체코와 슬로바키아의 민족형성 과정은 18세기 말 마리아 테레자와 요셉2세의 계몽-절대주의 개혁으로 시작되는 근대화의 산물로 평가할 수 있다. 계몽-절대주의 군주의 목표는 문화적, 사회적으로 이질적이었던 합스부르크 제국을 동질화시키려는 것이었다. 그러나 결과적으로 이들의 목표는 실패했으며, 동시에 동질화시키려했던 이질적인 요소들이 오히려 더 두드러지게 나타나게 되었다. 개별 민족들 사이에서 민족의식이 성장하고 이것이 극적인 방법으로 표출된 요인은 여러 가지로 분석할 수 있겠지만, 계몽-절대주의 군주들의 개혁 시도가 이를 촉발시켰던 것만은 분명하다. 더군다나 프랑스 혁명에 기반하는 혁명 사상의 도래는 지배자와 피지배자간의 관계가 선천적으로 결정되는 것만은 아니라는 점을 인식시켜주면서 다민족 제국이었던 합스부르크 제국의 민족문제가 더욱 심각하게 드러났다. 18세기 말의 계몽과 이성 그리고 낭만주의 사상은 피지배 종족그룹(ethnic group)들이 민족그룹으로 성장하게 되는 이론적 토대가 되었고 이를 바탕으로 지식인층을 중심으로 한 소위 민족부흥의 첫 세대가 등장했다. 그러나 체코와 슬로바키아에서 이들의 역할이 초기부터 정치적인 성격을 띤 것은 아니었다. 지식인들이 선택한 방법은 문화적 수단이었다. 그중에서도 언어는 이들 간에 민족의식을 일깨우고 단일한 민족 정체성을 구축하는데 결정적인 기여를 했으며, 향후 정치적인 의미에서의 민족운동을 전개하는 기반이 되었다. 이와 같은 전체적인 논의를 기반으로 본문에서는 체코인과 슬로바키아인들이 민족으로써의 의식을 찾고 단일한 정체성을 형성하게 되는 첫 번째 단계를 살펴본다.

It can be said that the nation-building processes of Czechs and Slovaks were the result of the modernization which was begun by M. Terezie and her son Josep Ⅱ in the early 18th century. The purpose of the Enlightened absolutist rulers was to construct ‘homogeneous identity of empire’ through introducing unitary legislation, centralized administration, new educational system and German as an official language. But ipso facto theirs' aim was failed, moreover on the contrary heterogeneous factors which was to be assimilated had became more salient. Though the primary factors which had effected on the development of the national awareness can be discussed for variety of reasons, reforms which the Enlightened absolutist rulers had started provoked to erupt national demands. Moreover, as the revolutionary thoughts based on the French Revolution exposed the fact that the relation between the ruler and the ruled was not determined by nature, the national problems in Habsburg empire had taken more serious complexions. Enlightenment and romanticism gave theoretical basements for the first generation of national awakeners in 18th century and with which they tried to develop the ruled ethnic group to national one. But in Czech and Slovakia, ‘the national awakeners’ did not take political aims at the outset. It were urgent goals for them to enlighten ignorant peasants who accounted for an absolute majority of population of those two areas and workers after the middle of 19th century, that was the first step to establish national identity among the ruled who had been ruled at least for several hundreds years by the foreign rulers. It were cultural methods that ‘the national awakener’ had adopted to achieve these goals. Among the selected methods, language was a decisive factor to contribute to the growth of national awareness and the establishment of homogeneous national identity and at the same time to become a basement of deploying national movement as a political one. From these points of view, in this paper I've tried to analyze the first step in which Czechs and Slovaks as nations had became aware of national self-awareness and established their national identities. I've examined the process of establishment of their national awareness, that is the process of development of ‘language-based nationalism’, in that the most important factor in this period were cultures, especially language, history and literature.

It can be said that the nation-building processes of Czechs and Slovaks were the result of the modernization which was begun by M. Terezie and her son Josep Ⅱ in the early 18th century. The purpose of the Enlightened absolutist rulers was to construct ‘homogeneous identity of empire’ through introducing unitary legislation, centralized administration, new educational system and German as an official language. But ipso facto theirs' aim was failed, moreover on the contrary heterogeneous factors which was to be assimilated had became more salient. Though the primary factors which had effected on the development of the national awareness can be discussed for variety of reasons, reforms which the Enlightened absolutist rulers had started provoked to erupt national demands. Moreover, as the revolutionary thoughts based on the French Revolution exposed the fact that the relation between the ruler and the ruled was not determined by nature, the national problems in Habsburg empire had taken more serious complexions. Enlightenment and romanticism gave theoretical basements for the first generation of national awakeners in 18th century and with which they tried to develop the ruled ethnic group to national one. But in Czech and Slovakia, ‘the national awakeners’ did not take political aims at the outset. It were urgent goals for them to enlighten ignorant peasants who accounted for an absolute majority of population of those two areas and workers after the middle of 19th century, that was the first step to establish national identity among the ruled who had been ruled at least for several hundreds years by the foreign rulers. It were cultural methods that ‘the national awakener’ had adopted to achieve these goals. Among the selected methods, language was a decisive factor to contribute to the growth of national awareness and the establishment of homogeneous national identity and at the same time to become a basement of deploying national movement as a political one. From these points of view, in this paper I've tried to analyze the first step in which Czechs and Slovaks as nations had became aware of national self-awareness and established their national identities. I've examined the process of establishment of their national awareness, that is the process of development of ‘language-based nationalism’, in that the most important factor in this period were cultures, especially language, history and literature.

Czech, Slovak, Habsburg empire, language-based nationalism, national identity