Bohemia 1850-1900

Nov. 21, 1851: New customs system. Majority of former prohibitions were abolished or taxes were reduced. Already on June 1, 1851 customs frontier was abolished between Austria and Hungary.

Dec. 31, 1851: New laws which abolished the constitution from 1849, confirmed basic civil rights (equality before the law, abolishion of old manorial duties, protection of allowed churches), assessed future political and administrative frame of the monarchy.

May 27, 1852: Revision of Criminal Law. Physical punishments were again allowed (definitely abolished 1867). New Press Law assessed stricter rules for publishing. All nonperiodicals might have been seized.

Jan. 19, 1853: Home Department, Treasury Department and Department of Justice issued statutes about competency of political and judicial offices. The administrative had three levels: district, country, state.

Dec. 2, 1854: Pact between Austria, England and France against Russia in the Crimean war, finished by the treaty of peace in Paris in 1856.

Aug. 18, 1855: Concordat between the Austrian monarchy and the Holy Father (abolished 1870). The Church was free of the state supervision, had larger influence in school and family affairs.

Jan. 24, 1857: Monatery Accord between the Austrian monarchy and German states, concerning common silver currency (validity untill 1892). The ground was in so called Customs Pound (500 gramms) and 45 silver golden coins were stroken of it.

April 23, 1859: Austrian ultimatum given to Sardinia which became beginning of the war. Sardinia was supported by France and results were decided in the battles near Magenta and Solferino. Exhausted Austria accepted the treaty of peace in Zurich (Switzerland) on Nov. 10, 1859, the lost of Lombardia in Italy.

Dec. 20, 1859: New Trade Law replaced old guilds and helped to spread free business. Principles of free business were described in the law from Dec. 17, 1862.

Oct. 20, 1860: October Law where the Emperor promised to organize internal frame of the monarchy. It confirmed legislative function to different national assemblies.

Feb. 26, 1861: Februar Constitution was to be continued process of the October Law from 1860. It concerned mainly the imperial representatives, national constitutions and electoral rules for national assemblies. Elections into national assemblies happened in three parts: richest land-owners, burghers and countryside. Members of the High Church and University Chancellors did not need to be elected.

Feb. 16, 1862: Gymnastic assosiation SOKOL founded in Praha, under the leadership of Miroslav Tyrs.

March 5, 1862: Local Administration Law. It adhered still to the three chambres National Assembly. The amount of people who were allowed to vote were limited.

Oct. 27, 1862: Personal and Property Immunity Law. Arrest and house search were allowed only with a judicial order.

Feb. 1, 1864: Allied Austrian and Prussian armies entered Schleswig-Holstein and gegan the war against Denmark, finished by the treaty of peace in Vienna on Oct. 30, 1864. The Austrian army occupied Holstein.

Aug. 25, 1865: Regular steam-navigation began on the river Vltava.

June 17, 1866: War between Austria and Prussia was the result of long time lasting rivalry in Germany. The Prussian army was supported by Italy. The decisive battle near Hradec Kralove on July 3, 1866 helped to Prussians to occupy Praha. The peace treaty was concluded in Praha on Aug. 23, 1866. Austria promised not to intefere into German affairs and lost Venice in Italy.

May 1867: Some Czech politicians visited Russia to support the idea of "Big Slavic Brother" who could be opposite to the Austrian monarchy.

Dec. 21, 1867: December Constitution described the new monarchy system consisting of two most important states: Austria and Hungary, basic civil rights (the personal freedom, right of free religion, free moving, right for occupation and education), imperial assembly and court of justice, competence of judges.

May 25, 1868: May Laws reduced the concordat on the Church. As for the Marriage Law, the Civil Law from 1811 became valid again. The marriage affairs were excluded from the church competence. The Church lost unlimited supervision in schools. Noncatholic inhabitants were not suffer from obstruction.

June 27, 1868: Law about inherited peasant land property. It enabled free partition of inherited land property.

Dec. 5, 1868: General military service applied in the monarchy. The basic military service lasted for three years. Updated in 1886, 1889, 1912.

May 14, 1869: General School Attendance Law (updated version of previous laws). The school attendance was obligatory for 8 years. A school building was to be built in locations where more than 50 children lived at least for 5 years, in the circle of 1 hour walking.

July 23, 1871: Metric System Law (concerning measures). The Metric System prevailed from 1876.

spring 1873: World Depression, caused by surplus production, especially hit Bohemian industry. Revival of the industry in 1879, but the agriculture began to fall in troubles.

July 20, 1874: Prague City Walls systematically pulled down.

April 7, 1878: Czech Social Democratic Party founded in Praha-Brevnov, based on the arrangement of the German Social Democratic Party from 1875.

April 19, 1880: Stremayer´s Language Laws. The Czech and German languages declared to be equal in the offices of state authorities, mainly in so called internal agency. It was possible to deal with clerks (e.g. applications) in chosen language. A clerk had to send his reply in that chosen language.

May 21, 1881: In Praha the first private phone line was established.

Feb. 28, 1882: Law separating the Prague Charles-Ferdinand University. The prime role played national and lingvistic interests.

May 20, 1882: Alliance between the Austrian Monarchy and Italy. The same done between Italy and Germany. It became basis for the later established alliance between Germany, Austria and Italy in 1887.

Nov. 18, 1883: National Theatre opened in Prague. It was built thanks to public collection. The previous building burned down on Aug. 12, 1881.

March 8, 1885: Trade Law Update. Children under the age of 14 years were not allowed to work, regulation of conditions for journeymen.

April 1, 1888: Street lighting built in Jindrichuv Hradec (public station already in 1887). Before 1914 about 290 power stations existed in Bohemia.

1888-1909: Large encyclopedia published by Jan Otta in Praha, containg general information. After WW1 several appendixies published.

May 16, 1889: Union of Farmers founded as a political organization of richer peasants and farmers.

Jan. 23, 1890: Foundation of the Czech Academy of Sciences and Arts. It consisted of 4 departments: 1- philosophy-historical and judicial sciences, 2- mathematics and natural sciences, 3- linguistics and literal history, 4- poetry, music and visual art.

July 11, 1892: Reform of monetary system. 1 zlaty = 2 koruny = 200 haleru.

Sept. 12, 1893-Oct. 11, 1895: State of emergency in Praha caused by political convulsion.