ABSTRACT
Following the collapse of the Habsburg monarchy and the postwar revolutionary wave which, in Czechoslovakia, developed into a national/democratic revolution, the nobility were displaced from their position as the leading political force by the Czechoslovak bourgeoisie. However, although aristocratic titles were abolished, the majority of these wealthy families retained their estates. Following the Battle of the White Mountain in 1620, the original Czech aristocracy was largely decimated during the seventeenth century and the Bohemian aristocracy which arose in the ensuing decades was descended from noble families in many different parts of Europe. Hence a distinct Czech aristocracy hardly existed in the early twentieth century. In Slovakia, the native aristocracy lost its ethnic identity and merged with the Hungarian nobility. An economically independent bourgeoisie had not developed fully, so that the peasantry formed the backbone of the Slovak nation. In distinction to the neighbouring states where traditional differences between the estates were maintained, a parliamentary democracy developed in Czechoslovakia. Under this system, all citizens were equal before the law. However, this by no means abolished the social differences which continued to exist within Czechoslovak society.
