In this article the history and current status of the standard model of electroweak interactions is briefly described. Starting with quantum electrodynamics and the phenomenological V - A theory of weak interactions, we proceed to the key theoretical concepts of the Yang-Mills field and the Higgs mechanism. The idea of the electroweak unification and the birth of the standard model is then discussed in more detail, including the peculiarities of the quark sector, anomalies and CP violation. Some open problems that could lead us to new physics beyond the standard model are mentioned in the concluding section. Future prospects of particle physics using high energy colliders are also briefly discussed., Jiří Hořejší., and Obsahuje bibliografii