Slovakia's
roots can be traced to the 9th century state of Great Moravia. Subsequently,
the Slovaks became part of the Hungarian Kingdom, where they remained for the
next 1,000 years. Following the formation of the dual Austro-Hungarian monarchy
in 1867, language and education policies favoring the use of Hungarian
(Magyarization) resulted in a strengthening of Slovak nationalism and a
cultivation of cultural ties with the closely related Czechs, who were under
Austrian rule. After the dissolution of the Austro-Hungarian Empire at the
close of World War I, the Slovaks joined the Czechs to form Czechoslovakia.
During the interwar period, Slovak nationalist leaders pushed for autonomy
within Czechoslovakia, and in 1939 Slovakia became an independent state allied
with Nazi Germany. Following World War II, Czechoslovakia was reconstituted and
came under communist rule within Soviet-dominated Eastern Europe. In 1968, an
invasion by Warsaw Pact troops ended the efforts of the country's leaders to
liberalize communist rule and create "socialism with a human face,"
ushering in a period of repression known as "normalization." The
peaceful "Velvet Revolution" swept the Communist Party from power at
the end of 1989 and inaugurated a return to democratic rule and a market
economy. On 1 January 1993, the country underwent a nonviolent "velvet
divorce" into its two national components, Slovakia and the Czech
Republic. Slovakia joined both NATO and the EU in the spring of 2004 and the
euro zone on 1 January 2009.
(Source: The World Factbook 2009.
Washington, DC: Central Intelligence Agency, 2009)
For more information about Slovekia:
https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/index.html
