Slovakia in History

Until the dissolution of Czechoslovakia, Slovakia's identity seemed inextricably linked with that of the former state. This book explores the key moments and themes in the history of Slovakia from the Duchy of Nitra's ninth-century origins to the establishment of independent Slovakia at midnight 1992?3. Leading scholars chart the gradual ethnic awakening of the Slovaks during the Reformation and Counter-Reformation and examine how Slovak national identity took shape with the codification of standard literary Slovak in 1843 and the subsequent development of the Slovak national movement. They show how, after a thousand years of Magyar-Slovak coexistence, Slovakia became part of the new Czechoslovak state from 1918?39, and shed new light on its role as a Nazi client state as well as on the postwar developments leading up to full statehood in the aftermath of the collapse of communism in 1989. There is no comparable book in English on the subject.

1. Slovakia, the Slovaks and their history Dušan Kováč; 2. The Duchy of Nitra Ján Steinhübel; 3. The beginnings of the nobility in Slovakia Ján Lukačka; 4. Medieval towns Vladimír Segeš; 5. Renaissance and humanist tendencies in Slovakia Eva Frimmová; 6. The period of religious disturbances in Slovakia Viliam Čičaj; 7. The Enlightenment and the beginnings of the modern Slovak nation Eva Kowalská; 8. Slovak Slavism and Pan-Slavism Ľudovít Haraksim; 9. The Slovak political programme: from Hungarian patriotism to the Czecho-Slovak state Dušan Kováč; 10. Slovakia in Czechoslovakia (1918–38) Natália Krajčovičová; 11. Slovakia from the Munich conference to the declaration of independence Valerián Bystrický; 12. The Slovak state, 1939–45 Ivan Kamenec; 13. The Slovak question and the resistance movement during the Second World War Jan Rychlík; 14. The Slovak National Uprising: the most dramatic moment in the nation's history Vilém Prečan; 15. The Slovak question, 1945–8 Michal Barnovský; 16. Czechoslovakism in Slovak history Elisabeth Bakke; 17. The Magyar minority in Slovakia before and after the Second World War Štefan Šutaj; 18. The establishment of totalitarianism in Slovakia after the February coup of 1948 and the culmination of mass persecution, 1948–53 Jan Pešek; 19. Slovakia and the attempt to reform socialism in Czechoslovakia, 1963–9 Stanislav Sikora; 20. Slovakia's position within the Czecho-Slovak federation, 1968–70 Jozef Žatkuliak; 21. Slovakia under communism, 1948–89: controversial developments in the economy, society and culture Miroslav Londák and Elena Londáková; 22. The fall of communism and the establishment of an independent Slovakia Michal Štefanský; 23. Afterword: Slovakia in history Mikuláš Teich.

MIKULÁŠ TEICH is Emeritus Fellow of Robinson College, Cambridge and Honorary Professor, Vienna University of Technology (Technische Universität Wien). His publications include work on the history of chemistry, biomedical sciences and biotechnology; social, economic and national aspects of scientific and technical developments; and Slavica.
dUŠAN KOVÁČ is Vice-President of the Slovak Academy of Sciences and President of the Slovak National Committee of Historians. His previous publications include include Dějiny Slovenska (History of Slovakia, 1998).
Martin D. Brown is Assistant Professor of International History at Richmond, the American International University in London. His previous publications include Dealing with Democrats: The British Foreign Office's Relations with the Czechoslovak Émigrés in Great Britain, 1939–1945 (2006).