ABSTRACT
Czechoslovakia's rich history amply shows that its intelligentsia has long played a significant role as a political elite, beginning in the late Middle Ages and early Renaissance with the Hussite movement, as well as with the founding of Charles University in 1348 by Charles IV, Holy Roman Emperor and King of Bohemia—the first university north of the Alps. The Czech intelligentsia was encouraged in its efforts by the general intellectual climate of the European Enlightenment, the revolutionary era, and the age of Romanticism. Progress in the Czech economy in the second half of the nineteenth century can be tied to this enormous progress in development of the intellectual and spiritual culture. The citizens of Czechoslovakia seem to have developed an especial talent for promoting public debate on major issues as part of the country's larger social and cultural life.
