Venus from Moravany nad Váhom

Anno 40. regni Chlothariae homo nomen Samo matione Francos de pago Senonago plures secum negutiantes adcivit, exercendum negucium in sclavos coinomento Winedos perrexit. Cum in exercito winidi contra Chunos fuissent adgressi,...

Fredegari Scolastici Chronicarum libri IV,48

Favourable natural conditions on the territory opened to the south had attracted people from time immemorial. For instance, a cast of the Neanderthal man's skull was found in Gánovce (Popradská Hollow in the north of Slovakia) and a skull of a Neandertal women was discovered in the deposits of the River Váh. The history of this territory during the Stone Age can be documented by numerous archaeological finds - settlements and various artefacts. Later, in the Bronze Age, current Slovak territory was an important crossroads of different ethnical groups and tribes, mainly the Celts, the Romans and Germanic tribes. West - Slavic tribes arrived in the West-Carpathians and adjacent lowlands during the 5^th and 6^th centuries. Shortly afterwards the Western Slavs established their first state-like formation after their victory over the nomadic tribe of Avars. Slavic warriors were led by a Frankish merchant named Samo. He distinguished himself in the battle and became their king until his death in 658.

A sword found in Blatnica. It belonged to a Great Moravian nobleman. Photo: Alexander Paul

Regnum nostrum, Domine, gratia tua respice. Et ne tradas nostra alienis nec nos convertas in praedam populorum paganorum.

Old Slovak liturgical prayer

At the end of the 8^th century, two powerful Slavic rulers founded their principalities on the current Slovak territory and adjacent areas. They were the Principality of Nitra ruled by Pribina and the Moravian principality that was ruled by Mojmir. Between 813 and 833 AD these two principalities merged together under dramatic circumstances thus laying the foundation of the Great Moravian Empire, which at that time was the main rival and ally of the Frankish Empire. Following the invitation of the king Rastislav, two Byzantine missionaries - brothers Constantinus and Methodius - came to his court in 863 AD. In order to make the Holy Bible understandable to the Old Slovak people, they conceived of and developed a written form of the Slavonic language. By this act of true genius, Slavonic language became one of the first languages in the world possessing also its written form. As a matter of fact, for a short period of time, Slavonic was acknowledged by the pope as a liturgical language along with Latin, Greek and Hebrew.This official recognition encouraged the beginning of Slavonic writings. Up to now, Slovak language has preserved many common word roots and sounds with the Common Slavonic, from which all Slavonic languages developed.

Spišská kapitula. Photo: Ľ. Holíková

Circa haec etiam tempore Zuendibolch rex Marahensium Sclavorum, vir inter suos prudentissimus et ingenio cellidissimus, diem clausit extremum.

Reginonis abbatis Prumiensis Chronicon DCCCXCIIII.

In the 10^th century the Great Moravian Empire was attacked by the nomadic tribes of Finno-Ugric Magyars, coming from the eastern slopes of Ural. After the defeat of the Moravian armies at Bratislava, Slovakia became a part of the multinational feudal Hungarian state. Fortunately, the Magyars soon converted to Christianity. One of the first Hungarian kings, Saint Stephen had both Slovak and Magyar roots and in a successful attempt to avoid rivalry between the two nations he established neither Magyar nor Slovak but Latin as the official Hungarian language. This model worked well for several centuries, when the two nations mixed and went together through times of both an intensive development and hardship. In 1241, the Hungarian Kingdom was invaded by Tatars with a devastating impact on the population that had to flee into localities in the mountains. There were many hideouts in the mountains at that time, e. g. Kláštorisko (Lapis refugii). The 14^th and 15^th centuries brought a rapid development of mining towns on the Slovak territory. Banská Štiavnica, Kremnica, Banská Bystrica and several others were famous worldwide for gold, silver and copper mining. In 1526, the Turks defeated the Hungarians at the Battle of Mohács. A large part of the Hungarian Kingdom fell under the Ottoman control, but Slovakia and the remaining parts of Hungary came under the control of the Habsburg dynasty. Slovakia became the centre of Hungarian culture and politics and Bratislava served as the Habsburgs' capital.

Lightning flashes over the Tatra, the thunder pounds wildly, let us pause, brothers, they will surely disappear, the Slovaks will revive...

Slovak anthem, 1^st verse

In the revolutionary period of 1848-49 and later the Slovaks strongly opposed the idea of only one constituing nation in the Hungarian part of the Austro-Hungarian Monarchy.Nonetheless, this idea became popular with the influential Magyar political elite. Particularly at that time, Slovaks were pressed to give up their language and cultural identity and "become Magyars". This dramatic period of the mutual coexistence ended after the 1^st World War. Slovak people became one of the constituents of the modern CzechoSlovakia. In this state, they were able to use their language freely, establish schools and universities and fulfil some of their ambitions as a nation.

Slovak National theatre in Bratislava

However, the treaty signed by Hitler, Chamberlain, Daladier and Mussolini in 1939 in Munich brought about the breakdown of the Czechoslovak Republic. After a turbulent political turmoil and facing the threat of being divided between Germany, Hungary and Poland, Slovakia declared its independence. Thus, the 1^st Slovak State was established, loosing significant parts of its territory to Hungary and Poland. The state was immediately recognised by many countries but came under Hitler's heavy political influence and dictate in several matters. As a result of that, about 50 000 Jews were sent to concentration camps, even though Slovak political representatives at those times claimed they did not know that Jews had been murdered in Osviencim, Treblinka and other camps. This could be well considered true at least at the beginning of the deportations. Despite that, the deportations of Jews have been considered the worst smear on the history of the 1^st Slovak State by the representatives of the modern Slovak Republic and the general public as well. It was also one of the reasons why a strong underground movement started the Slovak National Uprising in August 1944. It was the one of the largest insurrection in the Nazi-occupied Europe, second only to Tito's movement in Yugoslavia and aimed at reestablishing the lost Slovak sovereignity. Event though it was suppressed by Wehrmacht after several months, it strengthened the Slovak ambitions to be recognised as a nation in the rearranged Europe.

Alexander Dubček. Photo: J. Kučera

...this Slovakia of ours has been fast asleep until now, but the thunder and lightning are encouraging it to come alive.

Slovak anthem, 2^nd verse

These intentions could not be realised because of a strong centralism by which the new government ruled in the newly restored Czechoslovakia. First the president of the 1^st Slovak State, Dr. Tiso was hanged. Then the representatives of the Democratic party that won the last free elections held in Slovakia in 1948 were unjustly accused of treason by the communists. The Communist Party won the elections in the Czech Republic only and - ironically - even several Slovak communists, among them Dr. Gustáv Husák and Dr. Vladimír Clementis, were sentenced to death or long term imprisonment as so called nationalists. All these happenings were completely in line with the scenario imposed by the Soviet Union on the countries that fell under its control after the 2^nd World War. After 20 years of totalitarian communist control, the Prague Spring began well before 1968. It was initiated by a large reform - oriented and influential group within the Communist Party, led by one of the most prominent Slovak politicians, Mr. Alexander Dubček. Their efforts to create "socialism with a human face" were warmly welcomed practically in the whole society, including churches, former political prisoners etc.. However, in August 1968, the movement was crushed as the Soviet Army invaded Czechoslovakia along with the Polish, East-German and Hungarian armies, complying with the policy of the Warsaw Pact proclaiming the need to protect socialism by all necessary means should it be threatened in any socialist country. The only fruit that remained from the reform period was the declaration proclaiming the Czechoslovak Federation of two republics - Czech and Slovak. By this act, Slovakia gained more independence in certain matters, such as culture, education etc.. 20 years on, a revolt against the communist rule swept over Czechoslovakia and the communist government was forced to resign in 1989. Fortunately, this all happened under more favourable international political conditions and therefore the reforms and transition to a democratic political system and market economy have been underway for more than ten years till now. The result of that is that Slovakia - now as a independent state - has been invited to start negotiations on the EU accession as soon as February 2000, with the perspective of joining the Community in 2004.

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