The term Hrad (, "castle") is used as shorthand for the political groups that were centered on the President of Czechoslovakia, and later President of the Czech Republic. The first president of Czechoslovakia,

Tomáš Masaryk Tomáš Garrigue Masaryk (7 March 185014 September 1937) was a Czechoslovak politician, statesman, sociologist, and philosopher. Until 1914, he advocated restructuring the Austro-Hungarian Empire into a federal state. With the help of ...

, had very limited formal powers, such as representing the country abroad, declaring war, making peace and naming ambassadors. Masaryk wished to implement the American model of a strong presidency, and used his considerable informal authority to obtain more power (e.g. to recall government ministers) and to set up a more-or-less independent political structure centered on himself. The common term used for this structure was "''the group of the Castle''", or ''skupina okolo Hradu'' in Czech, meaning the

Prague Castle Prague Castle ( cs, Pražský hrad; ) is a castle complex in Prague 1 Municipality within Prague, Czech Republic, built in the 9th century. It is the official office of the President of the Czech Republic. The castle was a seat of power for king ...

, the official seat of the president. The term ''Hrad'' (capitalized) was coined by the media and used as a slur by political opponents. ''Hrad'' included organizations such as Czechoslovak Unity of Legionnaires (''Československá obec legionářů'' - soldiers from the

Czechoslovak Legions , image = Coat of arms of the Czechoslovak Legion.svg , image_size = 200px , alt = , caption = Czechoslovak Legion coat of arms , start_date ...

), Legiobanka (a large bank), the

Czechoslovak Hussite Church The Czechoslovak Hussite Church ( cs, Církev československá husitská, ''CČSH'' or ''CČH'') is a Christian church that separated from the Catholic Church after World War I in former Czechoslovakia. Both the Czechoslovak Hussite Church and ...

which Masaryk helped to establish, individual entrepreneurs, politicians from several parties and influential journalists like

Ferdinand Peroutka Ferdinand Peroutka (6 February 1895 – 20 April 1978) was a Czech journalist and writer. A prominent political thinker and journalist during the First Czechoslovak Republic, Peroutka was persecuted by the Nazi regime for his democratic convict ...

and

Karel Čapek Karel Čapek (; 9 January 1890 – 25 December 1938) was a Czech writer, playwright and critic. He has become best known for his science fiction, including his novel '' War with the Newts'' (1936) and play '' R.U.R.'' (''Rossum's Universal ...

). The group had significant monetary resources available and kept an informal intelligence network. In 1925 they established a new political party (mockingly nicknamed "''the party of the Castle'', ''Hradní strana'') but it failed in the 1925 parliamentary elections and was dissolved five years later. The next president,

Edvard Beneš Edvard Beneš (; 28 May 1884 – 3 September 1948) was a Czech politician and statesman who served as the president of Czechoslovakia from 1935 to 1938, and again from 1945 to 1948. He also led the Czechoslovak government-in-exile 1939 to 194 ...

, tried to follow the direction set by Masaryk and kept Hrad above and outside political parties. After the communist takeover of power in Czechoslovakia in February 1948, the real center of power moved to the Central Committee of the

Party A party is a gathering of people who have been invited by a host for the purposes of socializing, conversation, recreation, or as part of a festival or other commemoration or celebration of a special occasion. A party will often featur ...

and to

Moscow Moscow ( , US chiefly ; rus, links=no, Москва, r=Moskva, p=mɐskˈva, a=Москва.ogg) is the capital and largest city of Russia. The city stands on the Moskva River in Central Russia, with a population estimated at 13.0 millio ...

. After the Communist party fell from power in 1989, the new president

Václav Havel Václav Havel (; 5 October 193618 December 2011) was a Czech statesman, author, poet, playwright, and former dissident. Havel served as the last president of Czechoslovakia from 1989 until the dissolution of Czechoslovakia in 1992 and then ...

tried to use his influence to retain his powers against the rising influence of political parties. His effort failed and Havel's role eventually became mostly ceremonial. The term ''Hrad'' had occasionally appeared again in Czech media to label the political movements, parties and individuals centered on Havel. Since they were unsuccessful the term was invariably meant as a mockery. Since the end of

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...

Czech historians have used the term in works about politics of prewar Czechoslovakia.

External links

Overview of political structures in prewar Czechoslovakia
(in Czech, PDF file) * {{cite web, author=Adéla Marečková, title=Mimoparlamentní dohadovací orgányza první československé republiky, url=https://is.cuni.cz/webapps/zzp/download/130067340/?lang=cs, website=Univerzita Karlova, date=2012, accessdate=2020-12-04, lang=cs Politics of Czechoslovakia