Czech Armed Forces
The Czech Armed Forces, also known as the Czech Army, are the military responsible for the defence of the Czech Republic. The Czech Armed Forces led by the General Staff consist of the Land Forces, the Air Force, the Special Forces, the Information and Cyber Forces, the Territorial Forces, and other components.
Modern Czech military history started with formal establishment of the Czechoslovak Legion fighting on the side of the Entente powers during World War I, thus preceding the 1918 Czechoslovak declaration of independence. Following the Munich Agreement, the country was occupied by Nazi Germany and the Army was reconstituted in exile, fighting on the side of Allies of World War II in the European as well as Mediterranean and Middle East theatre. After the 1948 Communist Coup, the Czechoslovak People's Army with over 200,000 active personnel and some 4,500 tanks formed one of the pillars of the Warsaw Pact military alliance.
Following the Velvet Revolution and dissolution of Czechoslovakia, the Czech Republic joined NATO in 1999. The conscription was abolished in 2004, leading to transformation into a modern professional army inspired mostly by the British Armed Forces and USMC example. Today, the Czech Army has around 30.000 professional personnel and 4.900 members of active reserves. Additionally, any citizen can voluntarily join a five-week basic training without becoming a soldier or join advanced shooting training with their privately owned firearms and become a member of militia-style Designated Reserves.
A law adopted in June 2023 stipulates that the military expenditures shall not be lower than 2% of country's GDP, starting from 2024. In March 2025, Petr Fiala Government adopted a decision to raise the military expenditures annually by 0,2% of GDP, in order to reach at least 3% of GDP in 2030.
History
Czech lands
The military history of the Czech people dates back to the Middle Ages and the creation of the Duchy of Bohemia and the Kingdom of Bohemia. The battle on the Marchfeld was one of the largest medieval cavalry battles in Central Europe, in which the Iron and Golden King Ottokar II of Bohemia was killed.During the Hussite Wars, Jan Žižka became a military leader of such skill and eminence that the Hussite legacy became an important and lasting part of the Czech military traditions.
Notable military figures of Czech nobility in the Habsburg monarchy include Albrecht von Wallenstein and Joseph Radetzky von Radetz.
When the World War I broke out, the Czech Crown lands were part of the Austria-Hungary and the colonised Czech population had to serve in its army. From 1914, on the background of attempts to attain independence, various units composed of Czech nationals, mainly POWs, were established, fighting as part of the French, Italian and Russian forces against the Entente powers. Beginning in 1916, these Czechoslovak Legions gained increasingly independent status. Following the 1918 Czechoslovak declaration of independence, the newly established Czechoslovak Army derived its legacy primarily from these legions rather than from the Austrian Habsburg Imperial Army.
Official military names since 1918:
- 1918–1950 - Czechoslovak Armed Forces
- 1950–1954 - Czechoslovak Army
- 1954–1989 - Czechoslovak People's Army
- 1990–1992 - Czechoslovak Army
- since 1993 - Army of the Czech Republic
Czechoslovakia
In 1938, servicemen of the Czechoslovak Army and the State Defense Guard fought in an undeclared border war against the German-backed Sudetendeutsches Freikorps as well as Polish and Hungarian paramilitary forces. As a result of the Munich Agreement, areas heavily populated by ethnic German speaking people were incorporated into the Third Reich and military-aged men living there were subject to being drafted into the Wehrmacht. In 1939, after the Slovak State proclaimed its independence and the remainder of Carpathian Ruthenia was occupied and annexed by Hungary, the German occupation of the Czech Lands followed and the Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia was proclaimed after the negotiations with Emil Hácha. The Protectorate's government possessed its own armed force, the Government Army, tasked with public security and rearguard duties. On the other side of the conflict, a number of Czechoslovak units and formations served with the Polish Army, the French Army, the Royal Air Force, the British Army, and the Red Army. Four Czech and Slovak-manned RAF squadrons were transferred to Czechoslovak control in late 1945.
File:Czech army Sgt. Van Kmecik and Croatian army Master Sgt. Bravko Horvat discuss patrol routes.jpg|thumbnail|left|Croatian Army soldier discusses patrol routes with a Czech Army soldier
From 1954 until 1989, the Army was known as the Czechoslovak People's Army. Although the ČSLA, as formed in 1945, included both Soviet- and British-equipped/trained expatriate troops, the "Western" soldiers had been purged from the ČSLA after 1948 when the communists took power. The ČSLA offered no resistance to the invasion mounted by the Soviets in 1968 in reaction to the "Prague Spring", and was extensively reorganized by the Soviets following the re-imposition of communist rule in Prague.
Of the approximately 201,000 personnel on active duty in the ČSLA in 1987, about 145,000, or about 72 percent, served in the ground forces. About 100,000 of these were conscripts. There were two military districts, Western and Eastern. A 1989 listing of forces shows two Czechoslovak armies in the west, the 1st Army at Příbram with one tank division and three motor rifle divisions, the 4th Army at Písek with two tank divisions and two motor rifle divisions. In the Eastern Military District, there were two tank divisions, the 13th and 14th, with a supervisory headquarters at Trenčín in the Slovak part of the country.
During the Cold War, the ČSLA was equipped primarily with Soviet arms, although certain arms like the OT-64 SKOT armored personnel carrier, the L-29 Delfín and L-39 Albatros aircraft, the P-27 Pancéřovka antitank rocket launcher, the vz. 58 assault rifle or the Uk vz. 59 machine gun were of Czechoslovak design.
After the fall of communism during the Velvet Revolution in 1989, the Czechoslovak People's Army was renamed back to the Czechoslovak Army and was completely transformed as well.
After 1992 (dissolution of Czechoslovakia)
The Army of the Czech Republic was formed after the Czechoslovak Armed Forces split after the 31 December 1992 peaceful dissolution of Czechoslovakia. Czech forces stood at 90,000 in 1993. They were reduced to around 65,000 in 11 combat brigades and the Air Force in 1997, to 63,601 in 1999, and to 35,000 in 2005. At the same time, the forces were modernized and reoriented towards a defensive posture. In 2004, the army transformed itself into a fully professional organization and compulsory military service was abolished. The Army maintains an active reserve.The Czech Republic is a member of the United Nations and the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe. In March 1999, the Czech Republic joined NATO. Since 1990, the ACR and the Czech Armed Forces have contributed to numerous peacekeeping and humanitarian operations, including IFOR, SFOR, and EUFOR Althea in Bosnia, Desert Shield/Desert Storm, Afghanistan, Kosovo, Albania, Turkey, Pakistan and with the Coalition forces in Iraq.
Current deployments :
- Lithuania: NATO Operation - 230 soldiers
- Latvia: NATO Operation - 60 soldiers
- Afghanistan: NATO Operation - 390 soldiers
- Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania: NATO Operation - 95 soldiers, 5x Jas 39 Gripen
- Kosovo: NATO Operation - 9 soldiers
- Mali: EU military training mission - 120 soldiers
- Mali: UN peacekeeping mission - 5 soldiers
- Somalia: EU Operation Atalanta - 3 soldiers
- Sinai: International peacekeeping force - 18 soldiers
- Iraq: Military intervention against the Islamic State - 31 soldiers, 12 soldiers
- Mediterranean Sea: EU military operation - 5 soldiers
- Bosnia and Herzegovina: Military deployment to oversee the military implementation of the Dayton Agreement - 2 soldiers
- Golan Heights: UN peacekeeping mission - 3 soldiers
- DR Congo: UN peacekeeping mission - 2 military observers
- Mali: UN peacekeeping mission - 2 military observers
- Kosovo: UN peacekeeping mission - 2 military observers
- Central African Republic: UN peacekeeping mission - 3 military observers
Structure
Czech soldiers also serve in Ministry of Defence, military schools, Military Police and Military Intelligence.
| Organization | ozbrojené síly České republiky | Armáda České republiky |
| Organization | Armed Forces of the Czech Republic | Czech Armed Forces, lit. Army of the Czech Republic |
| Components | Czech Armed Forces Castle Guard Military Office of the President | Land Forces Air Force Territorial Forces Information and Cyber Forces Special Forces |