And to start as advertised, let us first go to the year 1197. Following years of unrest and unstable political situation, the Czech lands were in search of better times to come. The ruler, Prince Bretislav Jindrich, died of natural causes in West Bohemia. However, the reason why he came to West Bohemia in the first place was not at all natural as he was forced to flee the capital city. As a bishop, Bretislav Jindrich might have been a worthy man of the cloth, but his ruling abilities were but few. He failed to live up to the legend of his ruling predecessors who were, like Bretislav Jindrich, all members of the noble Premysl family. Come to think of it, the entire affair might have been fairly natural after all. The ruler was no good and was forced out, nothing unusual about that, especially in medieval Bohemia.

The nobles elected Prince Vladislav to claim the precious throne and this Vladislav was known to be both capable and honest. The problem was that his brother Premysl was also interested in wearing the crown and he gathered an army to make war with Vladislav. The prince knew better than to bring the burden of civil war on the entire population and he abdicated in Premysl's favour. And so it happened, exactly 800 years ago that the people of Bohemia and Moravia hailed their new ruler - Premysl Otakar I. He ruled for 33 long years and became one of the most powerful kings in all Europe. His wealth was without measure and his army feared no enemy. In the year 1212 he received the official document called The Golden Bull of Sicily and with it many royal rights and privileges that were granted to Czech kings for the centuries to come. But most of all, the Czech lands were at last confirmed as a hereditary kingdom. And should you come to Prague, you will have a chance to encounter the legend of Premysl Otakar I almost every day, I guess, as his portrait now appears on the twenty Crown banknote.

So, that was a brief look at the events that took place 800 years ago, although maybe as not brief as I expected. But enough of the late 12th century. Let us swiftly enter the time machine and transfer ourselves to more recent times - to a year that also ends with the number seven. The year was 1917 and World War I had been going on for three years already. The Russian Empire collapsed. The existing fronts seemed as firm and stable as never before. Thousands were forced to die to seize a few square metres of land and not even new weapons like tanks, planes and gas were able to change the stalemate situation. In August 1917, Czech resistance in exile finally managed to make a deal with the French government that recognized the official Czechoslovak army in France. A similar agreement was reached in Italy in September. The recognition of our army abroad was equal to the recognition of the exile authorities known generally as the National Council. Credit for this political achievement went to Dr. Eduard Benes, the future second president of independent Czechoslovakia.

The plan was to organize Czechoslovak legions in France and Italy to fight the Central Powers - Imperial Germany and Austro-Hungary. As for the human resources for this scheme, the National Council counted on the many Czech prisoners of war in Allied POW camps. Some Czech units were expected to arrive from Russia and Czechs in the United States were also ready to give a helping hand. Defections from the Austro-Hungarian army were very frequent. For example, on August 20, 1917 members of the 28th Czech Mountain Regiment surrendered to Italian troops near the town of Canale - and found out that eating spaghetti is much nicer than what they were given to eat by the Austrian army. Which is, by the way, a real soldier's statement and we are not making it up. No way. But speaking of food and rations, the situation in this field was becoming a great disaster in the Czech lands. The starving majority was getting very upset, to put it mildly, and official places in many towns witnessed omens of the unrest that would occur in 1918 - in the final year of the war.

However, it wasn't Prague that made the headlines in August 1917, but the industrial city of Pilsen. Famous for its beer, Pilsen was also the home of the giant Skoda factory that played a key role in arms production. On August 3, 1917, while the men were still at work, their wives and children once again stood for hours in front of the local shops to buy at least a loaf of bread that was becoming more and more rare in the entire city. But the bread was made of corn and it proved almost impossible to eat. On the main square, those who were waiting to buy potatoes discovered that there was no delivery made and that they had waited in vain. Disappointment turned to anger and some 150 women set off for the city hall. There they only learned what they knew already - there were really no potatoes available. The women were sent to Pilsen's Vankova Street to get some flour, but the result was very much the same. No flour. By eleven a.m. the crowd was back in front of the city hall and soldiers had to called in to restore order and prevent an open attack on the city hall building.

Order was restored - at least for a few days. But the situation was critical. The federal government in Vienna knew this well and the interior minister asked all regional governors to send him detailed reports about the public opinion in their area. The main question asked was: Can the people stand and survive another winter of war? Austria lacked Germany's iron discipline. Increasing prices offered ground for illegal activities and the black market was booming. The farming sector was in ruins. There was a lack a labour and horses were taken over by the army. Food production declined and there were also severe problems with the transport of the little that was available. Imperial railroads were overused and in bad shape. All this added to the general atmosphere and Pilsen was just one of the cities where people lifted their voice in protest.

On August 13, 1917, only ten days after the first riots, women were once again waiting to buy bread at the previously mentioned Vankova Street. It was low quality dark bread. In the coffee house opposite, people were enjoying bread and cakes made of the finest flour. The inevitable happened. The coffee house was attacked by a mob of 800 women and children. The crowd began looting and it moved from one street to another. Even the mayor's house was attacked with stones. Official places were afraid to act - it wasn't until five p.m. that someone summoned a few platoons of soldiers to take position in the city centre. Looting a few more shops, the women were meanwhile joined by their husbands who were returning from work. And it was near the "Petrohrad" coffee house that these men clashed with soldiers of the 48th Regiment. Four manual workers were injured and one woman was shot dead while watching everything from a window. The tragedy was over by late night hours and a state of emergency was declared in the entire city. Frightened by the vision of more unrest, Pilsen officials managed to obtain more food products and even the official report to the governor admitted that the demands of the rioting people were justified. But as I said earlier, it was an omen of the events to come in 1918 when more and more people took to the streets and eventually the war ended, peace was restored and Czechoslovakia declared its independence. But that's another story and, for the time being, I can only invite you to join me for some more Czech history in a week's time...

by Peter Casper

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