EGER (Czech, Cheb), is a large manufacturing town in west ern Bohemia, Czechoslovakia, on the right bank of the river Ohre. Situated about 1,500 ft. above sea-level, beneath a spur of the Fichtelgebirge, it lies in the centre of a German-speaking district and has a long history closely associated with its frontier position. The strategical value of the site is emphasized by the stormy nature of its record, for between the 12th and 14th centuries Bohemia and the Empire constantly struggled to possess the region in which it lies. To this period belong the ruined 12th century castle, lying on a height to the north-west of the town, where in 1634 Albrecht Wallenstein was murdered, and the imposing 13th century church of St. Nicholas. Final incorporation with Bohemia was effected in 1350 when Charles IV. united the two warring powers ; but its position still influenced its history and the town suffered severely in the Hussite war, the Swedish invasions of the 17th century and the War of the Austrian Succession.
To-day it is a prosperous and important industrial centre with several textile factories, pottery and earthenware works, breweries. engineering and motor works. Pop. , 31,549 of whom about 25,000 are Germans.