Vytváření branného národa v Československu. Jednotný systém branné výchovy obyvatelstva v letech 1971–1989
The making of a military nation in Czechoslovakia. Unified system of civil defence education in the years 1971–1989

Summary/Abstract: The paper studies the unified system of civil defence education. This complex programme of civil defence and in particular of ideological preparation for an armed conflict was created in Czechoslovakia in the mid 1960s but was not launched until the so called normalization period. The programme’s ambition was to educate people, starting already at the kindergarten, as conscious defenders of both their homeland and the international communist society. This system was part of the reality of pretence in Czechoslovakia in the 1970’s and it was deemed as relatively successful by the ruling Communist Party. However, the public regarded it as a necessary evil and cherry-picked only the things that suited them best. In response to the ideological system, overall easing and the sense of safety after 1989, both the public and politicians rejected the unified system of civil defence education, together with the civil defence education as a whole. The system was a proof that the efforts to maintain the totalitarian rule in Czechoslovakia before November 1989 were actually failing

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