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The Compass: The Cold War Legacy: The Cold War Legacy: Czechoslovakia

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Czechoslovakia

23/10/2019 GMT

The Cold War Legacy: Czechoslovakia

The Cold War Legacy

BBC World Service - The Compass, The Cold War Legacy, The Cold War Legacy: Czechoslovakia

What do new generations of Czechs feel about the future as well as the communist past?

Thirty years ago, communism suddenly collapsed across central and eastern Europe. Soviet rule, that had seemed ruthless and permanent, was ended by people power. And nowhere did change seem more miraculous than in Czechoslovakia. A ‘velvet revolution’ replaced a stony faced politbureau with a beaming playwright, President Vaclav Havel. There was much talk of democracy, prosperity, and a full embrace of Western values.

Three decades on, Chris Bowlby, who knew Czechoslovakia before and after its revolution and split into the Czech Republic and Slovakia, returns to see how that change looks now. How far have the hopes of the 1989 revolutionaries been fulfilled? What role has nationalism – which split Czechoslovakia in two – come to play? What do new generations of Czechs, now on the streets fighting their own political battles, feel about the future as well as the communist past?  And as Russian and Chinese influence grows – while the West’s commitment seems more uncertain – how do places like this now fit into a world few could have imagined as the Cold War ended?

(Photo: Members of Diky, ze muzem (Thanks That We Can), celebrating 30 years since the fall of communism in Narodni Street, Prague, scene of pro-democracy protests in 1989. Credit: Lukáš Bíba /Reportér magazín)

The Compass: The Cold War Legacy

The Cold War ended 30 years ago but its impact is still being felt across the world.

After six years of fighting, the Second World War was over but the respite was brief. Soon the former allies (the USA and USSR, along with their allies) were locked into another conflict against each other, one which lasted almost four and a half decades. The Cold War was a battle of ideology, politics, spies and military supremacy, with a sometimes terrifying arms race and nuclear proliferation. Like WWII before it, the Cold War was truly global as the two camps struggled for influence and control across all continents. It may have officially ended in 1991 but its ramifications can still be felt today. 

We travel to Europe, Africa, Latin America and Asia to examine what impact the Cold War had back then and how it still resonates today especially with the younger generation who may not have lived through it but are still living with its aftermath.

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