| 1936 | Vaclav Havel, writer and statesman, the last Czechoslovak and first Czech President, was born in Prague on October 5 into a prominent businessman's family. Parents: Vaclav M. Havel and Bozena Havlova (nee Vavreckova). Vaclav Havel has one brother Ivan. |
| 1951 | Completed his primary schooling. Because of his "bourgeois" background, options for higher education were limited in the communist-ruled Czechoslovakia. |
| 1951 - 1955 | Worked as a chemical laboratory technician while attending evening classes at a high school from which he graduated in 1954. |
| 1955 - 1957 | Studied at the Economics Faculty of the Czech Technical University in Prague. |
| 1957 - 1959 | Military service in the Czechoslovak Army. First literary works. |
| 1960 | Began working at Prague's Theatre on the Balustrade, first as a stagehand and later as an assistant director and literary manager, till summer 1968. |
| 1962 - 1966 | Studied dramatic art theory at the Academy of Performing Arts in Prague, had his first plays produced, achieving first major international success. |
| 1964 | Married Olga Splichalova. |
| 1968 | Played an active role in democratization and renewal of culture during the era of reforms, known as Prague Spring, which ended with the Warsaw Pact invasion in August 1968. Actively opposed the invasion and the resulting hard-line Communist policies.
Chairman of the Circle of Independent Writers. Member of the Czech PEN-Center Committee. |
| 1969 | His work banned in Czechoslovakia. Moved from Prague to the country, continued his activities against the Communist regime, including hosting concerts of banned music. |
| 1972 | Organized a petition for a release of political prisoners. |
| 1975 | Wrote an open letter to President Gustav Husak, criticizing the government. |
| 1977 | Co-founded the Charter 77 human rights initiative and was one of its original spokesmen, with Jan Patocka and Jiri Hajek. |
| 1978 | Member of the Committee for the Defense of the Unjustly Prosecuted (VONS). |
| 1977 - 1989 | Imprisoned several times for his beliefs, his longest prison term lasting from 1979 to 1983. |
| 1989 | Emerged as one of the leaders of the November opposition movement, also known as the Velvet Revolution, which brought about the end of Communist rule.
Elected President of Czechoslovakia on December 29. |
| 1990 | The new, freely elected Parliament re-elected him on July 5. As President of the Czech and Slovak Federative Republic, he established new relationships with many world leaders and helped lay the foundations for Czechoslovakia's new foreign policy. Olga Havlova founded the Olga Havel Foundation, which provides humanitarian assistance to people with long-term health problems. |
| 1992 | Resigned from the federal presidency on July 20, after it became clear that the federation was heading for dissolution. |
| 1993 | Elected first President of the Czech Republic on January 26. |
| 1996 | On January 27, Olga Havlova died. In December, the President underwent lung-removal operation after a small growth was diagnosed as cancerous. |
| 1997 | Married Dagmar Veskrnova, a popular and acclaimed Czech theatrical, television and movie actress, on January 4. |
| 1998 | Elected President of the Czech Republic on January 20. |
Václav Havel
