Czechoslovak-Arab relations between the two wars. Political and economic relations of interwar Czechoslovakia to Arab countries in the Near East

The thesis examines the political and economic relations between inter-war Czechoslovakia and Egypt, Palestine, Iraq, Syria and Lebanon. It describes in detail the development of the organizational structure of the Czechoslovak diplomatic and consular representation in the above countries. It follows the history of mutual political relations and seeks to answer the question how Czechoslovakia formulated its positions on individual issues and which government departments played the crucial role in formulating Czechoslovak positions. The core of the thesis is a detailed analysis of mutual trade contacts. The author identifies the main factors that determined the nature of Czechoslovak trade with Arab countries. Special attention is paid namely to the support and incentives offered by the government and government-funded institutions with the aim to encourage Czechoslovak exports to Arab countries. The last part of the thesis explains in detail how soon and in what manner each mission joined the Czechoslovak resistance movement after the Nazi occupation of Czechoslovakia in March 1939. The author concludes that the conduct of the heads of Czechoslovak missions in Arab countries in the first days and weeks following the occupation was the main cause of the tensions that existed between the missions and..