Slovakia

Beckov Castle (photo by Peter Fratrič)
Geographically but also historically, Slovakia is a typical Central European country. It history is unique due to the diversity of its cultural and economic life, which for centuries was critically influenced by the mining of precious metals. As in other Central European countries, various ethnic groups mixed and co-existed here. The historical development of Slovakia took place within the framework of Latin civilisation circle, however the European east also had a significant influence on it. Slovakia’s modern history has been characterised by a discontinuity of political and state legal life, and in comparison to that of western countries, the social, civil and national emancipation of Slovaks was more complicated and took place later.
by Dr Dušan Škvarna

See also: Cultural Directory of Slovakia

  • Prehistoric and early history

    Based on the remains of hearths and hewn stones, archaeologists have dated the first primeval man on the territory of Slovakia to approximately 200,000 BCE. However the two most precious primeval findings are substantially younger.

  • The formation of Slavic states

    During the era of the migration of nations, significant changes in ethnic settlement and civilisation took place in the Carpathian valley.

  • The kingdom of Hungary

    Following the fall of Great Moravia, the nomadic Magyars became the new power in Europe.

  • Habsburg rule 16th to 18th centuries

    At the beginning of the 16th century, Hungary and all of Central Europe began to lag behind Western Europe. Feudalism gained strength and the towns began to stagnate.

  • The Slovak national movement

    At the end of the 18th century the Habsburgs rejected the Enlightenment and reforms. The radicalism of the French revolution, which found support especially in the secret and unsuccessful movement of the Hungarian Jacobins, indirectly contributed to this.

  • The creation of Czechoslovakia

    During the 19th century, the population, especially in the mountain areas, grew faster than industrial and economic modernisation.

  • Slovakia during World War II

    In 1938 the Sudetenland was allocated to Germany by the Munich Dictat, the Vienna Arbitrage allocated the southern parts of Slovakia to Hungary, Poland claimed smaller parts of northern Slovakia, and Slovakia and Sub-Carpathian Ukraine acquired autonomy in a delimited Czechoslovakia.

  • Post-war Slovakia 1945-1989

    Communist flagAfter 1945, politicians and members of the resistance returned from overseas, while groups o

  • Slovakia since 1989

    Slovak flag After the fall of the communist government in 1989, the political and institutional bases of
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