World-famous glassworks, major industrial textile production, and state-of-the-art machine-building facilities: the country known today as the Czech Republic was already an economic powerhouse more than a hundred years ago, not to mention the industrial backbone of the Austro-Hungarian Empire. For centuries it was also the center of European history: Prague was the capital of the Holy Roman Empire, and the famous “Defenestration of Prague” launched the Thirty Years’ War. Princes such as Wallenstein and Metternich resided in the city, and Goethe, Schiller, and Beethoven paid many visits. Prague was also home to the influential writers Kafka and Rilke. However, Czechoslovakia, as the new nation of Czechs and Slovaks was named after the First World War, disappeared behind the Iron Curtain after World War II. Private property, industrial facilities, and banks and businesses were all nationalized by the communist government, and the German population was expelled. This once internationally respected and economically sound country became one of the most conservative East Bloc nations. It was not until the Velvet Revolution in 1989 that Czechoslovakia returned to the European stage — and launched an exemplary economic catch-up campaign.