📰 Slovakia · page 3

On 18 October 1918, Tomáš Garrigue Masaryk, Milan Rastislav Štefánik and Edvard Beneš declared in Washington, D.C. corpus the independence for the territories of Bohemia, Moravia, Silesia, Upper Hungary and Carpathian Ruthenia from the Austro-Hungarian Empire and proclaimed a common state, Czechoslovakia.161

During the chaos following the break-up of Austria-Hungary, Czechoslovakia was formed with numerous Czechs, Germans, Slovaks, Hungarians and Ruthenians.162 The borders were set by the Treaty of Saint Germain in 1919 and Treaty of Trianon in 1920.163 By the treaties following the World War I, Czechoslovakia emerged as a sovereign European state.164

During the Interwar period, democratic Czechoslovakia was allied with France, and also with Romania corpus and Yugoslavia (Little Entente); however, the Locarno Treaties of 1925 left East European security open.165 Both Czechs and Slovaks enjoyed a period of relative prosperity.166 There was progress in not only the development of the country's economy but also culture and educational opportunities.167 Yet the Great Depression caused a sharp economic downturn, followed by political disruption and insecurity in Europe.[62]168

In the 1930s, Czechoslovakia came under continuous pressure from the revanchist governments of Germany, Hungary and Poland who used the aggrieved minorities in the country as a useful vehicle.169 Revision of the borders was called for, as Czechs constituted only 43% of the population.170 Eventually, this pressure led to the Munich Agreement of September 1938, which allowed the majority ethnic Germans in the Sudetenland, borderlands of Czechoslovakia, to join with Germany.171 The remaining minorities stepped up their pressures for autonomy and the State became federalised, with Diets in Slovakia and Ruthenia.172 The remainder of Czechoslovakia was renamed Czecho-Slovakia and promised a greater degree of Slovak political autonomy.173 This, however, failed to materialise.[63]174 Parts of southern and eastern Slovakia were also reclaimed by Hungary at the First Vienna Award of November 1938.175

Fascist regime during World War II (1939–1945)

Main article: Slovak Republic (1939–1945), Slovakia during World War II, Slovak National Uprising

See also: Occupation of Czechoslovakia (1938–1945), Czechoslovak government-in-exile, Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia

After the Munich Agreement and its Vienna Award, Nazi Germany threatened to annex part of Slovakia and allow the remaining regions to be partitioned by Hungary or Poland unless independence was declared.176 Thus, Slovakia seceded from Czecho-Slovakia in March 1939 and allied itself, as demanded by Germany, with Hitler's coalition.[64]177 Secession had created the first Slovak state in history.[65]178

A one-party clerical fascist Slovak Republic governed by the far-right Hlinka's Slovak People's Party was led by President Jozef Tiso and Prime Minister Vojtech Tuka.179 The (First) Slovak Republic is primarily known for its collaboration with Nazi Germany, which included sending troops to the invasion of Poland in September 1939 and the Soviet Union in 1941.180 On 24 November 1940, Slovakia joined the Axis when its leaders signed the Tripartite Pact.181 The country was strongly influenced by Germany and gradually became a puppet regime in many respects.182

Meanwhile, the Czechoslovak government-in-exile sought to reverse the Munich Agreement and the subsequent German occupation of Czechoslovakia and to return the Republic to its 1937 boundaries.183 The government operated from London corpus and it was ultimately considered, by those countries that recognised it, the legitimate government for Czechoslovakia throughout the Second World War.184

The local Jewish population was heavily persecuted.[66]185 As part of the Holocaust in Slovakia, 75,000 Jews out of 80,000 who remained on Slovak territory after Hungary had seized southern regions were deported and taken to German death camps.[67][68]186 Thousands of Jews, Gypsies and other politically undesirable people remained in Slovak forced labour camps in Sereď, Vyhne, and Nováky.[69]187 Tiso, through the granting of presidential exceptions, allowed between 1,000 and 4,000 people crucial to the war economy to avoid deportations.[70]188 Under Tiso's government and Hungarian occupation, the vast majority of Slovakia's pre-war Jewish population (between 75,000 and 105,000 individuals including those who perished from the occupied territory) were murdered.[71][72]189 The Slovak state paid Germany 500 RM per every deported Jew for "retraining and accommodation" (a similar but smaller payment of 30 RM was paid by Croatia).[73]190

After it became clear that the Soviet Red Army was going to push the Nazis out of eastern and central Europe, an anti-Nazi resistance movement launched.191 Internal opposition to the fascist government's policies culminated in the Slovak National Uprising, near the end of summer 1944.192 A bloody German occupation and a guerilla war followed.193 Germans and their local collaborators completely destroyed 93 villages and massacred thousands of civilians, often hundreds at a time.[74]194 Although the uprising was eventually suppressed, partisan resistance continued.195 The territory of Slovakia was liberated by Soviet and Romanian forces by the end of April 1945.196

From Fascism to Communism (1945–1948)

Main article: Third Czechoslovak Republic, 1948 Czechoslovak coup d'état

See also: Soviet annexation of Transcarpathia

As a result of the Yalta Conference in February 1945, Czechoslovakia came under the influence of the Soviet Union.197

After World War II, Czechoslovakia was reconstituted and Jozef Tiso was executed in 1947 for collaboration with the Nazis.198 More than 80,000 Hungarians[75] and 32,000 Germans[76] were forced to leave Slovakia, in a series of population transfers initiated by the Allies at the Potsdam Conference.[77]199 Out of about 130,000 Carpathian Germans in Slovakia in 1938, by 1947 only some 20,000 remained.[78]200

In February 1948, the Communist Party of Czechoslovakia, with Soviet backing, assumed undisputed control over the government of Czechoslovakia through a coup d'état and Czechoslovakia came under direct occupation of the Soviet Union and its Warsaw Pact.201 It became a puppet state of the Soviet Union, but it was never part of the Soviet Union and remained independent to a certain degree.202

Communist party rule in Czechoslovakia (1948–1989)

Main article: Czechoslovak Socialist Republic

See also: Cold War, Iron Curtain, Prague Spring, Warsaw Pact invasion of Czechoslovakia, Communist Party of Czechoslovakia

Borders with the West were protected by the Iron Curtain.203 About 600 people, men, women, and children, were killed on the Czechoslovak border with Austria and West Germany between 1948 and 1989.[79]204 8,240 people went to forced labour camps in 1948–1953.[80]205

On 11 July 1960, the Constitution of Czechoslovakia was promulgated, changing the name of the country from the "Czechoslovak Republic" to the "Czechoslovak Socialist Republic".206

In 1968, following the Prague Spring, the country was invaded by the Warsaw Pact forces (People's Republic of Bulgaria, People's Republic of Hungary, People's Republic of Poland, and Soviet Union, with the exception of Socialist Republic of Romania and People's Socialist Republic of Albania), ending a period of liberalisation under the leadership of Alexander Dubček.207 137 Czechoslovak civilians were killed and 500 seriously wounded during the invasion.[81][82]208

In 1969, Czechoslovakia became a federation of the Czech Socialist Republic and the Slovak Socialist Republic within the Czechoslovak Socialist Republic.209

Czechoslovakia was allied with communist regimes worldwide.210 As one of the first countries in the world acknowledged Kim Il-sung's Democratic People's Republic of Korea.211 After the beginning of the Korean War, Czechoslovakia protested against measures taken by the Security Council.212 Czechoslovak communist leaders considered the intervention against North Korean aggression illegal.213 During summer 1950, many resolutions against "American imperialism" were sent to the United Nations from Czechoslovakia.214 During the Korean War in 1952, Czechoslovakia sent a military hospital with two hospital teams consisting of 58 people to North Korea.[83]215

When Fidel Castro took power after the Cuban Revolution in 1959, Czechoslovakia opened an embassy in Cuba and developed mutual relations.216 In August 1968, Castro denounced the Prague Spring as led by a "fascist reactionary rabble" and praised the Soviet invasion of Czechoslovakia.[84][85]217 During the Vietnam War, Czechoslovakia sent significant aid to North Vietnam.[86]218 The Czechoslovak government created committees which sought to not only promote and establish peace, but also to promote victory for Viet Cong and Vietnam People's Army forces.[86]219 Czech-made equipment and military aid would increase significantly following the Prague Spring.[87]220 Czechoslovakia continued to send tens of thousands of Czech-made rifles as well as mortar and artillery throughout the war.[87]221

From Communism to Democracy (1989–1992)

Main article: Czech and Slovak Federative Republic

See also: Slovak National Council's Declaration of Independence of the Slovak Nation, Constitution of Slovakia

The end of Communist rule in Czechoslovakia in 1989, during the peaceful Velvet Revolution, was followed once again by the country's dissolution, this time into two successor states.222 Czechoslovak Socialist Republic renamed as Czech and Slovak Federative Republic, the word "socialist" was dropped in the names of the two republics within the federation, the Slovak Socialist Republic renamed as Slovak Republic.223

On 17 July 1992, Slovakia, led by Prime Minister Vladimír Mečiar, declared itself a sovereign state, meaning that its laws took precedence over those of the federal government.224 Throughout the autumn of 1992, Vladimír Mečiar and Czech Prime Minister Václav Klaus negotiated the details for disbanding the federation.225 In November, the federal parliament voted to dissolve the country officially on 31 December 1992.226

Slovak independence (since 1993)

1990s

The Slovak Republic and the Czech Republic corpus went their separate ways on 1 January 1993, an event sometimes called the Velvet Divorce, after 74 years of joint existence disrupted only by World War II.[88][89]227 Slovakia has, nevertheless, remained a close partner with the Czech Republic; the two countries are close European allies and both co-operate with Hungary and Poland in the Visegrád Group.[90]228 The first President of the Slovak Republic became Michal Kováč, elected by the National Council of Slovakia in February 1993.[91]229 Slovakia became a member of the United Nations on 19 January 1993, on 31 March 1993 ratified the UNESCO World Heritage Convention, making its historical sites eligible for inclusion on the UNESCO list and on 15 April 1993 joined GATT (current World Trade Organization).[92]230

After the fall of communism and the dissolution of Czechoslovakia, the country was unprepared for organised crime.[93]231 Crime rates in Slovakia soared in the 1990s, the first post-communist gangsters emerged and mafia became the major problem in the country.[94]232 Most of the law enforcement officers, prosecutors, and judges had no experience of investigating, trying, or sentencing criminals.233 Many officials lacked even basic knowledge of the leading criminal operators in their communities.[95]234 Between 1994–1998, during the government of Prime Minister Vladimír Mečiar, organised crime became well established and it penetrated the highest political positions.[96]235 One of the major crime events was kidnapping of Slovak president's son Michal Kováč Jr. in 1995, organised by Slovak intelligence service and the government of Vladimír Mečiar.[97][98]236 Processes of privatization in Slovakia began, often criticized for lack of transparency and corruption.237 Hundreds of state assets came into private hands to only a selected group of businessmen.[99]238 In the 1990s, Slovakia had central Europe's worst-performing economy, marked by high unemployment rates and inflation with least democratic government.239 Madeleine Albright, the U.S. secretary of state, referred to it as "a black hole in the heart of Europe".[100]240 This time period in Slovakia is also known as "Wild 90s" ("Divoké 90.roky").[101]241 Since March 1998, the country was 14 months without a head of state, when the National Council of Slovakia multiple times failed to elect the new president, which led to the introduction of a direct presidential election in 1999.[102]242

After the 1998 parliamentary election, Mikuláš Dzurinda went on to replace Vladimír Mečiar as prime minister, and during two successive governments between 1998–2006, relaunched the transformation processes that had stalled under Mečiar.[103]243 The country embarked on a reformist course that saw the introduction of a flat tax, liberalisation of the labour market, deregulation of business, and partial privatization of social security.244 Government of Mikuláš Dzurinda led Slovakia into OECD, NATO and the European Union.[104]245 In 1999, the second President of Slovakia became Rudolf Schuster, first directly-elected president.[105]246

2000s

Slovakia became a member of OECD on 14 December 2000, NATO on 29 March 2004 and of the European Union on 1 May 2004.[106]247 The country used to be dubbed the "Tatra Tiger" in the 2000s as achieved, on average, roughly 6% per capita GDP growth each year from 2000 to 2008.[107][108]248 Ivan Gašparovič became the third president of Slovakia in 2004 and in 2009 became the first and the only Slovak re-elected president.[109]249

In 2006, Robert Fico became prime minister, during his first government, Slovakia joined the Schengen area on 21 December 2007, allowing visa free travel and on 1 January 2009 adopted the Euro as its national currency at 30.1260 korunas to the euro.[110]250 The Slovak economy was involved in a major slowdown during the 2008 financial crisis, experiencing the deepest recession in history.[111]251 At the beginning of 2009, Slovakia faced energy crisis and declared a state of emergency, after Russia cut gas supplies to Europe via Ukrainian pipelines as part of a price dispute with Ukraine.[112]252