Background of the Czechoslovakia
Early History
The creation of Czechoslovakia in 1918 was the culmination of the long struggle of the Czechs against their Austrian rulers and of the Slovaks against their Hungarian rulers.
The ancestors of the Czechs and Slovaks were united in the so-called Samo's Empire for some 30 years in the 17th century. Time before this period was especially important for Slovaks as they have managed to win the first historically documented victory against Franks. The country at that time was a peculiar unification of the Slovaks, which laid the foundations of the Slovak language and the Slovak nationality. The ancestors of the Slovaks and Moravians were later united in Great Moravia between 833 and 907. The Czechs were only part of Great Moravia for some seven years before splitting from it in 895.
Furthermore, in the second half of the 10th century, the Czechs conquered and controlled western Slovakia for around thirty years. This was the last time the two nations were united; the Hungarians had conquered Slovakia by the 11th century, while the Czechs maintained their own principality (a kingdom since 1198) of Bohemia, from around 900 to 1919.
Both Czechs and Slovaks struggled against a powerful neighbouring people; Germans in the case of the Czechs, Hungarians in the case of the Slovaks (see History of the Czech Republic and History of Slovakia). Contacts between the Czechs and Slovaks arose in:
- the late 14th century, when Slovaks started to study at the University of Prague (picture)
- in the 15th century, with the campaigns of the Czech Hussite armies to Slovakia
- in the 17th century, when Czech Protestants fled to Slovakia
Between the 15th and 18th centuries, some educated Slovaks used written Czech as well as Slovak and Latin. The Czechs and Slovaks were also formally united in 1436–1439, 1453–1457, and 1490–1918, when Hungary (which included Slovakia), Bohemia and other Central European states were ruled by the same kings.
