ABSTRACT

In 906 AD, Moravia's collapse brought Slovakia under Hungarian rule. Bratislava became the northern capital of Hungary in 1541. Economic, educational, and cultural development in the 18th century stimulated the emergence of a Slovakian elite which had an interest in furthering the Slovak language and national consciousness. In 1830, a Slovak national movement demanded rights and freedom for Slovaks in Hungary. Hungarian attempts to 'magyarise' upper Hungary made the Slovakian elite join forces with Czechs to claim independence at the end of World War I. Slovakian nationalism remained latent in the new state. Mter Nazi Germany occupied the Czech lands, Slovakia declared itself independent in 1939. Mer World War II, the union with the Czechs was restored, but the communist regime was under Prague rule. This stimulated Slovakian national feelings. After the collapse of communism in 1989, a democratic Czechoslovakian state emerged. A process of division started. The first division led to a hyphenation of Czecho-Slovakia as a state with two nations. Subsequently, the union was peacefully dismantled to form separate Czech and Slovak states in 1993.