Short Chronological History of Slovakia

Prepared by the Slovak historian Anton Hrnko

Existence of the human in the territory of Slovakia goes back to the early Stone Age and has been documented by many finds, like the skulls of Homo Neanderthalis in Gánovce in eastern Slovakia and near Šaľa nad Váhom in the south-west of the country. Since then, Slovakia has been. permanently inhabited by tribes and peoples of various origins until 5th C A. D., when ancestors of Slovaks came to be the dominant ethnic group in this area.

22 800 B.C. – the Venus of Moravany, the first manifestation of Palaeolithic art in Slovakia, was originated. It was found in the 1940th during an archaelogical research at Moravany nad Váhom near Piešťany.

cca 6000 B. C. – agriculture became prevailing among the peoples settled in the territory of Slovakia.

1900 B. C. – beginning of the Bronze Age. Mining grew in importance, and copper extracted in Slovakia was exported to several parts of Europe. The first walled setlements of "Mycenian" type were erected (Myšia Hurka near Poprad).

1200 B. C. – so-called Lusitian culture (Lužica, Lausitz in Germany) spread through Slovakia. Some scholars assume this culture was protoslavic, hence the region of northern Slovakia and southern Poland could be considered the ancient homeland of Slavs. Remnants of Lusitian culture survived in northern Slovakia until the times of the first historically recorded presence of Slavic tribes in the country.

400 B. C. – the Celtic tribes (Boiohems, Kotins) occupied the southwestern part of Slovakia and controlled it for more than three centuries. They brought in new technologies of metalurgy and iron-tools manufacture, of pottery, textile making and agriculture. Building of town-like settlements (oppida) and minting of coins (BIATEC) took place in the Greater Bratislava area –f or the first time in history the actual capital of Slovakia was a genuine town. Stone buildings and rests of a mint were documented there by researchers.

9 B. C. – downfall of Celtic civilisation in central Europe under pressure of of Dacians, Germans and Romans was quickly followed by creating of Roman provinces Pannonia and Noricum in the immediate neighbourhood of Slovakia. South-western Slovakia was occupied by the Germanic tribes Marcomans and Quads , later known under the common name of Suebs (Schwabs). They ruled over the western part of Slovakia for about four centuries.

6 A. D. –Roman legions under command of the later Emperor Tiberius for the first time invaded the territory of Slovakia while fighting against the Marcoman king (chief) Marobud. Romans influenced the political organization of Slovak territory as they built and maintained a number of walled border strongholds throughout their presence on the central Danube. They also set up several non-military outposts within the Slovak territory (Stupava, Devin, Bratislava, Milanovce, Iža), which was the only recorded case of Roman civilian buildings being raised on the northern side of the Limes Romanus.

21 A. D. – formation of the Regnum Vannianum by Romans, a state-like body between the rivers Cusus (Váh) and Marus (Moravia). Its aim was to bring more peace to the Roman border in Central Europe by creation of a satellite Germanic state. This effort had never been fully achieved. The Roman – Germanic relations on the Central Danube were henceforth marked by alternating periods of peaceful cooperation and devastating wars.

179 A. D. – during the Marcoman war (166 – 180) the Roman Emperor Marcus Aurelius tried to establish a new Roman province in the territory of Slovakia under the name of Marcomania. After his death Emperor Comodus gave up this idea. From this time comes the writing on the rock of the Trenčín Castle, telling about the stay of a Roman legion in the town Laugaritio in the winter 178/79. The town name spelled "Leukaristos" has been marked in maps by the ancient Hellenic geographer Ptolemaios, and is the first recorded local name in Slovakia (currently Trenčín).

375 A. D. – Emperor Valentian I attacked Quads in the Slovak territory, but during the campaign he died in Brigetio, the Roman fortress on the Danube, situated opposite the current Slovak town Komárno. Shortly after collapse of Roman power in the Central Danube region, period of peoples' wandering started.

406 A. D. –majority of Quad population of Slovakia withdrew to southern Germany. Territory of Slovakia became a temporary homeland of numerous Germanic tribes fleeing the Huns who dominated the Danube Basin in the first half of the 5th C.

about 470 – the last Quads left the western part of Slovakia. The depopulated lands were soon occupied by Slavic tribes and in beginning of 6th C the Slavs consolidated their power between Lower Carpathians Mountains and Eastern Slovakia on the Northern side of Danube. The Western Slovakia on the other side of Lower Carpathians Mountains and Lower Austria were dominated by Langobards until 568, when they fled from Avars to northern Italy.

568 - the nomadic Avars of Turkic origin conquered the Danube Basin and became the dominant power in Central Europe until Charlemagne defeated them late in the 8th C. In the meantime, local Slavic tribes were mostly under their political and military dominance.

623 - the Slavic tribes rose up against the Avar domination. Under the leadership of Frankish merchant Samo they liberated themselves and created an "empire" that comprised territories of current Slovakia, eastern Austria, Moravia and Bohemia. Until Samo´s death in 658 they preserved their independence and were able to defend themselves not only against Avars but against Frankish expansion (631) as well. Establishment of the "Samo Empire" was the first stage of the state-building process by the forefathers of Slovaks.

795 - devastating defeats of Avars by Charlemagne enabled the local Slavic chiefs -- who presumably helped the Franks in those battles – to overthrow the Avar yoke. Centralisation of power and progress in creation of state structures by the old Slovaks culminated in formation of two principalities with centers in Nitra(va) and Moravia.

828 - the first historically known old Slovak prince Pribina gave his consent to consecration of Christian church on his property in Nitra(va) by archbishop Adalram of Salzburg.

833 - the Moravian prince Mojmir I consolidated the principalities of Moravia and Nitravia into one state which was later given the name of Great Moravia. The prince Pribina was expelled from his possession and escaped to the Franks. The Frankish king Louis the German awarded him a principality in Pannonia , but he was killed there by Moravians in 861. Nevertheless, indepedence of Nitravia was partially preserved, and its relations to Moravia were comparable to those between Wales and England.

863 - upon invitation by Prince Rastislav, two Byzantine brothers and missionaries Constantine (Cyril) and Methodius came to Great Moravia. Rastislav's idea was to use the mission to obtain more political freedom and independence from the powerful Frankish Empire. Constantine the Philosopher developed the first Slavic alphabet and translated the Gospel into the Old Church Slavic language, thus starting the history of Slavic (and Slovak) literatures.

871 – the king Svätopluk defended the sovereignity and independence of Great Moravia against the efforts of Franks to subjugate it. Since then up to his death in 894 the Pope of Rome addressed him as "dilectus filius" in his correspondence, a title he hitherto reserved to Frankish and Byzantine Emperors. It was the top period of power of the Great Moravian Empire, when not only Moravia and Slovakia but also northern Hungary, Lower Austria, Bohemia, Silesia, Lusatia and southern Poland were under Svätopluk's rule.

880 - Pope John VIII issued the Bull Industriae Tuae setting up an independent ecclesiastical province in Great Moravia with Archbishop Methodius as its head (but at the same time German cleric Wiching was named the bishop of Nitra, a part of the province). The Old Church Slavic was recognized as the fourth lithurgical language, besides Latin, Greek and Hebrew.

896 - after the death of King Svätopluk in 894, his sons Mojmír II and Svätopluk II started to quarrel for domination of the Empire. The old Magyar (Hungarian) nomadic tribes that invaded the Danubian Basin took advantage of this situation and in a decade of power in Central Danube region. Both Mojmír II and Svätupluk II probably died in battles with old Magyars between 904 and 907.

907 - In a three-day long battle near Bratislava, the old Magyars routed the Bavarian armies. Since the annals don't make any mention of the Great Moravian military forces taking part in this battle, historians put this year as the date of breakup of Great Moravian Empire. The Moravian principality was divided up between Magyar, Bavarian and Czech realms, the principality of Nitra fell under domination of the old Magyar dynasty of Árpáds. From the powerful Nitravian branch of Árpáds (many of them with names of Slovak origin) later kings of Hungaria descended.

955 - in the battle at the Lech river near Augsburg (Bavaria), old Magyars suffered a disastrous defeat at the hand of the Franks. After that they abandoned their nomadic way of life, settled in Pannonia and accepted Christianity.

997 - a great pagan uprising under Prince Koppány broke up in Pannonia against the later king of Hungaria Stephen I who escaped to the Slovak territory where he held the title of Prince of Nitra in former times. Slovak magnates Hunt and Poznan rearmed him and with their help he defeated Koppány.

1000 – Prince Stephen became the first king of Hungaria. This kingdom had never been an ethnic Magyar state (therefore it should be called "Hungaria" rather than "Hungary"). Up to 1918, when the kingdom disintegrated, the ethnic Magyars were in minority, not surpassing a 30 - 40% share of population

1001 - The Polish king Boleslaw the Bold conquered Slovakia and kept it till 1025. Then he turned it back to Hungarian Kingdom, keeping to his claim to the ascendancy to the Hungarian throne.

1048 – prince Belo (Béla - the later king Béla I) became ruler of Nitra principality. During his reign (till 1060) the principality pursued an independent foreign policy and minted its own coins.

1110 – King Coloman abolished the Nitra principality and split up its territory in his quest to prevent dynastic wars. Nevertheless, till 1918, when the old Hungarian Kingdom disintegrated, Slovak territory was perceived as a kind of separate unit. It used to be referred to as Upper Hungary, Oberungarn, Felvidék, Horné Uhorsko by written sources, and since the 15th the century, also as Windische Landär, Slováky, Slowakei, Slovensko, Sclavonia.

1222 – King Andrew II issued the so-called Golden Bull conferring many privileges on Hungarian nobility, liberating it of taxpaying, declaring their property inalienable, allowing them to rebel when they felt their rights encroached by the king (ius resistendi). These rights laid the bases of the so-called Natio Hungarica, a caste of privileged people regardless of nationality. They used Latin as the language of communication till 1848.

1238 – under the privilege issued by King Béla IV, Trnava became the first free royal borough in Slovakia.

1241 – Tartars invaded the Hungarian Kingdom. They defeated the Hungarian armies and were ransacking the country for more than one year. Only stone-walled fortresses like Bratislava, Nitra and Spiš Castle could resist their attacks. The country was depopulated and therefore King Belo (Béla) IV invited settlers from Germany. Up to the end of century, numerous free royal boroughs and walled castles were set up and Germans and other participants of town-building process were assigned special privileges as "hostes" (guests).

1301 – the last king from the Árpád dynasty died. At the time of election of new king nobility was divided, bringing about a period of feudal anarchy in the kingdom. The warlord-magnate Matúš Čák of Trenčín and his allies of the East-Slovakian noble family Omodej (Amade) took control most of Slovakia, refusing to acknowledge authority of any Hungarian king over him. He was able to maintain an independent rule over the territory till his death in 1321 and was nicknamed "The lord of Váh (river) and Tatra (mountains)". Later, in times of Slovak struggle against Magyarisation in the 19th century, mentions of him were made as of "Slovak ruler of the independent Slovak territory".

1307 – Charles Robert of Anjou became King of Hungaria. He consolidated the kingdom and a period of progress commenced under his rule.

1328 – King Charles Robert issued the privilege to Kremnica as a mining and minting town. The gold mines at Kremnica and silver mines at nearby Banská Štiavnica made Kremnica famous for its mint; golden ducats (florens) produced there were heavier than original florens from Florence in Italy. The Kremnica mint is the oldest continually working mint in the world.

1381 –King Louis the Great issued the privilege to the Slovaks in the free royal burough Žilina giving them equal rights with the German "hostes" in the town council. This document amounts to the first written record referring to an independent political engagement of Slovaks.

1428 – the first military expedition of Hussits from Bohemia reached the territory of Slovakia, starting a period of political instability through 1460. Hussits harassed the local nobility and towns ruled by German patriciate, but at the same time they encouraged political activities of Slovaks. The Czech replaced Latin as lingua franca of literature and administration in some places of Slovakia, enhancing process of Slovakization of towns with German majority. In most urban centers, Slovaks became the majority of population..

1458 – Matej (Mathias) Corvinus became the king of Hungaria. He tried to make a modern centralized state out of the kingdom, but failed due to resistance of the nobility. King Mathias (died in 1490) is the only one Hungarian king whose name still occurs in Slovak folk tales, henceforth popular among the Slovaks is the proverb: King Mathias died, the justice died.

1467 –Academia Istropolitana, the first university in Hungaria was established in Bratislava.

1526 – in the battle of Mohács, Ottoman Turks defeated Hungarian armies under command of King Louis II. The king himself was killed while escaping from the battlefield. This event was of fatal consequences for the whole country. A new wave of feudal anarchy started, the kingdom had two different kings at the same time (by the way - - crowned by the same bishop). Their infighting was used by the Turks to occupy a great part of today's Hungary (except its Western fringe), while Slovakia was the only part of Hungarian Kingdom remaining in the hands of Hapsburgs who became the legitimate kings in the meantime. For over 150 years the southern border of Slovakia became a scene of numerous Hapsburg – Ottoman wars.

1530 – for the first time Slovakia faced a Turkish raid.

1536 – due to Turkish occupation of Lower Hungaria, Bratislava became the capital of the country, coronation town and seat of the Diet. It maintained this position till the 1848 revolution, when the capital was moved to Pest (Budapest).

1603 – uprising of Stephan Bocskay against Hapsburgs started, nominally for freedom of faith for Protestants. Nevertheless, its genuine aim was to defend the feudal privileges of Hungarian noblemen against modern absolutistic forms of government that were just enforced in Western Europe. By this uprising whole period of feudal rebellions was set off (described as a freedom fight by Magyar historiography, but actually a fight for freedom merely for the nobility – and for serfdom of the rest). This period was finished by peace treaty of Szathmar (Satu Mare in today's Rumania) in 1711. The Hungarian noblemen retained their "freedom", but the country paid for it by long-term backwardness not only compared to Western Europe but to the western part of Hapsburg monarchy as well.

1608 – the Hungarian Diet adopted the first law guaranteeing the linguistic equality in towns under which all three main country languages (Slovak, Magyar and German) should have the same rights.

1610 – Lutheran ecclesiastical organization in Hungaria was established by synod in Žilina. The structure was set up as to suit the Slovak majority of the Church, nevertheless rights of German and Magyar believers were secured. This act was a further step to the perception of Slovakia as a separate unit within the Hungarian Kingdom.

1627 –gunpowder for mining purposes was successfully used in Banská Štiavnica pits for the first time in the world.

1635 – Archbishop P. Pázmany founded a Catholic university in Trnava which became the center of scientific and cultural life in Slovakia, contributing to cultivation of Slovak language and its stabilization upon the dialect of western Slovakia.

1663 – Ottoman Turks captured the main fortress of Hapsburgs in Hungaria -- Nové Zámky situated in southern Slovakia. The Ottoman Empire achieved the top of its power in this region by this victory, while most of Europe was shocked by the event. Hapsburgs recaptured the fortress 22 years later.

1683 –Ottoman armies were defeated in front of Vienna. It was the start of offensive to restore Lower Hungaria to Hapsburgs concluded in 1699 by the Karlowitz (Sremski Karlovci in today's Serbia) peace treaty that brought about reunification of the Hungarian Kingdom. During the following process of colonization of depopulated territories that took more than a century, thousands of Slovaks settled in the so-called Lower Lands where they built up a new homeland.

1707 – at the Diet in Ónod called during the Rákoci (Rákoczy) uprising (1703 – 1711), two deputies from ethnic Slovak Turiec County were killed and the county was abolished. This affair is considered to be the first ethnically conditioned conflict between Slovaks and Magyars.

1757 – during the Seven Years War a general of Slovak origin Andrej Hadik, commanding the Hapsburg Hussars that consisted of Slovak conscripts from Trenčín county, captured Berlin. Ladislav Gábriš– Škultéty, a Slovak from Trenčín county was serving in this regiment for more than 80 years and died in the age of 94 years in the saddle as the standard-bearer. It is the longest lasting military service ever recorded. He took part in more then 250 battles and survived five Hapsburg emperors.

1762 – Mining Academy, the first technical university of this type in the world, was founded in Banská Štiavnica.

1777 –Empress Maria Theresia realized a school reform, so-called Ratio Educationis, which introduced mandatory school attendance in the country. Her most important adviser in this matter was a Slovak, A. F. Kollár.

1787 – Catholic priest Anton Bernolák codified the first standard Slovak language. With this act the Slovak national revival started.

1791 – Hungarian Diet adopted the first law that introduced an officially sanctioned linguistic inequality into Hungarian legal system, giving the starting shot to the process of massive Magyarisation.

1795 – leaders of so-called Hungarian Jacobins were executed in Buda (Budapest). They were the last group of politicians in Hungaria that made effort to rebuild the country on the basis of equality of nationalities. They wanted to transform the kingdom into a federative republic of sovereign national states of Slovaks, Magyars, Rumanians, Germans, Serbs and Croats. The spiritus movens of the group were Serb I. Martinović and Slovak J. Hajnóczy.

1825 – Magyar (Hungarian) Academy of Sciences was founded under leadership od S. Széchényi. Its main aim was to Magyarise the country and to create a homogenous Magyar ethnic state in Hungaria with more than 60% of non-Magyar population.

1840 –Diet renamed the country, replacing the old Latin designation Hungaria by a new Magyar name Magyarország (Hungary).

1842 – Slovak Lutherans protested before the king against the efforts to Magyarise the Slovak Lutheran Church and to attach it to the Magyar Calvinist Church.

1843 –Slovak national leaders codified the so-called Štúr linguistic reform, creating the standard Slovak language that is valid until present.

1848 – in the course of the revolution Slovaks declared themselves as a nation (10 May) and started an armed uprising for independence from Magyar government (19 September) that declared its intention to Magyarise the kingdom.

1861 –a national assembly met in Martin and adopted Memorandum of the Slovak Nation, a basic program of Slovak home rule in the framework of Hungarian Kingdom.

1863 – Matica slovenská (Slovak Fellowship) was founded. Its aim was to work for the Slovak culture and science.

1867 – Austro – Hungarian (Magyar) Compromise was accepted by the ruling Haspburg dynasty. The state was reshaped into dual monarchy and the nationalities in the Hungarian part of monarchy were subject to the harsh Magyarisation. Under the so-called "Nationalities law" only Magyar nation was recognized in the country.

1875 – Hungarian government banned Matica slovenská and all Slovak high schools.

1880 – mass emigration of Slovaks to the United States began. Until 1910 almost one-third of Slovaks left the country due the national and social oppression.

1907 – the Slovak League in America was founded. The American Slovaks started the campaign for national freedom of Slovaks in homeland.

1918 – during the First World War (1914-1918) many Slovaks on the top with M. R. Štefánik fought on the side of Entente for the freedom of the Slovak nation. In May 1918 American Slovaks signed so-called Pittsburgh Agreement with Czechs about creation of Czecho-Slovak state supposed to warrant home rule for Slovaks in Slovakia in the future common state. On October 28, 1918, Czechs declared the Czecho-Slovak state in Prague, while Slovak representatives announced their will to join this state on October 30, 1918 by signing the Declaration of Slovak Nation. The Czechs broke their word, never accepting Slovaks as an equal partner in the new state.

1918 – late in October 1918, the dream of generations of Magyar nationalists and chauvinists for ethnic pure Magyar state became reality. The oppressed nationalities (Slovaks, Romanians, Croats, Serbs, Ruthenians, Germans, Slovenes and Italians) left the old Hungarian Kingdom and enabled Magyars to have their aim of 1840 fulfill -- to create an almost ethnically pure Magyarország – Hungary.

1920 – the new Czecho-Slovak state adopted a Constitution declaring Czecho-Slovakia as a national “Czechoslovak” state. The MPs did not respect the agreements between Slovaks and Czechs and the Versailles Treaty where the name of the new Republic was given as Czecho-Slovakia, and adopted the name Czechoslovakia without hyphen, which is a grammatical and political rarity without analogy in other languages or in political (geographical) terminology.

1921 – Slovak Peoples' Party under leadership of Reverend Andrej Hlinka began campaigning for legislative autonomy (home rule) of Slovakia within Czecho-Slovakia. It grew into the strongest political movement of the country. Since 1925 it represented more than 50% of ethnic Slovaks in the Republic.

1932 – new wave of political struggle for a solution of the Slovak question began. In Trenčianske Teplice the young Slovak generation declared its will to live in a Republic with equal rights for Slovaks and Czechs. In Zvolen the leaders of Slovak Catholic and Lutheran autonomist parties established a common Autonomist Bloc.

1938 – conference of four main European powers (United Kingdom, France, Italy, Germany) took place in Munich handing over the Czecho-Slovak Republic to Hitler's domination. Border regions of Bohemia and Moravia with ethnic German majority were given up to Germany, and southern Slovakia was by a decision adopted by Ribbentrop and Ciano in Vienna passed over to Horthy Hungary. Most Slovak political parties came to an agreement, declaring on October 6, 1938 in Žilina the authonomy of Slovakia. The Prague government accepted this decision without delay. J. Tiso became the first prime minister of autonomous Slovakia.

1939 – on March 9, 1939 the central government by a coup d´etat and illegally overthrew the Tiso government. The Slovak ministers of the central government were not informed on the measure. This step of central government enabled Germans to interfere into Slovak matters and to press the Slovak parliament to declare an independent state on March 14, 1939.

1942 – the Slovak government allowed deportation of the Slovak Jews to Poland. The Nazi government in Germany persuaded the Slovak government that they would be settled in eastern Poland. In reality, a huge majority of them was killed in Nazi concentration camps. About 58 000 Jews from about 110 000-strong Jewish community of Slovakia were extradited before President J. Tiso stopped the deportations.

1944 – Slovak National Uprising broke up against the Nazi domination and occupation. It was the second largest anti-Nazi uprising in Europe. For two months were Slovak soldiers fighting against almost six German divisions. The Slovak National Council declared the will of Slovaks to live with Czechs in a common state under an “equal to equal” condition.

1945 – the so-called Košice Governmental Program was adopted providing for even position of Slovaks and Czechs within the Republic. This program had never been carried out. The Czechs returned to their old "Czechoslovakistic" routine.

1947 - former Slovak president J. Tiso was sentenced to death and executed. His trial and execution had nothing to do with correct process and justice.

1948 – Communist coup d´ettat took place. A new constitution was adopted guaranteeing a quasi autonomy of Slovakia in the Czecho-Slovak state..

1954 – process with so-called bourgeois nationalists on the top with G. Husák took place, giving out long-year jail sentences. Their main guilt was to have required that the Košice Governmental Program be fulfilled.

1958 – new wave of repression of Slovaks started. A process was held against a group of Matica Slovenská researchers who were sentenced as renegades due to their effort to publish a Slovak Encyclopaedia.

1960 – new constitution was adopted declaring a Socialist state under the leading role of the Communist party. The Slovak autonomy was fully canceled. A large-scale movement arose in Slovakia for a genuine equality in the state. This movement brought Alexander Dubček to the leading position in Slovakia and was one of decisive factors that led to the Prague Spring of 1968.

1968 – the Czecho-Slovak state was federalized. Two federal republics were established and the real base for Slovak-Czech equality was created. But this lasted only one year. In 1970 a new wave of centralization within the framework of post-1968 “normalization” began, destroying all efforts to find a common base for living in one state.

1977 – Charta 77 movement on the top with V. Havel was established. This attempt of opposition against communist regime did not have a large echo among the Slovaks due its Czechoslovakistic orientation. Though the Slovak question was crucial for the state, Charta 77 did not publish any document dealing with this matter till 1989. The Slovak opposition against Communist regime had strong religious appearance, mostly Catholic.

1989 – downfall of the Communist regime, leading to new hopes for the future. Everybody wanted the democracy but there were different perceptions of democratization between Slovaks and Czechs. The former wanted to achieve a real autonomy, not only a formal democracy, while the latter did not want to give up their dominant position in the state. It was impossible to find an acceptable agreement, and therefore political representatives of both nations agreed on a peaceful split.

1993 – on January 1, 1993 the Slovak Republic became an independent and sovereign state.

Biography: Anton Hrnko

Born in the 1955 - Zilina

1974 - 1979 - study at the Faculty of Philosophy of Comenius University (History - Philosophy)

1979 - 1990 - employee of the Historicky ustav SAV (The institute of History - Slovak Academy of Science) specialized on the Slovakia's History during the 2nd World War

1990 - 1998 deputy member of the Slovenska narodna rada (the Slovak National Council)

Scientific works:

- Politicky vyvin na Slovensku a protifasisticky odboj 1939 - 1941, Bratislava 1987

- Narodna rada Slovenskej republiky, Bratislava 1995

- coauthor of the Dejiny Slovenska 5, Bratislava 1985