Tell me about Prague History - Historum

benkernow · February 17th, 2012, 02:16 PM

I'm going to Prague on holiday in april mainly because of it's history and architecture. The problem (a very very samll problem) is I don't know much about prague's history so I thought why not ask someone! So apart from knowing ot was part of the Holy Roman Empire, the Austrian-Hungarian Empire and and Czechslovakia and is the capitial of Czech Republic What else can people tell me about the history of Prague?
Also any recomendaions for my trip will be nice. As in places to visit and see or places to eat for example.

**Earl_of_Rochester** · February 17th, 2012, 02:38 PM

My ex gf was Czech.

BBC - BBC Radio 4 Programmes - In Our Time, Bohemia

Quote:

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the medieval kingdom of Bohemia which was at the crossroads of Europe and, during the 15th century, at the heart of the Holy Roman Empire. Under Charles IV, its cosmopolitan capital Prague became a cultural and intellectual centre, attracting scholars and artists from all over Europe.
But Prague was awash with religious and political dissent. At its core stood the anarchist philosopher Jan Hus, whose ideas anticipated the Lutheran Reformation by a full century. He was burnt at the stake, but his followers, the Hussites, embarked on a series of wars that continue to mark the Czech and German characters even today.
Why was Bohemia such a crucible of dissent and how were its ideas exported to the rest of Europe? What did it mean to be Bohemian then and how was the ancient kingdom of Bohemia, with its ferment of religious, national and ethnic ideologies, divided up to form the states of modern Central Europe?
With Norman Davies, Professor Emeritus, University of London; Karin Friedrich, Lecturer in History, School of Slavonic and East European Studies, University College London; Robert Pynsent, Professor of Czech and Slovak Literature, University College London.

DL http://downloads.bbc.co.uk/podcasts/...0411-0900a.mp3

BBC - BBC Radio 4 Programmes - In Our Time, Rudolph II

Quote:

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the coterie of brilliant thinkers gathered in 16th century Prague by the melancholic emperor Rudolph II.
In 1606 the Archdukes of Vienna declared:
“His majesty is interested only in wizards, alchemists, Kabbalists and the like, sparing no expense to find all kinds of treasures, learn secrets and use scandalous ways of harming his enemies…He also has a whole library of magic books. He strives all the time to eliminate God completely so that he may in future serve a different master.”
The subject of this coruscating attack was the Holy Roman Emperor, Rudolf II, and his court at Prague. Rudolph had turned Prague into a collector’s cabinet for the wonders and curiosities of the age – the great paintings of Northern Italy were carried to him over the Alps, intricate automatons constructed to serve drinks, maps and models of the heavens were unwound and engineered as the magnificent city of Prague itself was rebuilt in the image of its dark and thoughtful patron in chief.
But Rudolf’s greatest possessions were people - the astronomers Johannes Kepler and Tycho Brahe, the magus John Dee and the philosopher Giordano Bruno had all found their way to his city. Far from the devilish inquisitor of the archdukes’ imaginations, Rudolf patronised a powerhouse of Renaissance ideas.
With Peter Forshaw, Postdoctoral Fellow at Birkbeck, University of London and an Honorary Fellow of the University of Exeter; Howard Hotson, Lecturer in Modern History at the University of Oxford; Adam Mosley, Lecturer in the Department of History at the University of Wales, Swansea.

DL http://downloads.bbc.co.uk/podcasts/...0131-0900a.mp3

**irishcrusader95** · February 17th, 2012, 02:44 PM

it was the scene of the last fighting in europe during WW2. Waffen SS troops held out to the last as they were dead either way as they knew that if captured they would be executed or at the least carted off to siberia which was a thought that terrified even the most hard bitten veterans.

Toomtabard · February 17th, 2012, 04:10 PM

The Defenestration of Prague in 1618 was an important contributory factor to the Thirty Years War breaking out which lasted from 1618 until 1648. and devastated Germany and eastern Europe in a vicious religious war between Catholic and Protestant. You should be able to see the Palace in Prague whee the guys were defenestrated (Latin ''fenestra''=window-''defenestrate''-to toss a person or persons or other objects out of a window or windows.
Also, you can visit the chutch in Prague where the guys who killed Reinhard Heydrich the S.S. Nazi boss in Prague in 1942 holed up and resisted until finally killed by the besieging Germans.
Also you can see the corner in Prague where Heydrich was mortally wounded by two Czechs parachuted into Prague by British intelligence in 1942 to assassinate Heydrich. Heydrich died from blood poisoning caused by horsehair from his car seats which polluted his blood via his wounds caused by a grenade.
I'm sure too, that you'll be able to visit the spot in Prague where Czech patriot Jan Palach burned himself to death in protest at the the August 1968 Soviet invasion of Czechoslovalkia.Re the Waffen S.S. in Prague claims about them ''fighting to the death in Prague because they feared Siberia'' is fanciful to say the least.
A Scottish member of the Waffen S.S. British Legion who were stationed in Prague in 1944-45 won the S.S. middleweight boxing championship in Prague in 1944. Then he ended up driving a bus in Edinburgh Scotland post-war so he clearly wasn't worried about Siberia -or fighting to the death.

**irishcrusader95** · February 17th, 2012, 04:31 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Toomtabard

Re the Waffen S.S. in Prague claims about them ''fighting to the death in Prague because they feared Siberia'' is fanciful to say the least.
A Scottish member of the Waffen S.S. British Legion who were stationed in Prague in 1944-45 won the S.S. middleweight boxing championship in Prague in 1944. Then he ended up driving a bus in Edinburgh Scotland post-war so he clearly wasn't worried about Siberia -or fighting to the death.

he obviously so was able to avoid the soviets catching him. captured SS were often executed and it was common enough for any german prisoner in the last weeks to be nudged in the side with a rifle while the russian asked 'Du SS' which was more of a statement then a question. i know of one german soldier who at the end of the war was so terrified at the thought of being taken prisoner by the soviets that he opened up a wound and dug some wire into it, he was evacuated for treatment to the allied side and so prevented himself from being taken by the soviets. the doctor told him that only another 2 hours and he would have been beyond treatment and that he understood why he did it.

benkernow · February 19th, 2012, 01:39 AM

Thanks for the info so far guys. The information about the waffen SS especally the scot, I suppose I could look it up but why was he fighting for the nazi's in the 1st place? And I'm surprised the was a british legion in the SS.
Also I know where the guys who killed Reinhard Heydrich hid out and met there death but where did they actually kill heydrich?

P.S. Thanks and any info would be nice.

**arras** · February 19th, 2012, 04:37 AM

Here is info about atentate. You can visit museum in Prague to see his car. Half a year ago there was museal exhibition made especially about atentate, it was presented in several cities. May be you can still see it in Prague.

Operation_Anthropoid

pbl1998 · February 19th, 2012, 04:56 AM

A Beautiful City. The Astronomical Clock and the Charles Bridge are some highlights. Their is also a small replica of the Eiffel Tower overlooking Prague which was closed when I went there.

The Franz Kafka Museum is worth a look around as well. If you can, take a boat ride which is good. A really good city to visit.