The Sudetes, also called Sudeten (German; SAMPA: [su"deIt@n]) or Sudety (["sudetI] in Czech, [su"detI] in Polish), is a mountain range in Central Europe. It stretches from eastern Germany to Poland and Czech Republic. The highest mountain is Snezka in Krkonose Mountains on the Czech-Polish border. It reaches up to 1,602 m. The Sudetes are divided into
Western Sudetes with Lusatian Mountains (Germany and Czech Republic) and Karkonosze/Krkonoše (Poland and Czech Republic)
Central Sudetes
Eastern Sudetes
Especially Krkonose Mountains are facing growing tourism for winter sports during the past ten years. Its skiing resorts are becoming a serious alternative to the Alps.
The name Sudetes has been derived from the name Sudetayle (English "Mountains of Wild Boars") used by the Greek Ptolemaios in 150 for the present-day northern Czech mountains.
The name derived from Sudetes was used before World War II to describe the German province of Sudetenland. The province was located only partly in Sudetes, partly in other areas of Bohemia. The Germans living there were called Sudetendeutsche.
In the campaign for Sudeten self-determination, its advocates ignored the fact that the vast majority of Germanic peoples already enjoyed self-determination in the form of Germany and Austria, two states contiguous to the area of Czechoslovakia in dispute.
London pressured Prague to sweeten the plan and agree to a Sudeten plebiscite, though it was obvious that such a plebiscite would lead to the partition of Czechoslovakia.
William Srang, head of the Central European Department of the British Foreign Office, warned that the German government is "using the Sudeten German question as an instrument of policy to strengthen [its] political and military position." The democracies insisted on seeing the Sudeten conflict as a question of minority rights and self-determination.
Die Sudeten gliedern sich in mehrere Teilgebirge und ziehen sich etwa 330 Kilometer in Nordwest-Südost-Richtung vom Elbetal zur mährischen Pforte.
Nach den Sudeten wurde zwischen 1918 und 1945 die deutsche Minderheit in der damaligen Tschechoslowakei benannt - die Sudetendeutschen.
Ihr Siedlungsgebiet wurde Sudetenland genannt, umfasste aber nicht nur das Gebiet der Sudeten, sondern das gesamte Grenzgebiet der Tschechoslowakei zu Deutschland und Ă–sterreich.
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