T 15 – Prague – Recent History Tour (2.5 hours)

During this tour you will learn how the events of the two world wars and the years that followed shaped Prague and the Czech Republic.

The 20th century brought dramatic changes to the entire world and Central Europe was no exception. After World War I, emancipation from Austro-Hungarian rule led to the founding of independent Czechoslovakia in 1918. The economic and cultural boom of the interwar period was followed by the Nazi occupation of the country during World War II, which caused serious damage to the country's population. Although Prague survived the war less damaged than many other European cities, traces of the war can still be seen in the city today.

In the 1950s, the country was taken over by the communist regime under the command of the Soviet Union and, isolated behind the Iron Curtain, it experienced years of economic decline during the Cold War. The efforts to democratize the country in the 1960s – the so-called Prague Spring – were violently interrupted by the Russian occupation in 1968 and Czechoslovakia once again plunged into a long period of unfreedom.

After the democratic changes in 1989, Czechoslovakia (and the Czech Republic since 1993) is once again part of the democratic world. Learn more about the return of prosperity, but also about the challenges the country is currently facing.