The 1948 Czechoslovak coup d'etat was the event in which the Communist Party of Czechoslovakia, led by Klement Gottwald, took full control of the government. After the party's strong showing in the 1946 elections, tension grew with the other parties in the coalition. When non-communist ministers resigned in protest at the communists' control of the police, Gottwald, backed by the Soviet Union and by armed workers' militias and street demonstrations, pressed President Edvard Benes to accept a government dominated by the communists. Benes agreed, and the country became a one-party state. The foreign minister Jan Masaryk was found dead soon afterward. The coup was seen in the West as a sign of the hardening Cold War division of Europe.
Before and after
- 30 January 1948Death of Mahatma Gandhi
- 11 February 1948Death of Sergei Eisenstein
- 16 February 1948Discovery of Miranda
- from 17 February 1948 to 1 March 1948Alwaziri coup
- 25 February 19481948 Czechoslovak coup d'état
- 28 February 1948Birth of Steven Chu
- 7 March 1948Founding of Nea Salamis Famagusta FC
- 9 March 1948Death of Edgar de Wahl
- 20 March 1948Birth of John de Lancie
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The era
This moment belongs to the Contemporary world (1945 CE to today), the world since 1945. You can also browse everything in the 20th century.