Thu, 01 Jan 1970 01:00:00 +0100Thu, 23 Jul 2026 11:06:12 +0200https://english.radio.cz/25-february-1948-communistsbloodless-coup-8096281© 2026 Radio Prague International Exactly 57 years ago, on 25 February 1948 the Communists seized power in post-war Czechoslovakia. This marked the beginning of more than four decades of hard line communist rule, brought to an end by the Velvet Revolution in 1989. Czechoslovak Communist leader Klement Gottwald on that fateful day in 1948 announced on Prague's Old Town Square that the resignation of several non-communist ministers had been accepted by the president. Even though the change to a totalitarian system did not happen just overnight, this event was symbolic of the start of one-party rule. I met historian Jan Rychlik and asked him what happened on that cold February day to make it so important in the Communists' rise to power. encr@radio.cz (Cesky Rozhlas)webmaster@radio.cz (CRo Webmaster) https://english.radio.cz/sites/default/files/images/unor48_1.jpg?timestamp=1591459586 https://english.radio.cz/25-february-1948-communistsbloodless-coup-8096281 Radio Prague International Radio Prague International radio.prague.int@gmail.com clean 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9