The Bohemian Revolt was an uprising of the Bohemian estates against the rule of the Habsburg dynasty that began the Thirty Years' War. It was caused by both religious and power disputes. The estates were almost entirely Protestant, mostly Utraquist Hussite but there was also a substantial German population that endorsed Lutheranism. The dispute culminated after several battles in the final Battle of White Mountain, where the estates suffered a decisive defeat. This started re-Catholisation of the Czech lands, but also expanded the scope of the Thirty Years' War by drawing Denmark and Sweden into it. The conflict spread to the rest of Europe and devastated vast areas of Central Europe, including the Czech lands, which were particularly stricken by its violent atrocities.
The Third Defenestration of Prague
The window (second floor) where the Second Defenestration occurred. Note the monument to the right of the castle tower.
Historical re-enactment of the Battle of White Mountain.
Contemporary painting showing the Battle of White Mountain (1620), where Pro-Habsburg forces under Johann Tserclaes, Count of Tilly won a decisive victory.
Czech, historically also known as Bohemian, is a West Slavic language of the Czech–Slovak group, written in Latin script. Spoken by over 10 million people, it serves as the official language of the Czech Republic. Czech is closely related to Slovak, to the point of high mutual intelligibility, as well as to Polish to a lesser degree. Czech is a fusional language with a rich system of morphology and relatively flexible word order. Its vocabulary has been extensively influenced by Latin and German.
The Bible of Kralice was the first complete translation of the Bible into the Czech language from the original languages. Its six volumes were first published between 1579 and 1593.
Josef Dobrovský, whose writing played a key role in reviving Czech as a written language
Praha, Texas
A Czech-language sign at the entrance to a children's playground