The restricted military area was established in 1925, shortly after creation of Czechoslovakia, to cater for the needs of Czechoslovakia's growing armed forces. It was expanded and used extensively by Third Reich military forces from 1939-1945 during the Nazi Occupation of Czechoslovakia. It continued to be used for intensive military exercises in the post-war era, with some additional expansion in the southern sector. After the Warsaw Pact invasion of Czechoslovakia in August 1968, a small Red Army base was situated in the south of the area near Mirosov, until the repatriation of the troops in 1993.