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Plzen is a city in western Bohemia in the Czech Republic. It is
the capital of the Plzen Region and the fourth most populous
city in the Czech Republic. It is located about 90 km west of
Prague at the confluence of four rivers—the Radbuza, the Mze,
the Uhlava, and the Uslava—which form the Berounka River. The
city is known worldwide for Pilsener beer. Pilsen was in
September 2010 selected by an official jury to be put forward to
join the Belgian city of Mons as the European capital of culture
in 2015. Plzen was first mentioned as a castle in 976, as the
scene of a battle between Duke Boleslaus II of Bohemia and
Emperor Otto II. It became a town in 1295 when King Wenceslaus
II granted Plzen its civic charter as a special "Royal City" and
established a new town site, located some 10 km away from the
original settlement, which is the current town of Stary Plzenec.
It quickly became an important town on trade routes leading to
Nuremberg and Regensburg; in the 14th century, it was the
third-largest town in Bohemia after Prague and Kutna Hora.
During the Hussite Wars, it was the centre of Catholic
resistance to the Hussites: Prokop the Great unsuccessfully
besieged it three times, and it joined the league of Romanist
nobles against King George of Podebrady. In 1468, the town
acquired a printing press; the Troyan Chronicle, the first book
published in Bohemia, was printed on it. Emperor Rudolf II made
Plzen his seat from 1599-1600. During the Thirty Years' War the
town was taken by Mansfeld in 1618 after the Siege of Plzen and
it was not recaptured by the Imperial troops until 1621.
Wallenstein made it his winter quarters in 1633. The town was
unsuccessfully besieged by the Swedes in 1637 and 1648. The town
and region have been staunchly Catholic despite the Hussite Wars.
At the end of the 17th century, the architecture of Plzen began
to be influenced by the Baroque style. The city center has been
under historic preservation since 1989.
In the second half of the 19th Century Plzen, already an
important trade centre for Bohemia, near the Bavarian/German
border, began to rapidly industrialise. In 1869 Emil Skoda
started up the Skoda Works, which became the most important and
influential engineering company in the country and a crucial
supplier of arms to the Austro-Hungarian Army. By 1917 the Skoda
Works employed over 30,000 workers. The second largest employer
in this period was, after 1898, the National Railways train
workshop with about 2,000 employees: this was the largest rail
repair shop in all Austria-Hungary. Between 1861 and 1877, the
Plzen railway junction was completed and in 1899 the first tram
line started in the city. This burst of industry had two
important effects: the growth of the local Czech (Slavic)
population and the urban poor. Before 1860 the town was mostly
German-speaking; after 1918 it was mostly Czech speaking.
However much of the countryside to the west, north and south of
the town continued to speak a local German dialect. Following
Czechoslovak independence from Austria-Hungary in 1918 the
German-speaking minority in the region hoped to be united with
Austria and were unhappy at being included in Czechoslovakia.
Many allied themselves to the Nazi cause after 1933, in hopes
that perhaps Adolf Hitler might be able to unite them with their
German-speaking neighbours. In 1938 Plzen became literally a
frontier town, after the creation of the Sudetenland moved the
Third Reich borders to the city's outer limits. During the Nazi
occupation from 1939 to 1945 the Skoda Works in Pilsen was
forced to provide armaments for the Wehrmacht and Czech
contributions, particularly in the field of tanks, were noted.
The German-speaking population was forcibly expelled from the
city and in fact all of Czechoslovakia after the end of war in
1945, according to provision in the Potsdam agreement. All of
their property was confiscated. On May 6, 1945, near end of
World War II, Plzen was liberated from Nazi Germany by the 16th
Armored Division of General Patton's 3rd Army. Also
participating in the liberation of the city were elements of the
97th and 2nd Infantry Divisions. Other Third Army units
liberated major portions of Western Bohemia. The rest of
Czechoslovakia was liberated from German control by the Soviet
Red Army. Elements of Third Army, as well as units from the
First Army, remained in Plzen until late November 1945,
assisting the Czechs with re-building from the war. After
seizing power in 1948, the Communists undertook a systematic
campaign to suppress all acknowledgement of the U.S. Army's role
in liberating the city and Western Bohemia. This continued until
1989 when the Communists were removed from power. Since 1990,
the city of Plzen has organized the annual Liberation Festival,
taking place in May, which has already become a local tradition,
and has been attended by many American and Allied veterans.
After the Communist takeover of February 1948, the totalitarian,
Soviet-oriented Czechoslovak government launched a currency
reform in 1953. This decision caused a wave of discontent
throughout the society, while the events in Plzen were more
intense. On 1 June 1953 over 20,000 people, mainly workers of
the Skoda Works began demonstrating against the communist regime.
Demonstrators forced their way into the town hall and threw
Communist symbols, furniture and other objects out the windows.
The demonstration was violently suppressed by the Communist
officials. |
