Continuities and Discontinuities in the Czech and Slovak Historiography in the Years of the First Republic: several Glosses for an Introduction
Abstract
The 100 years anniversary of the establishment of the Czechoslovak Republic seems to be a suitable occasion for exploring the legacy of the historians working during the so called First Republic. Jaroslav Werstadt called this generation metaphorically as "the 1914 generation".
Many of these historians finished their studies till 1914, but then they had to participate in military service during the Great War and they could start their career after the end of this conflict. Due to the establishment of a new state they had more opportunities for finding employment though.
They did not have to become only secondary school teachers or archivists, they could become clerks in state administration or in diplomacy service and above all they could become university professors. The most successful from this group was probably Václav Chaloupecký, who took over the post at the Faculty of Arts Charles University after Josef Pekař's death.
Did everybody manage to change the Czech historiography into the Czechoslovak one? Who fulfilled the idea of Masaryk's state in their work the most appositely? And what topics were discussed in historiography during the First Republic?