SLOVAKIA - History

A Celtic tribe originated from Western Europe already settled on Slovakia´s present territory in the course of 5th -1st centuries BC. Before this strategic important region in the hearth of Europe had been occupied by different minor tribes. A numerous archaeological findings have been discovered here and confirm the ancient settlements.
The Slav tribes came to region between 6th and 7th century BC. For a short time being the newcomers have been forced to resist the nomadic Avaris growing influence. It took time when Slaves organised by the Frankish merchant Samo/Samuel overthrew the hegemony of Avaris and established the 'Samo's Kingdom' - the first Slavonic state in Europe (mid of the 7th century). The Kingdom did not exist for a long period of time - it was disintegrated after the Samo's/Samuel's death.

With Charlemagne's (Frankish King) help the Slav organised their new state - The Great Moravia. Its territory comprised Bohemia, Moravia (today territory of the Czech Republic) and nowadays Slovakia. The Frankish assistance was in compliance with Frankish policy to strengthen their position in the Central Europe. Great Moravia first Duke Mojmir I., who was an ally to Charlemagne, governed in the years 830-846.

His successor Rastislav wanted to be independent from the Frankish Kingdom. Therefore he searched for the support of Byzantium and managed  to win its emperor Michael III for his policy. The Byzantium's emperor sent two eminent religious dignitaries and scientists - Konstantin and Method from Thessaloniki (today Greece) in 863 to Great Moravia. The 2 monks translated the Old and New Testaments to Slavonic language and created a new Slavonic alphabet using the Greek one as a model. The castle of Devin and the town of Nitra situated in Slovakia have been one of the most important culture centres of Great Moravia. A promising development of an independent Slavonic statehood baffled the Duke - Svatopluk. Svatopluk acted under strong Bavarian pressure and forced Method as well his supporters to leave Great Moravia. The weakened country finally fell down in the beginning of the 10th century.

After the battle at the foot of Bratislava ´s castle in 907 the Bavarian were defeated and the victorious Old Hungarians occupied the whole territory of today ´s Slovakia. Moreover a Hungarian Kingdom was established in the region. Since that time - 10th century up till 1918 - Slovakia was for almost 1000 years incorporated into the Hungarian Kingdom. Slovakia was agriculture-oriented country and as a matter of fact an important but a distant province. The all power was in hands of few Hungarian nobleman families. The Kingdom's centre was at Buda (today Budapest). Bratislava/Pressburg was at that time being a provincial town living under shadow of Vienna's dominance.
A rich findings of gold, silver and copper in mid-Slovakia in the course of 13th century contributed to the development of mining towns - Banská Bystrica, Banská Štiavnica and Kremnica. The region was considered to be Europe's biggest copper export area. The whole production was in the hands of numerous German families who settled down here (among others the powerful Fugger family originated from Augsburg).

In the beginning of 16th century the whole Europe faced more and more the Turkey's threat. The Turkish army occupied a great part of Hungarian Kingdom. Therefore Bratislava was declared to be a temporary capital of the country. This status lasted over 300 years from 1536 to 1780. Slovakia being the only free territory of the Kingdom took advantage of this situation. Many Slovak towns including Bratislava progressed economically and culturally.
It was in Bratislava in 1526 where Habsbourg royal family was elected to be Hungarian Kings. Since that Habsbourg family ruled the country up till the end of the First World War in 1918. Under the governance of Maria Theresia and her son Joseph II (18th century), a feudal serfdom was abolished and freedom of religion was introduced. Despite of these important progressive political reforms, the majority of Slovak people lived in poverty and their life was still dependent on noblemen's harsh dominance.

In 1867 a dual-monarchy was established and the country became Austro-Hungary. Slovakia was still a part of Hungary. Nevertheless the national revival spread through the whole Europe in the course of the 19th century also affected the Slovaks. Although Slovaks lived for a long time under a foreign - Hungarian dominance, they preserved their own culture and language and they did not lost their close-affinity based relationship to the Czech nation. Many educated Slovaks studied at that time being at the Prague University.

The Hungarian authorities policy was aimed to unify the multinational state on a homogenous Hungarian-oriented basis. The non-Hungarian nationalities, among others the Slovaks, should be assimilated and no room will be left for their languages, culture and political or economical activities. The Hungarian language was introduced as the only official language and Slovak schools were closed. The Slovak national-oriented politicians as Ľudovít Štúr opposed openly the Hungarian attempt to create one-nation state. During the 19th century Slovaks hardly succeed to hold their identity and to maintain educational institutions. The Slovak Found - Matica slovenská - a first Slovak culture and academic oriented institution was established in the town of Martin.

The outbreak of the First World War paved the way for Slovak state-oriented national revival and for the effort of the Czechs and Slovaks to get rid of Habsbourg dominance. In 1915 the Czech Alliance and the Slovak Ligue signed in USA an agreement, which provided a fundament for the creation of a common Czech - Slovak state, with its own Parliament and Constitution. In 1918 the Czechoslovak Republic was proclaimed. Prague became a capital of the new country and Tomáš Garrigue Masaryk was elected to the President's office. In the course of time Slovaks were more and more unsatisfied with their position and the claim for autonomy within the state was stronger and stronger. In 1938 a Slovak State as a Republic was proclaimed and Jozef Tiso became the President. During the Second World War Slovakia was more and more dependent of the Nazi Germany and as a matter of fact the country became A. Hitler's protectorate.

In August 1944 a Slovak Anti-fascist national resistance movement started the struggle against Germans and the regime of Josef Tiso. After over two months of fights the Slovak Uprising was broken down and its centre in Banská Bystrica fell down. The Soviet Army liberated Slovakia in the spring 1945. President Tiso was arrested and after a trial before the Czechoslovak Court of Law sentenced to death. Czechoslovakia was re-established as a democratic republic.

From 1948 to the Velvet Revolution in 1989 the communist regime dominated the Czechoslovak State. During the 1960s the regime has to change policy to be more open-minded. In 1968 Alexander Dubček a reform-minded Slovak communist came to power and liberalisation process called 'Prague Spring' started. Freedom of speech, press and assembly were permitted. The new government planned to change Czechoslovakia state structure to a real federal one, based on two equal states. New promising perspectives and hopes were smashed by Soviet invasion in August 1968. A so called 'normalisation period' (1969 - 1989) strengthened again the Soviet-oriented regime.

After Velvet Revolution in 1989 the question of 'Slovak independence' raised again. A Slovak politician, leader of the Slovak Democratic Movement - HZDS - Vladimír Mečiar strongly claimed for more independence and as a main driving political force he pushed for a 'Velvet divorce' and was in favour of a separation of the federal state. On the 1st January 1993 Czechoslovakia divided into two independent states - the Czech and Slovak Republic. Michal Kovac became a President and the controversial Vladimir Mečiar the Prime Minister of new Slovak Republic.

After the parliament elections in 1998 a right-wing democratic-liberal coalition came to power and Mikuláš Dzurinda became a Prime Minister. During this reform-oriented government (1998-2006) Slovakia became a member-state of EU (May 2004).