With the beginning of World War I, a small group of Czech leaders attempted and succeeded in establishing autonomy for Czechoslovakia from the Habsburg empire. The Allies quickly recognized the Czechoslovak republic which was proclaimed on October 28, 1918. The physical size of Czechoslovakia increased at the Paris Peace Conference when Czechoslovakia was given Bohemia, Moravia-Silesia, Slovakia and sub-Carpathian Ruthenia.

Between 1918 and 1948 the Czechoslovak state went through many adjustments. It was a republic with a parliamentary government and a wide assortment of political parties, including the Czechoslovak Communist Party, were represented. During the two World Wars, Czechoslovakia remained relatively stable under this parliamentary system.

However, because of the change in physical borders, the population in Czechoslovakia became quite diverse and there arose disputes over how this diversity be handled. Czechoslovakia began to move towards a "Czechoslovak nation" which would promote Czechoslovak language and culture yet this angered the German, Magyar and Polish minorities who desired to preserve their cultural identities. In 1938 at a Great Power conference in Munich, Czechoslovakia ceded its western German speaking border areas to Germany. In 1939, Hitler's armies invaded Czechoslovakia and there was great fear of total destruction of the country during World War II because the Nazi goal was to completely assimilate or exterminate the Czech nation.

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