Slovakia

Slovakia, officially the Slovak Republic, is a landlocked country in Central Europe. It is bordered by Poland to the north, Ukraine to the east, Hungary to the south, Austria to the west, and the Czech Republic to the northwest. The capital and largest city is Bratislava, and the second largest city is Košice.

The history of Slovakia dates back many years. In the 5th and 6th centuries, Slavs arrived in the region. Over time, the area was part of several empires, including the Avar Khaganate, Samo's Empire, Great Moravia, and later the Kingdom of Hungary. During World War II, Slovakia became independent for a short time but later joined back with Czechoslovakia. In 1993, Slovakia became its own independent democratic country in a peaceful split called the Velvet Divorce.

Today, Slovakia is a developed country with a strong economy. It is especially known for making cars and produces more cars per person than any other country. Slovakia offers its citizens universal health care, free education, and good support for its people. The country is a member of important groups like the European Union and NATO. It is also home to eight UNESCO World Heritage Sites.

Etymology

See also: Slovaks § Name

The name "Slovakia" means the "Land of the Slavs." It comes from the word Slovensko in the Slovak language. This word is related to the names Slovenia and Slavonia. Different languages have used similar names for the Slovaks and their lands. The name Slovakia began to be used in the 16th century.

History

Main article: History of Slovakia

The oldest surviving human tools from Slovakia are found near Nové Mesto nad Váhom and are from the Early Paleolithic era, about 270,000 years ago. These tools, made by the Clactonian technique, show that people lived in Slovakia long ago.

Other stone tools from the Middle Paleolithic era (200,000–80,000 years ago) come from the Prévôt (Prepoštská) cave in Bojnice and from other nearby sites. An important discovery from that time is a Neanderthal cranium (about 200,000 BCE), found near Gánovce, a village in northern Slovakia.

Archaeologists have found prehistoric human skeletons in the region, as well as many objects and remains of the Gravettian culture, mainly in the river valleys of Nitra, Hron, Ipeľ, Váh and as far as the city of Žilina, and near the foot of the Vihorlat, Inovec, and Tribeč mountains, as well as in the Myjava Mountains. The most well-known finds include the oldest female statue made of mammoth bone (22,800 BCE), the famous Venus of Moravany. The statue was found in the 1940s in Moravany nad Váhom near Piešťany. Many necklaces made of shells from Cypraca thermophile gastropods of the Tertiary period have come from the sites of Zákovská, Podkovice, Hubina, and Radošina. These findings show the oldest evidence of trade between the Mediterranean and Central Europe.

Bronze Age

During the Bronze Age, the land of modern-day Slovakia went through three stages of development, from 2000 to 800 BCE. Big cultural, economic, and political changes happened because of the growth in making copper, especially in central Slovakia (for example in Špania Dolina) and northwest Slovakia. Copper became an important source of wealth for the local people.

After the Čakany and Velatice cultures disappeared, the Lusatian people built strong and big fortifications, with large permanent buildings and administrative centres. Digs of Lusatian hill forts show the big development of trade and farming at that time. The richness and variety of graves increased a lot. The people of the area made weapons, shields, jewellery, dishes, and statues.

Iron Age

Hallstatt Period

The arrival of tribes from Thrace disturbed the people of the Kalenderberg culture, who lived in small towns on the flat land (Sereď) and in hill forts like Molpír, near Smolenice, in the Little Carpathians. During Hallstatt times, big burial mounds were built in western Slovakia, with rich goods like decorated pots, ornaments and decorations. The burial rites were by burning the body. Ordinary people were buried in flat cemeteries with urns.

A special focus was on weaving and making textiles. The local leaders of the "Princes" of the Hallstatt period disappeared in Slovakia during the century before the middle of the first millennium BCE, after fights between the Scytho-Thracian people and locals, leading to the leaving of the old hill-forts. Empty areas soon interested new Celtic tribes, who moved from the south towards the north, following the Slovak rivers, and mixed peacefully with the remaining local people.

La Tène Period

From around 500 BCE, the land of modern-day Slovakia was settled by Celts, who built big towns called oppida on the sites of modern-day Bratislava and Devín. Biatecs, silver coins with writing in the Latin alphabet, are the first known use of writing in Slovakia. In the northern areas, remains of the local people of Lusatian origin, together with Celtic and later Dacian influence, created the unique Púchov culture, with advanced crafts and iron-working, many hill-forts and strong settlements of central type with coins of the "Velkobysterecky" type (no writing, with a horse on one side and a head on the other). This culture is often linked with the Celtic tribe mentioned in Roman records as Cotini.

Roman Period

From 2 CE, the growing Roman Empire set up and kept a series of outposts around and just south of the Danube, the biggest of which were known as Carnuntum (whose remains are on the main road between Vienna and Bratislava) and Brigetio (today Szőny at the Slovak-Hungarian border). Such Roman border towns were built on the current area of Rusovce, now a part of Bratislava. The army camp was surrounded by a civilian vicus and several farms of the villa rustica type. The name of this town was Gerulata. The army camp had an auxiliary horse unit, about 300 horses strong, based on the Cananefates. Remains of Roman buildings have also survived in Stupava, Devín Castle, Bratislava Castle Hill, and the Bratislava-Dúbravka part.

Near the northernmost line of the Roman lands, the Limes Romanus, there was the winter camp of Laugaricio (modern-day Trenčín) where the Auxiliary of Legion II fought and won a big battle over the Germanic Quadi tribe in 179 CE during the Marcomannic Wars. The Kingdom of Vannius, a kingdom started by the Germanic Suebi tribes of Quadi and Marcomanni, as well as several small Germanic and Celtic tribes, including the Osi and Cotini, existed in western and central Slovakia from 8–6 BCE to 179 CE.

Great invasions from the fourth to seventh centuries

In the second and third centuries CE, the Huns started to leave the Central Asian steppes. They crossed the Danube in 377 CE and took over Pannonia, which they used for 75 years as a base for raids into Western Europe. However, Attila's death in 453 caused the end of the Hunnic empire. In 568, a Turko-Mongol group, the Avars, invaded the Middle Danube area. The Avars took over the lowlands of the Pannonian Plain and made an empire ruling the Carpathian Basin.

In 623, the Slavic population living in the western parts of Pannonia broke away from their empire after a revolt led by Samo, a Frankish trader. After 626, Avar power slowly weakened but lasted until 804.

Avars

In 568, the Avars, under Khagan Bayan I made an empire in the Carpathian Basin that lasted for 250 years.

Slavic states

The Slavic tribes settled in the land of present-day Slovakia in the fifth century. Western Slovakia was the centre of Samo's empire in the seventh century. A Slavic state called the Principality of Nitra started in the eighth century and its leader Pribina had the first known Christian church in the land of present-day Slovakia blessed by 828. Together with nearby Moravia, the principality was the core of the Great Moravian Empire from 833. The high point of this Slavic empire came with the coming of Saints Cyril and Methodius in 863, during the rule of Duke Rastislav, and the growth of the land under King Svätopluk I.

Great Moravia (830–before 907)

Main article: Great Moravia

Great Moravia started around 830 when Mojmír I joined the Slavic tribes living north of the Danube and made Moravian rule over them. When Mojmír I tried to break away from the rule of the king of East Francia in 846, King Louis the German removed him and helped Mojmír's relative Rastislav (846–870) become king. The new ruler followed an independent way: after stopping a Frankish attack in 855, he also tried to weaken the effect of Frankish priests teaching in his land. Duke Rastislav asked the Byzantine Emperor Michael III to send teachers who would teach Christianity in the Slavic language.

In 862, Prince Rastislav of Moravia fought against the Franks, and after hiring Hungarian soldiers, won his freedom; this was the first time that Hungarian soldiers entered the Carpathian Basin.

On Rastislav's request, two brothers, Byzantine leaders and teachers Saints Cyril and Methodius came in 863. Cyril made the first Slavic alphabet and changed the Gospel into the Old Church Slavonic language. Rastislav was also concerned with the safety and control of his state. Many strong castles built all over the country are from his time and some of them (e.g., Dowina, sometimes linked with Devín Castle) are also noted in Frankish records.^{[full citation needed]}

During Rastislav's rule, the Principality of Nitra was given to his relative Svätopluk as an appanage. The fighting prince joined with the Franks and took over his uncle in 870. Like his uncle before him, Svätopluk I (871–894) took the title of the king (rex). During his rule, the Great Moravian Empire grew to its biggest size, including not only present-day Moravia and Slovakia but also present-day northern and central Hungary, Lower Austria, Bohemia, Silesia, Lusatia, southern Poland and northern Serbia, but the exact borders of his lands are still argued by modern writers. Svatopluk also fought off attacks from the Magyar tribes and the Bulgarian Empire, although sometimes he hired the Magyars when fighting against East Francia.

In 880, Pope John VIII set up a separate ecclesiastical province in Great Moravia with Archbishop Methodius as its leader. He also named the German priest Wiching the Bishop of Nitra.

After the death of Prince Svatopluk in 894, his sons Mojmír II (894–906?) and Svatopluk II took over as the Prince of Great Moravia and the Prince of Nitra. However, they began to fight for control of the whole empire. Weakened by inner fights as well as constant wars with Eastern Francia, Great Moravia lost most of its outer lands.

It is not known what happened to Mojmír II and Svatopluk II because they are not named in records after 906. In three battles (4–5 July and 9 August 907) near Bratislava, the Magyars beat Bavarian armies. Some writers say this year is when the Great Moravian Empire ended, because of the Hungarian taking over; other writers say the end was a little earlier (to 902).

Great Moravia left a lasting effect in Central and Eastern Europe. The Glagolitic script and its follower Cyrillic spread to other Slavic countries, starting a new path in their sociocultural development.

Grand Principality of Hungary (895–1000)

Main article: Principality of Hungary

The start of the Hungarian state is linked to the Hungarian conquerors, who came from the Pontic steppes as a group of seven tribes. The Hungarians came as part of a strong united steppe-empire under the leader Grand Prince Álmos and his son Árpád, they became the starters of the Árpád dynasty, the Hungarian ruling family and the Hungarian state. The Árpád dynasty said they were direct descendants of the great Hun leader Attila. The Hungarians took the Carpathian Basin in a careful way, with a long move-in between 862 and 895. Their armies' move may have been helped by ongoing wars among the countries of the area whose rulers sometimes hired them to help in their fights.

Just a few years after the end of the Avar Khaganate in 822, again a steppe empire, the Hungarian Grand Principality joined the Carpathian Basin under its rule. Only the East Frankish Empire had such military strength that it could help in the making of the new order. His leaders also wanted to stop the new steppe state because the East Frankish Empire lost Pannonia and its Christian Avar taxpayers, and his land was hit by growing attacks by the Hungarians, especially Bavaria, which was then the eastern part of the Eastern Frankish Kingdom. In 907, three East Francian armies led by Luitpold, Margrave of Bavaria, which entered the Hungarian land to drive the Hungarians from the Carpathian Basin, were destroyed by the Hungarian army at the Battle of Pressburg. Luitpold, Margrave of Bavaria, Dietmar I, Archbishop of Salzburg, Prince Sieghard, 19 counts, 2 bishops, and 3 abbots were killed in the battle, along with most of the soldiers. The Hungarians kept the lands they took during the Hungarian taking of the Carpathian Basin, and stopped a future German attack, the Germans did not start an empire-level fight against Hungary for 123 years until 1030.

The Kingdom of Hungary, the Habsburg Monarchy and the Ottoman Empire (1000–1918)

Main articles: Kingdom of Hungary, Habsburg monarchy, and Ottoman Empire

In 972, the ruling prince Géza of the Árpád dynasty officially began to join Grand Principality of Hungary into Christian Western Europe. His son Saint Stephen I became the first King of Hungary after beating his pagan uncle Koppány. Under Stephen, Hungary was seen as a Catholic Apostolic Kingdom. Asking Pope Sylvester II, Stephen got the signs of kingship (including maybe a part of the Holy Crown of Hungary) from the papacy.

In the years 1001–1002 and 1018–1029, Slovakia was part of the Kingdom of Poland, having been taken by Boleslaus I the Brave. After the land of Slovakia went back to Hungary, a partly separate state stayed (or was made in 1048 by king Andrew I) called Duchy of Nitra. It included about the land of Principality of Nitra and Bihar principality, they made what was called a tercia pars regni, third of a kingdom.

This state existed until 1108/1110, after which it was not brought back. After this, until the end of Austria-Hungary in 1918, the land of Slovakia was a main part of the Hungarian state. The people of Slovakia became more varied with the coming of the Carpathian Germans in the 13th century and the Jews in the 14th century.

A big drop in people came from the invasion of the Mongols in 1241 and the next hunger. After the attack, much of the land was destroyed, but was fixed mostly thanks to Hungarian king Béla IV. However, in middle ages the land of Slovakia was known for German and Jewish coming in, growing towns, building many stone castles, and the growth of the arts. The coming of German people sometimes caused trouble for the local Slovaks (and even Hungarians in wider Hungary), since they often quickly took most power in middle-age towns, only to later refuse to share it. Fighting of old ways by Germans often caused national fights. One of these had to be fixed by the king Louis I. with the order Privilegium pro Slavis (Right for Slovaks) in the year 1381. By this order, Slovaks and Germans were to take each half of the seats in the town council of Žilina and the mayor should be chosen each year, changing between those groups. This would not be the last such case.

In 1465, King Matthias Corvinus started the Hungarian Kingdom's third university, in Pressburg (Bratislava), but it was closed in 1490 after his death. Hussites also came to the land after the Hussite Wars.

Because of the Ottoman Empire's moving into Hungarian land, Bratislava was made the new capital of Hungary in 1536, before the fall of the old Hungarian capital of Buda in 1541. It became part of the Austrian Habsburg monarchy, starting a new time. The land of modern Slovakia, then called Upper Hungary, became the home for about two-thirds of the Magyar nobles who left the Turks and became much more Hungarian in language and culture than before. Partly because of old Hussite families and Slovaks teaching under Martin Luther, the land then saw a growth in Protestantism. For a short time in the 17th century, most Slovaks were Lutherans. They went against the Catholic Habsburgs and looked for help from next door Transylvania, a fighting part of the Magyar state that let people believe freely and usually had Ottoman support. Upper Hungary, modern Slovakia, became the place of frequent wars between Catholics in the west land and Protestants in the east, as well as against Turks; the border was always ready for fight and strongly built with castles and strong points often used by Catholic German and Slovak soldiers on the Habsburg side. By 1648, Slovakia was not saved from the Counter-Reformation, which took most of its people from Lutheranism back to Roman Catholicism. In 1655, the printing house at the Trnava university made the Jesuit Benedikt Szöllősi's Cantus Catholici, a Catholic song book in Slovak that linked back to the earlier works of Cyril and Methodius.

The Ottoman wars, the fight between Austria and Transylvania, and frequent uprisings against the Habsburg monarchy caused a lot of damage, especially in the country parts. In the Austro-Turkish War (1663–1664) a Turkish army led by the Grand Vizier destroyed Slovakia. In 1682, the Principality of Upper Hungary, a short-lived Ottoman country, was started in the land of modern Slovakia. Before this, parts on its south edge were already in the Egri, Budin and Uyvar eyalets. Thököly's kuruc fighters from the Principality of Upper Hungary fought with the Turks against the Austrians and Poles at the Battle of Vienna of 1683 led by John III Sobieski. As the Turks went away from Hungary in the late 17th century, the importance of the land of modern Slovakia became less, although Pressburg kept its place as the capital of Hungary until 1848 when it went back to Buda.

During the revolution of 1848–49, the Slovaks began fighting, backing the Austrian Emperor, hoping for freedom from the Hungarian part of the Dual Monarchy and more self-rule inside the empire. They did not get their goal, but the fight gave Slovak rights for language in some managing and school areas.

After that, the links between the groups got worse (see Magyarisation), ending in Slovakia leaving Hungary after World War I.

Czechoslovak independence (1918–1939)

Main articles: Dissolution of Austria-Hungary, Czechoslovakia, First Czechoslovak Republic, Munich Agreement, and Second Czechoslovak Republic

See also: Slovak Soviet Republic and Autonomous Land of Slovakia

On 18 October 1918, Tomáš Garrigue Masaryk, Milan Rastislav Štefánik and Edvard Beneš said in Washington, D.C. the freedom for the lands of Bohemia, Moravia, Silesia, Upper Hungary and Carpathian Ruthenia from the Austro-Hungarian Empire and said a common country, Czechoslovakia.

During the trouble after the end of Austria-Hungary, Czechoslovakia was made with many Czechs, Germans, Slovaks, Hungarians and Ruthenians. The borders were set by the Treaty of Saint Germain in 1919 and Treaty of Trianon in 1920. By the deals after World War I, Czechoslovakia became a free European country.

During the Interwar period, democratic Czechoslovakia was a friend of France, and also of Romania and Yugoslavia (Little Entente); however, the Locarno Treaties of 1925 left East European safety open. Both Czechs and Slovaks had a time of good living. There was growth not only in the country’s work but also in culture and learning chances. But the Great Depression caused a big drop in work, then political trouble and danger in Europe.

In the 1930s, Czechoslovakia faced constant force from the angry governments of Germany, Hungary and Poland who used the unhappy groups in the country as a help. Changing the borders was asked for, as Czechs made up only 43% of the people. Finally, this force led to the Munich Agreement of September 1938, which let the most ethnic Germans in the Sudetenland, border lands of Czechoslovakia, join with Germany. The left behind groups put more force for self-rule and the State became shared, with meetings in Slovakia and Ruthenia. The rest of Czechoslovakia was named Czecho-Slovakia and promised more Slovak political self-rule. This, however, did not happen. Parts of south and east Slovakia were also taken back by Hungary at the First Vienna Award of November 1938.

Fascist regime during World War II (1939–1945)

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

After the Munich Agreement and its Vienna Award, Nazi Germany said it would take part of Slovakia and let the rest be split by Hungary or Poland unless Slovakia said it was free. So, Slovakia left Czecho-Slovakia in March 1939 and joined, as Germany said, with Hitler's side. Leaving made the first Slovak state ever.

A one-party clerical fascist Slovak Republic led by the far-right Hlinka's Slovak People's Party was ruled by President Jozef Tiso and Prime Minister Vojtech Tuka. The (First) Slovak Republic is most known for working with Nazi Germany, which included sending soldiers to the invasion of Poland in September 1939 and the Soviet Union in 1941. On 24 November 1940, Slovakia was part of the Axis when its leaders signed the Tripartite Pact. The country was strongly led by Germany and step by step became a puppet regime in many ways.

Meanwhile, the Czechoslovak government-in-exile tried to take back the Munich Agreement and the after German taking of Czechoslovakia and to get the Republic back to its 1937 borders. The government worked from London and it was finally seen, by the countries that knew it, as the right government for Czechoslovakia during the Second World War.

The local Jewish people were badly treated. As part of the Holocaust in Slovakia, 75,000 Jews out of 80,000 who were still on Slovak land after Hungary took south parts were sent away to German death camps. Thousands of Jews, Gypsies and other people who were not right to the government stayed in Slovak work camps in Sereď, Vyhne, and Nováky. Tiso, by giving special rules, let between 1,000 and 4,000 people important to the war work avoid being sent away. Under Tiso's government and Hungarian taking, almost all of Slovakia's Jews before the war (between 75,000 and 105,000 people including those who died from the taken land) were killed. The Slovak state gave Germany 500 RM for each Jew sent away for "training and living" (a similar but smaller payment of 30 RM was given by Croatia).

After it was clear that the Soviet Red Army would push the Nazis out of east and centre Europe, a fight against Nazis started. Internal fighting against the fascist government's ways led to the Slovak National Uprising, late in summer 1944. A hard German taking and a small war followed. Germans and their local helpers fully destroyed 93 towns and killed thousands of people, often hundreds at one time. Even though the fight was finally stopped, partisan fighting went on. The land of Slovakia was freed by Soviet and Romanian soldiers by the end of April 1945.

From Fascism to Communism (1945–1948)

Main articles: Third Czechoslovak Republic and 1948 Czechoslovak coup d'état

See also: Soviet annexation of Transcarpathia

As a result of the Yalta Conference in February 1945, Czechoslovakia was controlled by the Soviet Union.

After World War II, Czechoslovakia was made new and Jozef Tiso was put to death in 1947 for working with the Nazis. More than 80,000 Hungarians and 32,000 Germans were made to leave Slovakia, in a set of population moves started by the Allies at the Potsdam Conference. Out of about 130,000 Carpathian Germans in Slovakia in 1938, by 1947 only about 20,000 were left.^{[failed verification]}

In February 1948, the Communist Party of Czechoslovakia, with help from the Soviet Union, took full control of the government of Czechoslovakia in a sudden take-over and Czechoslovakia was under the control of the Soviet Union and its Warsaw Pact. It became a puppet state of the Soviet Union, but it was not part of the Soviet Union and stayed separate to some point.

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, and Communist Party of Czechoslovakia

Borders with the West were kept safe by the Iron Curtain. About 600 people, men, women, and children, were killed on the Czechoslovak border with Austria and West Germany between 1948 and 1989. 8,240 people were sent to work camps in 1948–1953.

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

In 1968, after the Prague Spring, the country was taken over by Warsaw Pact powers (People's Republic of Bulgaria, People's Republic of Hungary, People's Republic of Poland, and Soviet Union, but not Socialist Republic of Romania and People's Socialist Republic of Albania), ending a time of freeing up under the leader Alexander Dubček. 137 Czechoslovak people were killed and 500 were badly hurt during the taking over.

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

Czechoslovakia was a friend to communist countries around the world. It was one of the first countries to say it knew Kim Il-sung's Democratic People's Republic of Korea. After the start of the Korean War, Czechoslovakia said it did not agree with the Security Council’s steps. Czechoslovak communist leaders said fighting against North Korean fighting was wrong. During the summer of 1950, many statements against "American power" were sent to the United Nations from Czechoslovakia. During the Korean War in 1952, Czechoslovakia sent a war hospital with two teams of 58 people to North Korea.

When Fidel Castro took power after the Cuban Revolution in 1959, Czechoslovakia opened a building in Cuba and made friends. In August 1968, Castro said the Prague Spring was led by a "fascist reacting group" and said good things about the Soviet taking of Czechoslovakia. During the Vietnam War, Czechoslovakia sent big help to North Vietnam. The Czechoslovak government made groups which wanted to not only make peace, but also help the win for Viet Cong and Vietnam People's Army forces. Czech-made tools and war help would grow a lot after the Prague Spring. Czechoslovakia kept sending tens of thousands of Czech-made guns as well as guns and guns parts through the war.

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 and Constitution of Slovakia

The end of communist rule in Czechoslovakia in 1989, during the peace Velvet Revolution, was followed by the country breaking apart, this time into two follower countries. Czechoslovak Socialist Republic was changed to Czech and Slovak Federative Republic, the word "socialist" was taken off the names of the two parts inside the group, the Slovak Socialist Republic was changed to Slovak Republic.

On 17 July 1992, Slovakia, led by Prime Minister Vladimír Mečiar, said it was a free state, meaning its laws were more important than the group’s government. Through the fall of 1992, Vladimír Mečiar and Czech Prime Minister Václav Klaus talked about the details for ending the group. In November, the group’s parliament said to end the country officially on 31 December 1992.

Slovak independence (since 1993)

1990s

The Slovak Republic and the Czech Republic went separate ways on 1 January 1993, an event sometimes called the Velvet Divorce, after 74 years of being together stopped only by World War II. Slovakia has, still, stayed a close friend with the Czech Republic; the two countries are close European friends and both work with Hungary and Poland in the Visegrád Group. The first President of the Slovak Republic became Michal Kováč, chosen by the National Council of Slovakia in February 1993. Slovakia became a member of the United Nations on 19 January 1993, on 31 March 1993 it said yes to the UNESCO World Heritage Convention, making its old places able to be on the UNESCO list and on 15 April 1993 it joined GATT (now the World Trade Organization).

After the end of communism and Czechoslovakia ending, the country was not ready for crime groups. Crime rates in Slovakia went up a lot in the 1990s, the first crime leaders came out and mafia became a big problem in the country. Most police, people who say what’s legal, and judges had no way to find, say, or punish criminals. Many leaders did not even know the main crime people in their places. Between 1994–1998, during the government of Prime Minister Vladimír Mečiar, crime groups became strong and went into the highest government places. One of the big crime acts was taking the Slovak president’s son Michal Kováč Jr. in 1995, done by Slovak intelligence service and the government of Vladimír Mečiar. The process of privatization in Slovakia started, often said to have no clear rules and lots of taking things. Hundreds of state things went to private hands to only some business people. In the 1990s, Slovakia had Central Europe’s worst work, with high job losses and price grows and the least free government. Madeleine Albright, the U.S. secretary of state, called it "a black hole in the heart of Europe". This time in Slovakia is also called "Wild 90s" ("Divoké 90.roky"). Since March 1998, the country had 14 months without a leader, when the National Council of Slovakia many times could not choose the new leader, which led to the start of a direct presidential election in 1999.

After the 1998 parliamentary election, Mikuláš Dzurinda took over from Vladimír Mečiar as Prime Minister, and during two governments from 1998–2006, he started the stopped change processes. The country went on a new way that saw a simple tax, opening work rules, making business rules easier, and partly taking over social safety. Government of Mikuláš Dzurinda led Slovakia into OECD, NATO and the European Union. In 1999, the second President of Slovakia became Rudolf Schuster, first leader chosen by people.

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. The country was called the "Tatra Tiger" in the 2000s because it grew, on average, about 6% a year in money for each person from 2000 to 2008. Ivan Gašparovič became the third president of Slovakia in 2004 and in 2009 was the first and only Slovak leader chosen again.

In 2006, Robert Fico became Prime Minister, during his first government, Slovakia joined the Schengen area on 21 December 2007, letting people travel without passports and on 1 January 2009 it took the Euro as its money at 30.1260 korunas to the euro. The Slovak work had a big drop during the 2008 financial crisis, having the worst drop in history. At the start of 2009, Slovakia had a problem with power and said it was in danger, after Russia stopped gas to Europe through Ukraine pipes because of a price fight with Ukraine.

2010s

Between 2010–2012, Slovak government was led by first woman Prime Minister Iveta Radičová. Her government only lasted two years, Radičová mixed the vote on making the European Financial Stability Facility stronger – a main way to stop problems in the eurozone – with a vote to keep her government. Slovak parliament did not agree to the EFSF, which made the government end.

In 2012, Robert Fico became Prime Minister again when his party Direction – Social Democracy won and got 83 of 150 seats in National Council, becoming the first one party to win a clear majority in the Slovak parliament after the end of communism. In 2014, Andrej Kiska became the fourth President of Slovakia. For the first time a leader was chosen who was a business man and new to government. World problems hit Slovak government and fast began to be the main things in the country’s government and news, such as Annexation of Crimea by the Russian Federation next to Ukraine in 2014 or European migrant crisis in 2015.

After the government vote in 2016, Robert Fico became Prime Minister a third time, making him the leader who has led the most in Slovak history, if the years are added up. The third time Fico led was full of social and government fights. On 21 February 2018, young Slovak news worker Ján Kuciak and his girl friend, were killed at home in Veľká Mača. Thousands of people came out to ask for an honest look at the news worker’s death and a ‘trusting’ government in big protests in the country since the Velvet Revolution. Because of the protests, Robert Fico said he would leave, and the government went on under a new Prime Minister Peter Pellegrini. In 2019, Zuzana Čaputová became the fifth President of Slovakia, the first woman president.

2020s

After the government vote in 2020, Igor Matovič became the new Prime Minister of Slovakia. Matovič and his government, with almost no government work before, had to deal with the COVID-19 pandemic and COVID-19 recession, during which more than 21,000 people died in Slovakia from 2020–2023, the worst number since the end of World War II. Because of the COVID-19 pandemic, the Slovak work had the worst drop since the 2008 financial crisis and went into a drop in work. At the start of 2021, Matovič signed a deal to get 2 million doses of Russia’s Sputnik V COVID-19 vaccine, which had not been approved by European Union leaders. Matovič made the deal even though his group did not agree, which caused a government fight and him leaving. The government went on under a new Prime Minister Eduard Heger. Heger and his government had many problems, such as the still going COVID-19 pandemic, Russian attack on nearby Ukraine, Ukrainian people coming into the country, world power problems and prices going up fast. After a good growth in work in 2021, growth went down a lot in 2022 and 2023 because of the effects of the Russian attack on Ukraine, such as the EU rules on Russia and world power problems. Slovakia became one of Ukraine’s biggest givers of war help during Heger’s government in 2022 and 2023. Government fights in Slovakia went on with many fights in the group. At the end of 2022, Heger’s government ended after losing a vote in parliament. In 2023, before the next vote, President Zuzana Čaputová chose the first technocrat government in Slovak history and Ľudovít Ódor became the new Prime Minister for only six months, the third Prime Minister of Slovakia in three years.

After the government vote in 2023, Robert Fico became Prime Minister a fourth time. The new government stopped war help to Ukraine, but still gave help for people and electricity. On 15 May 2024, Prime Minister Robert Fico was shot several times and hurt in an attack. The man who did it said during talking that he did it mainly because of the Fico government’s work against giving war help to Ukraine. In 2024, Peter Pellegrini became the sixth President of Slovakia. Pellegrini is the first Slovak leader to have had all three top government jobs (President, Prime Minister and Speaker of Parliament) in the country. The fourth time Fico led is full of government fights with a weak group, getting worse talks with the European Union, fights with the closest friend Czech Republic and growing help from Russia. Supporting Russia, saying bad things about Slovakia’s place in the European Union and NATO, saying bad things about Ukraine’s leader Volodymyr Zelenskyy and Fico’s good talks with Russia’s leader Vladimir Putin, caused big protests across the country. Slovakia went down in lists of how free news is and how clean government is. The end of free society was followed by work going down, shown by the group Moody's saying it was worse and later Standard & Poor's also. In 2025, the government changed the country’s rules to say only two sexes (male and female), causing worries about people’s rights.

Geography

Main article: Geography of Slovakia

See also: Geomorphological division of Slovakia

Slovakia is a country in Central Europe. It is landlocked, meaning it has no coast. It lies between latitudes 47° and 50° N, and longitudes 16° and 23° E. The land is mostly mountainous. The Carpathian Mountains cover much of the north. Key mountain areas are the Fatra-Tatra Area, such as the Tatra Mountains, Slovak Ore Mountains, and Beskids. The largest lowland is the fertile Danubian Lowland in the southwest. There is another lowland in the southeast called the Eastern Slovak Lowland. Forests cover about 41% of the land.

The Tatra Mountains are the highest in the Carpathians. The highest point in Slovakia is Gerlachovský štít, at 2,655 meters. The mountains are popular for hiking and skiing, such as in the High Tatras near the Polish border. Slovakia has nine national parks, like Tatra National Park and Low Tatras National Park. These parks help protect nature. The country has many caves, with thirty open to visitors. These caves have beautiful formations like stalagmites and stalactites. Famous caves include the Dobšiná Ice Cave and Demänovská Cave of Liberty.

Rivers in Slovakia start in the mountains. The Váh is the longest river, at 403 kilometers. Other important rivers are the Danube, Nitra, and Hron. The climate changes from temperate in the south to more continental in the north. Summers are warm and winters are cold. Spring and autumn can have changing weather. Winter often brings snow, especially in the mountains. Slovakia has many plants and animals. Forests cover about 44% of the land. The country provides safe drinking water for everyone, with some of the best tap water in Europe.

Government and politics

Main articles: Politics of Slovakia and Law of Slovakia

See also: Prime Minister of Slovakia, President of Slovakia, and National Council of the Slovak Republic

Slovakia is a parliamentary democratic republic with a multi-party system. The president is the head of state. The prime minister leads the government. The National Council makes laws for the country. Members are elected for four years.

Slovakia joined the European Union and NATO in 2004. It joined the Schengen Area in 2007 and started using the euro in 2009. The country has strong ties with the United States and many European nations.

Foreign relations

Main article: Foreign relations of Slovakia

See also: Minister of Foreign and European Affairs and List of diplomatic missions of Slovakia

Slovakia's Ministry of Foreign and European Affairs handles the country's relationships with other nations. Slovakia is part of many global groups, including the United Nations, NATO, and the European Union. Slovak people can travel freely to many countries.

Military

Main article: Slovak Armed Forces

See also: Slovak Air Force

The president is the commander-in-chief of Slovakia's armed forces. Slovakia joined NATO in 2004 and has helped with peace operations around the world. The military has ground forces, air forces, and support units.

Human rights

Main article: Human rights in Slovakia

Human rights are protected in Slovakia by its laws and agreements with other countries. The country usually respects these rights, but there are still some problems with unfair treatment and corruption.

Administrative divisions

Main articles: Regions of Slovakia, Districts of Slovakia, and List of municipalities and towns in Slovakia

Slovakia is divided into eight regions, named after their main cities. These regions are split into smaller areas called districts and municipalities. The western regions, including Bratislava, are richer than the eastern regions.

Economy

Main article: Economy of Slovakia

See also: Slovak euro coins

Slovakia has a strong economy. In 2026, it was the 47th richest country with a per capita gross domestic product of $49,376 based on purchasing power parity. The country is attractive to foreign investors because of its low wages, low tax rates, and well-educated labour force. Slovakia joined the European Union and uses the euro currency.

The government works to balance wealth across regions. Most people own their homes.

Industry

See also: Automotive industry in Slovakia

Industry is important in Slovakia. Car manufacturing and electrical engineering are key sectors. Slovakia makes many cars, more per person than any other country.

Energy

Main article: Energy in Slovakia

Slovakia makes enough electricity for its needs. Nuclear power is the biggest source, followed by hydro power, natural gas, coal, biofuel and solar energy.

Transportation

Main article: Transport in Slovakia

Slovakia has motorways and expressways. It has three international airports. Bratislava Airport is the largest. Košice International Airport is the second largest. The Port of Bratislava is an important river port.

Tourism

Main article: Tourism in Slovakia

See also: List of castles in Slovakia and List of World Heritage Sites in Slovakia

Tourism helps Slovakia's economy. The country has beautiful landscapes, mountains, caves, castles, and towns. Popular places to visit are Bratislava and the High Tatras. Famous castles include Bojnice Castle, Spiš Castle, Orava Castle, Bratislava Castle, and the ruins of Devín Castle.

Science

The Slovak Academy of Sciences is the main research institution. Slovak astronaut Ivan Bella flew in space in 1999. Slovakia joined the European Space Agency in 2022 and signed the Artemis Accords with NASA in 2024. The country ranked 47th in the Global Innovation Index in 2025.

Demographics

Main article: Demographics of Slovakia

Further information: List of Slovaks

Slovakia has more than 5 million people. Most are Slovaks, but there are also Hungarians, Roma, Czechs, Rusyns, and others. The country is not very crowded, with about 110 people in each square kilometer.

The official language is Slovak, but Hungarian and Rusyn are also used in some places. Many people learn other languages, with Czech being the most common. Slovakia has many religions, including Catholics, Lutherans, Calvinists, and others. Some people do not follow any religion. Education is important, and children go to school from age 6 to 16. After primary school, students can go to secondary school and then to university if they choose.

Culture

Main article: Culture of Slovakia

Folk tradition has deep roots in Slovakia. You can see this in literature, music, dance, and buildings. A good example is the Slovak national anthem, "Nad Tatrou sa blýska". This song uses a tune from an old folk song called "Kopala studienku". The Východná Folklore Festival in Východná is the biggest festival in the country. Many groups perform traditional dances and songs there.

Art in Slovakia includes painting, drawing, sculpture, and more. The Slovak National Gallery, started in 1948, has two main displays in Bratislava. Other important art places are the Bratislava City Gallery and the Andy Warhol Museum of Modern Art.

Traditional Slovak food uses pork, poultry, potatoes, and cabbage. A popular dish is bryndzové halušky, made with potato dough and bryndza cheese. Many people enjoy wine and beer too.

Sport is very popular in Slovakia. Ice hockey and football are the most liked sports. The Slovak ice hockey team has won medals in the Ice Hockey World Championships and has played in the Olympic games. Football has many players, and the national team has qualified for big tournaments like the FIFA World Cup and the UEFA Euro.