Czech Republic

=== Military ===
{{Main|Army of the Czech Republic}}
[[File:Dejvice, generální štáb.jpg|thumb|right|General Staff of the [[Army of the Czech Republic]] in Prague]]
The [[Army of the Czech Republic|Czech armed forces]] consist of the [[Czech Land Forces]], the [[Czech Air Force]] and of specialized support units. The armed forces are managed by the [[Ministry of Defence (Czech Republic)|Ministry of Defence]]. The [[President of the Czech Republic]] is [[Commander-in-chief]] of the armed forces. In 2004 the army transformed itself into a fully professional organization and compulsory military service was abolished. The country has been a member of [[NATO]] since 12 March 1999. Defence spending is approximately 1.28% of the GDP (2021).<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.mocr.army.cz/finance-a-zakazky/resortni-rozpocet/resortni-rozpocet-5146/ |title=Resortní rozpočet |publisher=[[Ministry of Defence (Czech Republic)|Ministry of Defence of the Czech Republic]] |access-date=8 August 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150802012046/http://www.mocr.army.cz/finance-a-zakazky/resortni-rozpocet/resortni-rozpocet-5146/ |archive-date=2 August 2015 |url-status=live}}</ref> The armed forces are charged with protecting the Czech Republic and its allies, promoting global security interests, and contributing to NATO.

Currently, as a member of NATO, the Czech military are participating in the [[Resolute Support Mission|Resolute Support]] and [[Kosovo Force|KFOR]] operations and have soldiers in [[Afghanistan]], [[Mali]], [[Bosnia and Herzegovina]], [[Kosovo]], [[Egypt]], [[Israel]] and [[Operation Atalanta|Somalia]]. The Czech Air Force also served in the [[Baltic states]] and [[Iceland]].<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.army.cz/scripts/detail.php?id=5807 |title=Foreign Operations |publisher=[[Ministry of Defence (Czech Republic)|Ministry of Defence of the Czech Republic]] |access-date=25 March 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160306204826/http://www.army.cz/scripts/detail.php?id=5807 |archive-date=6 March 2016 |url-status=live}}</ref> The main equipment of the Czech military includes [[Saab JAS 39 Gripen|JAS 39 Gripen]] multi-role fighters, [[Aero L-159 Alca]] combat aircraft, [[Mil Mi-24|Mi-35]] attack helicopters, armored vehicles ([[Pandur II]], [[OT-64 SKOT|OT-64]], [[OT-90]], [[BMP-2|BVP-2]]) and tanks ([[T-72]] and [[T-72M4CZ]]).

The most famous Czech, and therefore Czechoslovak, soldiers and military leaders of the past were [[Ottokar II of Bohemia]], [[John of Bohemia]], [[Jan Žižka]], [[Albrecht von Wallenstein]], [[Karl Philipp, Prince of Schwarzenberg]], [[Joseph Radetzky von Radetz]], [[Josef Šnejdárek]], [[Heliodor Píka]], [[Ludvík Svoboda]], [[Jan Kubiš]], [[Jozef Gabčík]], [[František Fajtl]] and [[Petr Pavel]].