Czech Relations with the Nations and Countries of Southeastern Europe

This collective monograph provides a succinct yet comprehensive picture of the contacts and relations between the Czech lands and Southeastern Europe from the Middle Ages to the present day. The 15 chapters examine not only the relations of Czechs with all of the Slavic countries of the region (Slovenia, Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Serbia, Monte Negro, Macedonia, Czechoslovak-Yugoslav relations in the years 1918–1991/1992, Bulgaria) but also relations with non-Slavic countries (Romania, Moldavia, Albania, Kosovo, Greece, Cyprus, Turkey). One of the book’s greatest merits is that in addition to political and economic contacts, it devotes considerable attention to cultural contacts, which often played a key role in the history of relations between the Czech lands and Southeastern Europe across a wide spectrum, from connections within the different national literatures and reciprocal influences in the visual arts, architecture, music, theatre and film, to examples of collaboration in science and education.
Readers will likely be surprised to learn how many Czechs have, over the centuries, contributed to the cultural and economic betterment of Southeastern Europe through various activities and have promoted the sharing of information about the region both at home and abroad in their scientific and journalistic work.