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Having been part of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, Czechoslovakia became an independent state in 1918. A referendum was organized for Eastern Silesia, resulting in the division of this region between Czechoslovakia and Poland. Under German pressure, Czechoslovakia gradually dissolved in 1938/1939. In 1938 Germany annexed the mainly German speaking Sudetenland, Hungary annexed parts of Slovakia and Carpatho-Ukraine, and Poland annexed the part of Eastern Silesia that had been awarded to Czechoslovakia. In 1939 Germany overran Czechoslovakia and formed the German protectorates of Bohemia & Moravia and Slovakia, Bohemia & Moravia becoming part of the German Reich. Carpatho-Ukraine was annexed by Hungary. After WWII, Czechoslovakia was reinstated within its former borders, with the exception of Carpatho-Ukraine, which became part of the Soviet Union. In 1993 Czechoslovakia was dissolved to form the Czech Republic and the Republic of Slovakia.
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