The Slovak national movement developed a mature political and constitutional programme in the spring of 1848 when the Slovaks stepped upon the stage of European history as a modern, individual nation. The Slovak National Council developed as the first representative Slovak political organ of modern history. In 1849 its members endeavoured, through co-operation with Vienna, to effect the separation of Slovakia from Hungary and its incorporation as an autonomous entity within the system of the federal Hapsburg monarchy.
In 1915 representatives of the Slovak and Czech ethnic organisations signed the Cleveland Agreement in the USA to establish a common federal state. Under the Pittsburgh Agreement, the autonomous position of Slovakia within a democratic Czecho-Slovak Republic was proclaimed.
By the end of the First World War, the notion of the establishing an independent Czecho-Slovakia was fully supported by the United States, England, France and Italy. On October 28 th, 1918 the Czecho-Slovak National Committee in Prague proclaimed the existence of Czecho-Slovakia. Two days later the Slovak National Council declared its desire for Slovakia to join with the Czech lands in one common state.
On March 14th, 1939, the autonomous parliament proclaimed the independence of the Slovak State. However, although recognised by more than 25 states, its independence was greatly limited by its strong economic, military and political dependence upon Germany.
The Slovak National Uprising was one of the largest armed resistance which took place on the German-occupied territories during the Second World War. The 1944 uprising was a key event of modern Slovak history. After the renewal of Czecho-Slovakia in 1945, a complicated three year struggle between the forces supporting parliamentary democracy and the communists who called for a Soviet type regime concluded in February 1948 with the defeat of democracy in Czecho-Slovakia.
Strong social and cultural changes resulted after the terror of the 1950s. The next decade witnessed a form of relaxation with the appearance both within and outside the communist party of a few strong groups who tried to abolish the system or reform it. This complicated process was known in history as "socialism with a human face" with Alexander Dubcek as its symbol. The occupation of the country in August 1968 by the troops of the Warsaw Pact nipped the reform policy in the bud.
In 1968, parliament passed a constitutional law on federation in which Czecho-Slovakia was changed into a federal state.