Strengths and Weaknesses of the Economy of the First Czechoslovak Republic (1918–1938)

Abstract

The paper focuses on the strengths and weaknesses of the interwar Czechoslovakian economy. These included the readiness for the transition to an independent economy, the different economic levels of different parts of the new state, the elimination of transport “handicaps” of the new state by peace treaties, foreign trade policy, interwar economic development and the economic place of Czechoslovakia in Europe and the world. Although Czechoslovakia did not replace the importance of Vienna in terms of stock exchange and insurance, or Berlin’s position in terms of economics and transport, and failed to establish itself permanently in the Balkans, it proved its economic viability during its historically defined existence and did not become a destabilising factor in Central European or European economies.