The Coup of Prague is the name given to the takeover of the Czechoslovakia by the Czechoslovakian Communist party. The Czech historians speak about Únor 1948 (“February 1948”); during Communism, the term Vítězný únor (“victorious February”) was the term officially employed to describe the events which from February 17th to 25th 1948, make that the president of the Czechoslovakian Republic, Edvard Beneš, must yield the capacity to Stalinist and their chiefs, Klement Gottwald and Rudolf Slánský, after two weeks of intense pressures of the Soviet .

Genesis

Of all the Central European countries which were released from the Nazi S and were occupied by the Soviets, Czechoslovakia is the only one which has a democratic long tradition and a powerful Communist party. This one obtains 38% of the votes to the elections of 1946 and holds three key positions with the government: Klement Gottwald is a Prime Minister with the extended capacities, the ministry for the Interior (and thus the police force) are with the hands of Václav Nosek and that of Defense to the hands of the general Ludvík Svoboda. On the whole, on the twenty-six ministerial wallets, nine are held by the Communists.

A few months earlier, Stalin puts his veto at the granting of an American help in Czechoslovakia within the framework of the Marshall plan at the beginning accepted by President Edvard Beneš and its Foreign Minister, Jan Masaryk, wire of the former president. This refusal is badly included/understood by the major part of the public opinion and is criticized by the middle-class parties.

On this occasion, in 1947, during its congress held with Brno, the Czech social democrat Parti had become aware of the serious danger which the any power of the Czechoslovakian Communist party represents; also, he undertakes a turn on the right and Zdenek Fierlinger, the representative of the close cooperation with the Communists is eliminated from the direction of the party.

The February 17th, 1948 , the government must discuss report/ratio of the Minister for Justice on the control of the Sécurité of State by the Communists, which Gottwald, chief of the government, refuse to put on the day order. The ministers not-Communists prepare a plan: if their requirements are not accepted, they resign in block and president Beneš can name a “bureaucratic” government temporary ( úřednická vláda ).

Beneš is informed by Gottwald of the intentions of the ministers not-Communists and announces that only a government again joining together all the political clouts of the country would be named. The plan of the not-Communists to get rid of the Communists fails.

Gottwald makes a public statement inviting “the people of the workers to be held ready in the possibility of a reaction. ” The militia pragoises are put in state of alert.

The February 18th, 1948 , the meeting of the Government of national union (the “National front”) is held without the question of the control of the Safety of State by the Communists not being with the day order and without the ministers not-Communists who boycott it. The social democrat Parti is to alleviate the situation and to preserve the National front. President Benes negotiates with the national-Socialists, it would have been informed at this time of the plan of collective resignation of the ministers not-Communists, which it will contradict thereafter.

The February 19th, 1948 , the two days events previous are more or less repeated with this close the threat of collective resignation of the ministers not-Communists official and is officially transmitted to the president. The vice-minister of the Foreign affairs Soviet, Valerian Zorin, arrives at Prague. The American ambassador, Lawrence Steinhardt, stop a cure of health to take again his functions.

The February 20th, 1948 , only the Communists and the social democrats attend the Council of Ministers. A formal request is addressed by the parties not-Communists to the government in order to supplement the diary of the day. Following their rejection, twelve “middle-class” ministers