Second Czechoslovak Republic

The Second Czechoslovak Republic was the short-lived state that survived from the Munich Agreement of 30 September 1938 to the German invasion of 15 March 1939. It is also called the Czecho-Slovak Republic, the hyphen reflecting the new autonomy granted to Slovakia and Subcarpathian Rus. The Munich Agreement forced Czechoslovakia to cede the Sudetenland, with its border fortifications and much of its industry, to Germany; the First Vienna Award of November 1938 handed southern Slovakia and southern Ruthenia to Hungary, and Poland took the Teschen district. The rump state lost about a third of its territory and became a German client. President Edvard Beneš resigned, Emil Hácha was elected in his place, and Rudolf Beran formed a government that banned the Communist Party, imposed censorship and ruled by enabling act. Slovakia and Carpathian Ukraine obtained autonomous institutions, and Prague's authority steadily eroded. On 15 March 1939 German troops entered Bohemia and Moravia, which became the Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia, while Slovakia declared independence. Prague was the capital.