The roots of the Department of Mechanics go back to the beginnings of technical higher education in the West Bohemian region when the first courses in mechanical and electrical engineering were launched on October 17, 1949. With the establishment of the College of Mechanical and Electrical Engineering (CMEE) in Pilsen, the Department of Mechanics and Mechanics of Materials was founded on October 1, 1953, and then, after ten years, divided into the Department of Applied Mechanics and the Department of Mechanics of Materials. The department experienced significant organisational changes in 1972, when the Department of Materials and Mechanics of Materials was established, including three subdivisions specialised in materials science, mechanics, and mechanics of materials. In 1983, the members of the subdivision of materials science initiated the establishment of a new department. So once again, after 20 years, the Department of Mechanics within the CMEE regained its original structure and name. The department functioned in this unchanged form until 1990, when the new Faculty of Applied Sciences was established.

The decision to incorporate the Department of Mechanics into the newly established faculty was not an easy one. The long-standing tradition of belonging to the mechanical engineering community of the former Czechoslovak universities, the existing successful cooperation with the engineering industry, and more than 40 years of work at the Faculty of Mechanical Engineering of CMME were finally outweighed by the offer to create and guarantee a new study specialisation in computational mechanics within the newly accredited study programme 'Mathematical and Physical Engineering'. Thus, in the environment of the new faculty, integrating theoretical disciplines of technical and natural sciences, the Department of Mechanics began to build its position and deepen its cooperation with new partners.

In the following 15 years, the department experienced a period of dynamic development in the field of education and research, with the main focus being on dynamics, fracture mechanics, biomechanics, and mechanics of microstructures. The events of 1995 and 2001 can be considered significant educational milestones during this period when courses in the study specialisations 'Biomechanics' and 'Industrial Design' were gradually launched. Both specialisations were strongly interdisciplinary and interfaculty, making the studies at the department more appealing. During the mentioned 15-year period, the department structure remained mostly unchanged, consisting of subdivisions specialised in mechanics and mechanics of materials. A more significant organisational change did not come until 2004, when favourable conditions enabled the establishment of a third department subdivision, specialised in the mechanics of microstructures. The members of this subdivision, originally from the former Institute of Interdisciplinary Studies, were mainly research-oriented.

Another significant event in the history of the department dates back to 2008, when the department became involved in structural mechanics and civil engineering. In connection with this activity, a fourth department subdivision specialised in civil engineering was established, followed by the launching of a newly accredited study programme 'Civil Engineering' at the Faculty of Applied Sciences. In the following years, the department has begun to guarantee pregraduate and postgraduate degree programmes in civil engineering. The latest important milestone for the department and the entire Faculty of Applied Sciences took place in 2015, when a new faculty research centre NTIS - New Technologies for the Information Society was established within the framework of the Operational Programme Research and Development for Innovation, funded by the European Regional Development Fund. The department members are involved in this centre through the VP3 research programme – 'Research and modelling of heterogeneous materials and mechanical and biomechanical structures', where they work on projects of basic, applied and contract research in applied mechanics.