Almost at the moment that Czechoslovakia came into existence seventy years ago, political observers were quick to point out that the new country was, in a sense, the former multinational Austro-Hungarian Empire rewrit small. Of Czechoslovakia's 13600000 inhabitants recorded in 1921, the Czechs numbered 6747000, barely half (50.4 per cent) the total population. The other half was divided among several nationalities: German (23.4 per cent), Slovaks (15 per cent), Magyars (5.6 per cent), Carpatho-Rusyns (3.5 per cent), and others (Jews, Poles, Gypsies — together 2.1 per cent).¹ As for the Magyars and Carpatho-Rusyns, there were found almost exclusively in the eastern provinces of the republic.