A largely flat territory surrounded by low mountains, the Czech Republic has historically formed a part of successive Central European empires. Following the fall of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, Czechoslovakia emerged as a new, independent democratic state. After World War II, the country aligned with the Soviet Union and then split in two after the fall of the Berlin Wall. Unlike countries such as Poland and Romania, the Czech Republic is not near Russia or even areas the Russian military deems important, such as Kaliningrad and the Black Sea. This position gives it more flexibility in formulating its geopolitical strategy. Since the early 1990s, the Czech Republic has hedged its political and security ties to the European Union and NATO with its traditional political and commercial relations with Russia .