The Czechoslovak Federal Republic, colloquially known as Czechoslovakia (Czech: Československo, Slovak: Česko‑Slovensko), and abbreviated as the CSFR (ČSFR); is a sovereign state located in Eastern Europe. Czechoslovakia came into existence in 1918 as part of the partitioning of the Austro-Hungarian Empire following World War I. From the Munich Agreement of 1938 until the Velvet Revolution of 1989, Czechoslovakia had continuously been under the occupation of a foreign power — first by Nazi Germany (1938-1945) and then the Soviet Union (1945-1989). Czechoslovakia became the only nation of the former Soviet Bloc to break away and transition toward democracy peacefully. The nation has been a member state of the European Union since 2004, and holds close relations with neighboring Hungary and