Slovakia

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SLOVAKIA.

Prior to the outbreak of World War I, Slovakia was part of the Austro-Hungarian Empire and was considered part of Hungary. Following the end of World War I Czechs and Slovaks campaigned for the establishment of an independent state. In October 1918 Slovakia declared itself independent and joined the Czech provinces (Bohemia, Moravia, and Silesia) to form the new Republic of Czechoslovakia.

During the interwar period Czechoslovakia was eastern Europe's only functioning parliamentary democracy. However, there were issues that divided the Czechs and Slovaks. The Czech lands were more densely populated than Slovakia and more industrial. The Slovak population was also generally poorer and less educated and overwhelmingly Catholic. The Prague government attempted to address economic inequities by industrializing Slovakia in the 1920s but these efforts were cut short by the Great Depression. As a result Slovak resentments grew in the 1930s and a separatist movement emerged, led by Father Andrej Hlinka (1864–1938) and Jozef Tiso (1887–1947).

After the infamous Munich agreement of September 1938 dismembered Czechoslovakia, on 14 March 1939 Slovakia, led by Tiso, declared its independence and quickly became a German puppet. However, in August 1944 about sixty thousand Slovak troops rose up against the Tiso regime and its Nazi backers in the so-called Slovak National Uprising, which was quelled with much brutality. At the close of World War II Soviet troops overran all of Slovakia and much of Bohemia

After the war Czechoslovakia was reestablished and elections were held in 1946. Although the Democratic Party won the elections in Slovakia, the Czechoslovak Communist Party won in the Czech Republic and became the largest party across the Federation. Eventually the communists seized power in a coup in 1948.

Under the communists there were concerted efforts to industrialize Slovakia; these efforts were centered around heavy industry and processing of raw materials. Rapid economic development led to the emergence of an increasingly vibrant Slovak intelligentsia and greater influence by Slovaks in national politics. Ultimately, in 1968, this culminated in the ascension of Alexander Dub?ek (1921–1992), the head of the Slovak Communist Party, to the position of Czechoslovak Party leader. Dub?ek's program of creating "socialism with a human face" involved significant social, economic, and political reforms. However the "Prague Spring" quickly ended on 21 August 1968 when Soviet and Warsaw Pact troops invaded Czechoslovakia. Dub?ek was replaced by Gustav Husák (1913–1991), who was also Slovak. Under Husak social, political, and economic life stagnated.

The 1970s also witnessed the rise of an organized dissident movement, Charter 77. This movement became the leadership core of the Velvet Revolution that brought about the downfall of communist rule in Czechoslovakia on 17 November 1989. Subsequently, two movements emerged to guide the transition process, Civic Forum (OF) in the Czech half of the Federation and Public against Violence (VPN) in Slovakia. A transition government was formed in December 1989, and elections, held in June 1990, were won by OF and VPN. However these organizations quickly disintegrated and were replaced with a new spectrum of political parties.

Between 1990 and 1992 negotiations over a new federation constitution became bogged down over the issue of Slovak autonomy. Elections were held in June 1992 for the Czech and Slovak National (republic-level) councils and Vladimír Me?iar's (b. 1942) Movement for a Democratic Slovakia (HZDS) won the elections in Slovakia. Me?iar negotiated the agreement to divide Czechoslovakia. On 1 January 1993 an independent Slovakia was established. In the new state, Slovaks comprised about 85 percent of the population; other groups included Hungarians (more than 10 percent), Roma (Gypsies), and Czechs.

Me?iar's party ruled Slovakia for most of the first years after independence, except for a nine-month period in 1994. Me?iar established a semi-authoritarian government and used state pressures to bully opponents and suppress ethnic Hungarian dissidents. Finally, Me?iar's party was voted out of office in the parliamentary elections of 1998 by a coalition led by Mikuláš Dzurinda (b. 1955). The governing coalition again won the September 2002 parliamentary election, although with only a three-seat majority in the parliament. The coalition included Prime Minister Dzurinda's Slovak Democrat and Christian Union (SDKU), the Party of the Hungarian Coalition (SMK), Christian Democrat Union (KDH), and the Alliance of the New Citizen (ANO). The principal opposition included Me?iar's HZDS, SMER (led by Robert Fico [b. 1964]) and the Communist Party of Slovakia. The Dzurinda government has rigorously pursued democratic and free-market reforms that helped pave the way for both NATO and European Union membership. Slovakia joined NATO on 29 March 2004 and became a member of the European Union on 1 May 2004.