognising us as an Allied and belligerent nation. It was chiefly because of this recognition and of the gallant deeds of our army that we achieved all our subsequent diplomatic and political successes. We may assure Great Britain that the Czecho-Slovaks will never forget what they owe to her, and that they will endeavour to do their best to merit the trust so generously placed in them.
VLADIMIR NOSEK.
9, GROSVENOR PLACE, LONDON, _November_, 1918.

[Illustration: The International Position Of The Czecho Slovak Republic In Future Europe]

CONTENTS
I. WHAT is AUSTRIA-HUNGARY? II. AUSTRIA-HUNGARY AND THE PRESENT WAR III. CZECH POLITICAL PARTIES BEFORE AND DURING THE WAR IV. TERRORISM IN BOHEMIA DURING THE WAR _(a)_ Czech Deputies and Leaders imprisoned and sentenced to Death; _(b)_ Monster Trials, Arbitrary Executions, Internment of Civilians, etc.; _(c)_ Persecution of the Press; _(d)_ Reichsrat Interpellations. V. HOW THE CZECHO SLOVAKS AT HOME ASSISTED THE ALLIES VI. THE MILITARY AND POLITICAL ACTION OF THE CZECHO-SLOVAKS ABROAD VII. THE CZECHS AT HOME BEGIN TO SPEAK _(a)_ Czech Declaration of May 30, 1917; _(b)_ Courageous Speeches delivered by Czech Deputies in the Reichsrat; _(c)_ After the Amnesty; _(d)_ During Peace Negotiations with Russia; _(e)_ The Constituent Assembly of Prague on January 6, 1918; _(f)_ The Oath of the Czecho Slovak Nation; _(g)_ The Slovaks' Attitude; _(h)_ The Czecho-Slovak National Council in Prague. VIII. CZECHO-SLOVAK CO-OPERATION WITH OTHER NON-GERMAN NATIONS OF CENTRAL EUROPE _(a)_ The Congress of Rome; _(b)_ The May Manifestations in Prague. IX. BOHEMIA AS A BULWARK AGAINST PAN-GERMANISM
APPENDIX OF SOME RECENT DOCUMENTS
BIBLIOGRAPHY

I
WHAT IS AUSTRIA-HUNGARY?
1. The Habsburg Empire is built upon centuries-old traditions of reaction and violence. Its present power is chiefly based on the alliance which Bohemia and Hungary concluded with Austria against the Turkish peril in 1526. The Czechs freely elected the Habsburgs to the throne of Bohemia which remained a fully independent state, its alliance with Austria and Hungary being purely dynastic. But soon the Habsburgs began to violate the liberties of Bohemia which they were bound by oath to observe, and this led finally to the fateful Czech revolution of 1618. At the battle of the White Mountain in 1620 the Czechs suffered a defeat and