I. History
For over 1000 years, an ethnic group of people, known today as the Slovaks, were under the rule of larger political entities. For the Slovaks, January 1st, 1993, was an extremely historic date. This was the first day since the 10th Century that this relatively small ethnic group of Slavs had their independence.
The history of Slovakian interdependence begins around the year 900, when the Magyars conquered the Slovaks. Hungarian rule over this race lasted right up until the end of the First World War. The late 1700's was when the Slovak nationalist movement really begins.
After the conclusion of World War I, a nation combining both the Czechs and Slovaks was created. However, the primary focus of Czechoslovakia was on the more numerous Czechs and therefore, the Slovaks were in a situation not too dissimilar to the one they previously had experienced under the Hungarians. This focus remained throughout the majority of Czechoslovakian history including after its reformation after World War II. For a brief time period during the Second World War, the Slovaks were technically an independent state. However, this division of Czechoslovakia was mandated by Hitler. Thence, the Slovaks desire to be a self-governing state was not attained.
Population pyramid for Slovakia, 2002 |
Female |
Male |
Figure 2-2-1 |
The uprising in Czechoslovakia, which led to Soviet troops putting down the nationalistic movement, foreshadows the separation of the Czechs and Slovaks in 1993. The Soviet influence continued on until the late 1980's when the communist regime collapsed. Finally, after almost eleven centuries of foreign rule, the Slovaks achieved independence in 1993. [†]
