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British Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament in Its Prime
Langmajerová, Barbora ; Váška, Jan (advisor) ; Smetana, Vít (referee)
Since 1958 the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament was the best known British organisation opposing nuclear weapons. They organized the greatest protest activities mainly in two critical periods of the Cold War: 1958-1963 and 1979-1987. The intent of my thesis is to compare the work of the Campaign in these two historical eras. In connection with the functioning of the anti-nuclear protest movement the paper focuses on several issues: (1) the circumstances of the establishment and resurfacing of the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament, (2) its main activities, (3) the reasons why the protests faded away, (4) changes of the membership, (5) affiliated groups and international cooperation, (6) relationship between the campaigners and the Labour Party, (7) reactions of the British governments and (8) of general public. In addition to the analysis of the Campaign's work the paper tries to explain the political and historical context as well. A chapter describing the 1960s and 1970s was included for better continuity of the text. At that time the British population wasn't that interested in the nuclear armament and the activities of the Campaign were considerably limited. My thesis should explain the main changes in the perception of the nuclear threat during the Cold War and find the most important...
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Britain at Bay: The British Defence Policy between the World Wars
Svoboda, Ondřej ; Smetana, Vít (advisor) ; Váška, Jan (referee)
The purpose of the thesis "Britain at Bay: British Defence Policy between the World Wars" is to analyse the creation and application of defence policy of Great Britain and its Empire in the interwar period. The author tries to assess and interpret actions of individual government actors as well as actors outside the government. He argues that defence policy promoted by politicians, soldiers, and bureaucrats, was not always a mere result of rational reasoning. There were often cases of defending particular interests, decision-making influenced by emotions and misleading perception of the external world. One of the strongest limitations was Britain's economic frailty which influenced the British grand strategy in eminent and key way during the examined period. It is well demonstrated on the shift from almost unilateral disarmament after the First World War to the immense armament just a few months before the Second World War. Great emphasis is also put on individual armed branches which bore the main burden of Britain's and Imperial security. Therefore, it was important to pursue the internal development of the Army, Air Force and the Navy and their operational plans in which they had to deal with gradual emergence of three enemy powers at three different parts of the world. With regard to the...
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Making moments of history : how the comparison between the 1953 uprising and the 1989 revolution is contributing to a new German story
Boniface, Donna ; Smetana, Vít (advisor) ; Vykoukal, Jiří (referee)
Since reunifying in 1990, Germany has been working to develop an identity that represents the people of the two former German states. At the beginning of the twenty-first century the country still faced unique challenges as it reconciles the stories of the former capitalist and communist states. First, this study investigates the role of nation-building historical narratives and how they developed in the German context. Then it looks at the introduction of the East German uprising of 1953 into the national history of unified Germany and how this event has been used to shape the narrative around the 1989 revolution. Finally, it reflects on the significance of such a comparison for the historiography of the events.
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"Witness of Czechoslovakia. Case Study of Czech Communist of Jewish Origin."
Bouška, Tomáš ; Cabada, Ladislav (advisor) ; Smetana, Vít (referee)
This MA thesis delivers the life story interview of Czech Communist of Jewish Origin who survived jailing in Nazi concentration camps and Czechoslovak Communist prisons. Using the delivered narrative I aim to explain the historical context of today's Czech Republic from a human perspective. The story is divided into four historical periods of Czechoslovak past for this reason. The interviewed memories touch the key events of the former Czechoslovakia and today's Czech Republic but they deal with anti-Semitism and political oppression, which are international by its nature. In my work I focus on Czech/oslovak, Jewish and Communist identities as three issues the interviewee mentions in all four historical intervals of his narrative. My intention is to clarify the keywords and to explain their meaning for the interviewee in context with the different political situations in the past. My hope is to give the story a complete form and preserve the narrative, which belongs to the gender of Holocaust and Communist witness literature. I use the method of oral history and the life story interview in my thesis because they are the most fruitful approach for my paper. These methods allow the interviewed person to speak about those parts of their lives they consider important. As for the theoretical background I use...
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Stavba a bourání "mostu mezi Východem a Západem". Československo mezi velmocemi v roce 1944
Smetana, Vít
This study demonstrates that the year 1944 was exceptional in the context of the overall development of Czechoslovak foreign policy. It was in this year, and only then, that the exile leadership proclaimed its ambition to play the role of a “bridge between East and West.” However, by the end of the year, the U.S.S.R., soon followed by the Communist leaders in Moscow, expressed its negative attitude to this idea. What followed was a flabby submission and a growing foreign policy orientation towards the East.
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