abstract
| - The Free State of Bohemia [Czech: Svobodný stát Čech] is one of the original nine constituent states of the Danubian Federation. During 1198, the Kingdom of Bohemia was formally established by King Ottokar I. After this, the country became a part of the Habsburg Empire. In 1204 Ottokar's royal dignity was accepted by Otto IV himself as well as by Pope Innocent III. Afterwards it was confirmed by the Golden Bull of Sicily issued by Emperor Frederick II in 1212, promoting the Duchy of Bohemia to Kingdom status and exempting the Czech king from all future obligations to the Holy Roman Empire except for participation in the imperial councils. After the early death of King Louis II Jagiellon at the Battle of Mohács in 1526, the Bohemian kingdom was inherited by his brother-in-law, the Austrian Archduke Ferdinand I of Habsburg, younger brother of Emperor Charles V, whom he succeeded in 1558. The subsequent incorporation of Bohemia into the Habsburg Monarchy against the resistance of the local Protestant nobility sparked off the 1618 Defenestration of Prague and the Thirty Years' War. Their defeat at the Battle of White Mountain in 1620 put an end to the Bohemian autonomy movement. With the dissolution of the Holy Roman Empire in 1806, the Bohemian kingdom was incorporated into the Austrian Empire with the royal title retained by the Emperor of Austria. During the revolution of 1848 the monarchy was dissolved with the formation of a Presidential Republic. The chief executive was no longer the crown but a president elected by the people, for the people. By September of that same year, the Austrian and Hungarian revolutionaries had unified to form the now-famous "Federation of Equals" in opposition to the royalists. After the revolution the state of Bohemia became part of the Danube Federation.
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