Bohemia (German Böhmen, Bohemian Čechy[1]) has an area of 20,223 square
miles, and is bounded on the north by Saxony and Prussian Silesia; on
the east by Prussia and Moravia; on the south by Lower Austria; on the
west by Bavaria. According to the census of 1910, 4,241,918 inhabitants
declared for Bohemian and 2,467,724 for the German language.
Historians recognize two epochal events in the life of the nation.
The first begins with the outbreak of the Hussite wars, following the
death of King Václav IV. in 1419; the second, with the battle of White
Mountain in 1620. The period intervening between the first two events
is referred to as the Middle Age. That which preceded the Hussite wars
is called the Old Age, and, that which followed the defeat at White
Mountain, the New Age.