| Abstrakt: |
Abstract: This contribution, prepared on the basis of research in the Public Record Office, London, represents the first probe into this topic. It starts from the fact that beginning in the spring of 1945 Slovak-Czech relations, from the point of view of the British Foreign Office, had run into difficulties, and London´s interest was concentrated on the struggle for power between the Communists and a broad spectrum of democratic forces in the restored Czechoslovakia. Only after the general elections of May 1946, however, did the British become truly aware that the Slovak question was in fact an intergral part of this struggle, particularly after the crisis in the autumn of 1947 in Slovakia. They did not especially intervene in Slovak-Czech relations, with the exception of the case of Jozef Tiso, who had been President of the Slovak State during the war. The situation began to change towards the end of 1947 when Britain began to reconsider her foreign policy towards Czechoslovakia. One aspect of the policy was meant to be support for non-Communist political parties in Czechoslovakia. Its principles, however, were not formulated till just before the February 1948 Communist takeover, and their postulates, including the impact on British foreign policy, became irrelevant to Slovak-Czech relations. |
