Sokol, through lectures, discussions, and group outings, provided what Tyrš viewed as physical, moral, and intellectual training for the nation.

The Sokol movement consciously traced its roots in physical education to the athletes and warriors of Ancient Greece.

More directly, the nature of the Sokol was influenced by the German Turnverein, mass-based, nationalist-minded gymnastics societies founded by Friedrich Ludwig Jahn in 1811.

Born Friedrich Emanuel Tirsch into a German-speaking family in 1834, Tyrš grew up under the influence of the Romantic nationalism that gave rise to the uprisings that swept across Europe in 1848.

After he failed to find a position in academia, Tyrš combined his experience working as a therapeutic gymnastics trainer with the nationalist ideologies he had been exposed to in Prague: the first Sokol club was formed.

The first Sokol worked to develop new Czech terminology for the training exercises, which centred on marching drills, fencing, and weightlifting.

A Sokol flag, red with a white falcon, was designed by the writer Karolína Světlá (and painted by Czech artist Josef Mánes).

The Prague Sokol initially drew its leaders from the ranks of politicians and its members from the petite bourgeoisie and the working classes.

Most founders were also members of the Young Czechs party, the most influential including Prince Rudolf von Thurn-Taxis, Josef Barák, and Julius and Eduard Grégr.

The first and subsequent slets included an elaborate welcoming ceremony at the train station, mass demonstrations, gymnastics competitions, speeches, and theatrical events, open to members of all Sokols.

[3] The Sokols have been credited with establishing the beginning of the strong French sympathy for the Czechs and their subsequent political alliances on this trip.

There was an increasing focus on mass-based ideology and working class egalitarianism under the leadership of the Young Czechs, namely Jan Podlipný, who was also the mayor of Prague 1897–1900.

At this third slet the congress of the Sokol union laid out its progressive new trajectory in the St. Wenceslas Day (September 28) Resolutions.

The leaders chose to continue to provide more accessible forms of training, with less focus on competition and more on an egalitarian idea of people's gymnastics balancing mental as well as physical education.

Václav Kukař, a powerful ČOS figure, developed the policy of "cleansing" (očištění) and sought to limit membership to those who he believed demonstrated commitment to purely Czech causes.

The fourth slet, held in 1901 (11,000 Sokols), boasted a large international participation, including Galician Poles, Ukrainians, Slovenes, Croats, Russians, Bulgarians, Serbs, as well as Frenchmen and Americans.

[6] The cry to battle did sound two years later, when the first rumors of Franz Ferdinand's assassination reached the Sokol members, most of whom were attending a regional slet in Brno.

Sokol members also helped create the Czechoslovak Legions and local patrols that kept order after the disintegration of Habsburg authority, and during the creation of Czechoslovakia in October 1918.

[7] They also fulfilled their title as the "Czech national army", helping to defend Slovakia against the invasion of Béla Kun and the Hungarians.

At the same time, senior Catholic clergy established the Orlovi (Eagles) clerical organization with the aim of taking youths away from the Alliance.

This Sokol migration, for a variety of reasons, began even before Czechoslovakia became a nation in 1918, intensified as a result of the World Wars and the Communist suppression, and continues to this day.

The Communist Party tried to replace the tradition of slets with mass exercises employed for propaganda purposes: Spartakiad (spartakiády) and its organization Czechoslovak Union of Physical Education.

Its popularity is, however, well below pre-war levels and a large percentage of members are older people with memories of the pre-1948 Sokol movement.