Why Did Czechoslovakia split?

There were two main reasons that Czechoslovakia split into two countries in 1993.
1. There was a blossoming of Slovak nationalism after the Iron Curtain fell — although not in any violent or extreme way when compared to the various nations of the former Yugoslavia, for example.
   
   I think it was more that some Slovaks felt they were treated by Prague as “Czech’s little brother”, in a sense, and wanted to ‘'make it on their own.”
2. Politicians saw a chance to attain and/or consolidate their power(and wealth) by creating another state with a separate parliament, government et al. This is the MAIN reason for the split.
With the waning of Russian power and the prospect of both countries becoming involved NATO/EU membership, there was no real security reason to stay together. The original state of Czechoslovakis was something that Woodrow Wilson and the League of Nations carved from the ruins of the Austrian-Hungarian empire in 1918, so it is not as if they had a long historical tradition together as a country, despite the obvious similiarities in culture and language — distinct cultures and languages to be sure, but very similar.

There was really no rancor; no build up of tensions; no riots; no Molotov cocktails; no vicious crackdowns of truncheon and plastic shields. These countries are peaceful.
A lot of Czechs today still feel pride about the natural beauty of Slovakia and there are many Slovaks living integrated lives in the Czech Republic. My dentist, one of my employees and several of my students are Slovak, for example.
AS these things go, I think that the peaceful “Velvet Divorce”, as it is called, should be considered a model.
Written Sept 12