Czechoslovakia and its Armed Forces in Times of Change

Abstract

In the 1980s Czechoslovakia was one of the strongest countries in the Warsaw Treaty Organisations in terms of military capacity. In addition to the regular army, Czechoslovakia had strong internal security forces and people’s militia.The army was under the control of the Communist Party, whose extension wasthe political main directorate of the army.

The reorganisation of the army started in 1990. The main task was to reorganise the army of a totalitarian country into the armed forces of a democratic state. A civilian was appointed the Defence Minister; a new military doctrine was prepared, which stated that national defence was the duty of the army; the general staff and the Ministry of Defence as well as the structure of units were reorganised; reducing the number of staff started; the length of compulsory military service was shortened; and becoming a member of NATO was set as a goal.

 The Soviet army units that were stationed in Czechoslovakia in 1968 were withdrawn by summer 1991. The Warsaw Treaty Organisation was disbanded at the same time. Czechoslovakia ceased to exist by the end of the subsequent year: the Czech Republic and Slovakia became independent countries that also divided the armed forces by the 2:1 principle – in favour of the Czech Republic, which is the larger of the two and has a bigger population. The Czech Republic became a member of NATO in March 1999. The number of staff of the armed forces of the Czech Republic was reduced fourfold from 1993–2013. Compulsory military service was abolished in 2005 and a professional army was introduced instead. 

 The period of transition from a totalitarian military into the defence forces of a democratic state in the former Czechoslovakia is still an almost unexplored part of our recent history. Not all relevant sources are accessible and not all witnesses are willing to share their knowledge. The aim of this article is to outline the main defence issues a newly developing democratic society had to tackle.