Independent Czechoslovak State Day is the National Day of the Czech Republic, also known as Foundation of the Independent Czechoslovak State Day in 1918.
The Austro-Hungarian Empire included what is now Czechoslovakia before World War I ended. Austria dominated Bohemia and Moravia, where inhabitants spoke Czech. Slovakia was part of Hungary.
Before World War I, there were nationalist movements in both the Czech lands and Slovakia. The Czech Republic was primarily industrialised and Slovakia was mostly agricultural, but they both took the chance to create a new country.
People at Wenceslas Square in Prague declared "Czechoslovak" independence on October 28, 1918. The "First Republic" had Tomáš Garrigue Masaryk as its president. He was also the leader of the nationalist movement that wasn't in the Austro-Hungarian Empire.
