Editing History of Slovakia (section)

===Late modern period===

====Slovak National Movement====
During the 18th century the Slovak National Movement emerged, partially inspired by the broader [[Pan-slavism|Pan-Slavic movement]] with the aim of fostering a sense of national identity among the Slovak people.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.hungarian-history.hu/lib/panslavism/panslavism.pdf |title=Pan-Slavism |access-date=2007-03-18 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070621042920/http://www.hungarian-history.hu/lib/panslavism/panslavism.pdf |archive-date=21 June 2007 |df=dmy-all }} Sándor Kostya: Pan-Slavism</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.workmall.com/wfb2001/slovakia/slovakia_history_national_revival.html|title=Slovakia National Revival - Flags, Maps, Economy, Geography, Climate, Natural Resources, Current Issues, International Agreements, Population, Social Statistics, Political System|website=www.workmall.com}}</ref><ref>Jelena Milojkovic-Djuric: Panslavism and National Identity in the Balkans, 1830–1880 {{ISBN|0-88033-291-3}}</ref> Advanced mainly by Slovak religious leaders, the movement grew during the 19th century. At the same time, the movement was divided along the confessional lines and various groups had different views on everything from quotidian strategy to linguistics. Moreover, the Hungarian control remained strict after 1867 and the movement was constrained by the official policy of [[magyarization]].

The first codification of standard Slovak by [[Anton Bernolák]] in the 1780s was based on the dialect from western Slovakia. It was supported by mainly [[Roman Catholicism|Roman Catholic]] intellectuals, with the center in [[Trnava]]. The Lutheran intellectuals continued to use a Slovakized form of Czech. Especially [[Ján Kollár]] and [[Pavel Jozef Šafárik]] were adherents of Pan-Slavic concepts that stressed the unity of all [[Slavic people]]s. They considered [[Czechs]] and [[Slovaks]] members of a single nation and they attempted to draw the languages closer together.

In the 1840s, the Protestants split as [[Ľudovít Štúr]] developed a standard language based on the dialect from central Slovakia. His followers stressed the separate identity of the Slovak nation and uniqueness of its language. Štúr's version was finally approved by both the Catholics and the Lutherans in 1847 and, after several reforms, it remains standard [[Slovak language|Slovak]].

[[File:KosickyDistrikt.png|thumb|right|210px|A map of the northern part of the Habsburg Kingdom of Hungary in 1850, showing the two military districts which had administrative centres in the territory of present-day Slovakia]]

==== Hungarian Revolution of 1848 ====
In the [[Hungarian Revolution of 1848]], Slovak nationalist leaders took the side of the Austrians in order to promote their separation from the Kingdom of Hungary within the Austrian monarchy. The [[Slovak National Council (1848–1849)|Slovak National Council]] even organized an uprising from [[Vienna]] with the aim of equalizing Slovaks and gaining autonomy in the Habsburg monarchy, called the [[Slovak Uprising of 1848–49|Slovak Uprising]]. In September, 1848, the Slovak National Council managed to organize a short-lived administration of the captured territories. However, the Slovak troops were later disbanded by the Vienna Imperial Court. On the other hand, thousands of volunteers from the current territory of Slovakia, among them a great number of Slovaks, fought in the Hungarian Army.

After the defeat of the Hungarian Revolution, the Hungarian political elite was oppressed by the Austrian authorities and many participants of the Revolution were executed, imprisoned, or forced to emigrate. In 1850, the Kingdom of Hungary was divided into five military districts or provinces, two of which had administrative centers in the territory of present-day Slovakia: the Military District of Pressburg (Bratislava) and the Military District of Košice.

The Austrian authorities abolished both provinces in 1860. The Slovak political elite made use of the period of [[neo-absolutism]] of the Vienna court and the weakness of the traditional Hungarian elite to promote their national goals. Turz-Sankt Martin ([[Martin, Slovakia|Martin]] / [[Túrócszentmárton]]) became the foremost center of the Slovak National Movement with foundation of the nationwide cultural association [[Matica slovenská]] (1863), the [[Slovak National Museum]], and the [[Slovak National Party (historical party)|Slovak National Party]] (1871).

==== Austro-Hungarian Compromise of 1867 ====
The heyday of the movement came to a sudden end after 1867, when the [[Habsburg]] domains in central Europe underwent a [[Ausgleich|constitutional transformation]] into the dual monarchy of [[Austria-Hungary]] as a result of the [[Austro-Hungarian Compromise of 1867]]. The territory of present-day Slovakia was included in the Hungarian part of the dual monarchy, dominated by the Hungarian political elite which distrusted the Slovak elite due to its Pan-Slavism, separatism and its recent stand against the [[Hungarian Revolution of 1848]]. Matica was accused of Pan-Slavic separatism and was dissolved by the authorities in 1875; and other Slovak institutions (including schools) shared the same fate.

New signs of national and political life appeared only at the very end of the 19th century. Slovaks became aware that they needed to ally themselves with others in their struggle. One result of this awareness, the Congress of Oppressed Peoples of the Kingdom of Hungary, held in Budapest in 1895, alarmed the government. In their struggle Slovaks received a great deal of help from the Czechs. In 1896, the concept of Czecho-Slovak Mutuality was established in Prague to strengthen Czecho-Slovak cooperation and support the secession of Slovaks from the Kingdom of Hungary.

At the beginning of the 20th century, growing democratization of political and social life threatened to overwhelm the monarchy. The call for [[universal suffrage]] became the main rallying cry. In the Kingdom of Hungary, only 5 percent of inhabitants could vote. Slovaks saw in the trend towards representative democracy a possibility of easing ethnic oppression and a breakthrough into renewed political activity.

The Slovak political camp, at the beginning of the century, split into different factions. The leaders of the Slovak National Party, based in Martin, expected the international situation to change in the Slovaks' favor, and they set great store by Russia. The Roman Catholic faction of Slovak politicians led by Father [[Andrej Hlinka]] focused on small undertakings among the Slovak public and, shortly before the war, established a political party named the [[Slovak People's Party]]. The liberal [[intelligentsia]] rallying around the journal ''Hlas'' ("Voice"), followed a similar political path, but attached more importance to Czecho-Slovak cooperation. An independent [[Slovak Social Democratic Party of the Kingdom of Hungary|Social Democratic Party]] emerged in 1905.

[[File:Greater austria ethnic.svg|thumb|right|210px|A map of the [[United States of Greater Austria|federalization of Austria-Hungary]] planned by Archduke Franz Ferdinand, with Slovakia as one of the member states]]

The Slovaks achieved some results. One of the greatest of these was the election success in 1906, when, despite continued oppression, seven Slovaks managed to get seats in the Assembly. This success alarmed the government, and increased what was regarded by Slovaks as its oppressive measures. [[Magyarization]] achieved its climax with a new education act known as the Apponyi Act, named after education minister Count [[Albert Apponyi]]. The new act stipulated that the teaching of Hungarian must be included as a subject in the curriculum of non-state-owned four years elementary schools in the framework of compulsory schooling, as a condition for those schools to receive state financing. Non-government organizations such as the [[Upper Hungary Magyar Educational Society]] supported Magyarization at a local level.

Ethnic tension intensified when 15 Slovaks were killed during a riot on the occasion of the consecration of a new church at Černová / Csernova near [[Rózsahegy]] / [[Ružomberok]] (see [[Černová tragedy]]). The local inhabitants wanted the popular priest and nationalist politician Andrej Hlinka to consecrate their new church. Hlinka contributed significantly to the construction of the church, but his bishop [[Alexander Párvy]] suspended him from his office and from exercising all clerical functions because of Hlinka's involvement in the national movement. This resulted in a wave of solidarity with Hlinka across all today's Slovakia. The villagers tried to achieve a compromise solution and to cancel the suspensions or to postpone consecration until the [[Holy See]] decided about the Hlinka case. Párvy refused to consent, and appointed ethnic Slovak dean Martin Pazúrik for the task. Pazúrik, as well as Hlinka, were active in the election campaign but supported Hungarian and Magyarone{{clarify|date=February 2024}} politicians and continuously adopted an anti-Slovak attitude.<ref>{{cite book | last = Kuruc | first = Štefan | editor-last = Kucík | editor-first = Štefan | chapter = Katolícka cirkev na slovenskom území Uhorska na začiatku 20. storočia | trans-chapter = Catholic Church in the Slovak territory of the Kingdom of Hungary at the beginning of the 20th century | title =  Mýtus a realita: medzinárodná konferencia 18. októbra 2007: zborník príspevkov z medzinárodnej vedeckej konferencie organizovanej Historickým ústavom Katolíckej univerzity v Ružomberku pri príležitosti stého výročia Černovskej tragédie | location = Ružomberok | publisher = Katolícka univerzita | year = 2008 | isbn = 978-80-8084-314-4 | page=70 }}</ref> The church had to be consecrated by force,{{clarify|date=February 2024}} with police assistance. Given where the event occurred, all 15 local gendarmes who participated in the subsequent tragedy were of Slovak origin. In the stress situation, the gendarmes shot dead 15 protesters among a crowd of about 300–400 villagers who tried to avoid the priests' convoy to enter their village.<ref>{{cite book | last=Holec | first=Roman | title=Tragédia v Černovej a slovenská spoločnosť | trans-title=The tragedy in Černová and the Slovak society | location=Martin | publisher=Matica slovenská | year=1997 | isbn= 9788070904367 | page=117}}</ref> All this added to Slovak estrangement from and resistance to Hungarian rule, and the incident raised international attention on violation of national rights of non-Hungarian minorities.

Before the outbreak of World War I, the idea of Slovak autonomy became part of [[Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria|Archduke Franz Ferdinand]]'s plan of federalization of the monarchy, developed with help of the Slovak journalist and politician [[Milan Hodža]]. This last realistic attempt to tie Slovakia to Austria-Hungary was abandoned because of the [[Assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand|Archduke's assassination]], which in turn triggered World War I.

==== Czechoslovakia ====

===== Formation of Czechoslovakia =====
{{Main|Origins of Czechoslovakia|First Republic of Czechoslovakia}}

After the outbreak of [[World War I]] the Slovak cause took firmer shape in resistance and in determination to leave the [[Dual Monarchy]] and to form an independent republic with the Czechs. The decision originated amongst people of Slovak descent in foreign countries. Slovaks in the United States of America, an especially numerous group, formed a sizable organization. These, and other organizations in Russia and in neutral countries, backed the idea of a Czecho-Slovak republic. Slovaks strongly supported this move.

The most important Slovak representative at this time, [[Milan Rastislav Štefánik]], a French citizen of Slovak origin, served as a French general and as leading representative of the Czecho-Slovak National Council based in Paris. He made a decisive contribution to the success of the Czecho-Slovak cause. Political representatives at home, including representatives of all political persuasions, after some hesitation, gave their support to the activities of [[Tomáš Masaryk|Masaryk]], [[Edvard Beneš|Beneš]] and Štefánik.

During the war the Hungarian authorities increased harassment of Slovaks, which hindered the nationalist campaign among the inhabitants of the Slovak lands. Despite stringent censorship, news of moves abroad towards the establishment of a Czech-Slovak state got through to Slovakia and met with much satisfaction.

During [[World War I]] (1914–1918) Czechs, Slovaks, and other national groups of Austria-Hungary gained much support from Czechs and Slovaks living abroad in campaigning for an independent state. In the turbulent final year of the war, sporadic protest actions took place in Slovakia; politicians held a secret meeting at [[Liptószentmiklós]] / [[Liptovský Mikuláš]] on 1 May 1918.

===== First Czechoslovak Republic (1918–1938) =====
At the end of the war Austria-Hungary dissolved. The Prague National Committee proclaimed an independent republic of [[Czechoslovakia]] on 28 October, and, two days later, the [[Slovak National Council (1918)|Slovak National Council]] at [[Martin, Slovakia|Martin]] acceded to the Prague proclamation. The new republic was to include the Czech lands ([[Bohemia]] and [[Moravia]]), a small part of [[Silesia]], Slovakia, and [[Subcarpathian Ruthenia]]. The new state set up a parliamentary democratic government and established a capital in the Czech city of [[Prague]].

As a result of the counter-attack of the [[Hungarian Red Army]] in May–June, 1919, Czech troops were ousted from central and eastern parts of present Slovakia, where a puppet short-lived [[Slovak Soviet Republic]] with its capital in [[Prešov]] was established. However, the Hungarian army stopped its offensive and later the troops were withdrawn on the Entente's diplomatic intervention.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://epa.niif.hu/00700/00775/00014/109-113.html |title=Magyar Tudomány 2000. január |publisher=Epa.niif.hu |access-date=21 November 2008}}</ref><ref>Ignác Romsics: Magyarország története a XX. században, 2004, p. 134</ref><ref name="C4WDefault-8232704">{{cite web|url=http://www.workmall.com/wfb2001/hungary/hungary_history_hungarian_soviet_republic.html |title=Hungary Hungarian Soviet Republic - Flags, Maps, Economy, Geography, Climate, Natural Resources, Current Issues, International Agreements, Population, Social Statistics, Political System |work=workmall.com |date=26 November 2007 |access-date=26 April 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140426200635/http://www.workmall.com/wfb2001/hungary/hungary_history_hungarian_soviet_republic.html |archive-date=26 April 2014 |url-status=live |df=dmy-all }}</ref>
[[File:Czechoslovakia01.png|thumb|right|210px|Czechoslovakia in 1928]]
In the [[Treaty of Trianon]] signed in 1920, the [[Paris Peace Conference, 1919|Paris Peace Conference]] set the southern border of Czechoslovakia further south from the Slovak-Hungarian language border due to strategic and economic reasons. Consequently, some fully or mostly Hungarian-populated areas were also included into Czechoslovakia. According to the 1910 census, which had been manipulated by the ruling Hungarian bureaucracy,<ref name=SlovakiaInHistory>{{cite book|last=Teich|first=Mikuláš|title=Slovakia in History|year=2011|publisher=Cambridge University Press|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=jrC1HFgjJxsC&q=census+1910+hungary+manipulated&pg=PA272|author2=Dušan Kováč |author3=Martin D. Brown |access-date=20 November 2011|isbn=9781139494946}}</ref> population of the present territory of Slovakia numbered 2,914,143 people, including 1,688,413 (57.9%) speakers of [[Slovak language|Slovak]], 881,320 (30.2%) speakers of [[Hungarian language|Hungarian]], 198,405 (6.8%) speakers of German, 103,387 (3.5%) speakers of [[Rusyn language|Ruthenian]] and 42,618 (1.6%) speakers of other languages.
[[File:Czechoslovakia 1930 linguistic map - created 2008-10-30.svg|thumb|Linguistic map of Czechoslovakia in 1930]]
In addition, in [[Subcarpathian Ruthenia]], which was also included into Czechoslovakia in this time period, the 1910 manipulated Hungarian census recorded 605,942 people, including 330,010 (54.5%) speakers of [[Rusyn language|Ruthenian]], 185,433 (30.6%) speakers of Hungarian, 64,257 (10.6%) speakers of German, 11,668 (1.9%) speakers of [[Romanian language|Romanian]], 6,346 (1%) speakers of [[Slovak language|Slovak]]/[[Czech language|Czech]], and 8,228 (1.4%) speakers of other languages. The Czechoslovak census of 1930 recorded in Slovakia 3,254,189 people, including 2,224,983 (68.4%) [[Slovaks]], 585,434 (17.6%) [[Hungarians]], 154,821 (4.5%) [[Germans]], 120,926 (3.7%) [[Czechs]], 95,359 (2.8%) [[Rusyns]] and 72,666 (3%) others.<ref name=SlovakiaInHistory/>

Slovaks, whom the Czechs outnumbered in the Czechoslovak state, differed in many important ways from their Czech neighbors. Slovakia had a more agrarian and less developed economy than the Czech lands, and the majority of Slovaks practised Catholicism while fewer Czechs adhered to established religions. The Slovak people had generally less education and less experience with self-government than the Czechs. These disparities, compounded by centralized governmental control from Prague, produced discontent with the structure of the new state among the Slovaks.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Lubliner |first=Coby |title=Why Slovakia? |url=http://faculty.ce.berkeley.edu/coby/essays/slovakia.htm |access-date=2022-05-12 |website=faculty.ce.berkeley.edu}}</ref>

Although Czechoslovakia, alone among the east-central European countries, remained a [[parliamentary democracy]] from 1918 to 1938, it continued to face minority problems, the most important of which concerned the country's large German population. A significant part of the new Slovak political establishment sought autonomy for Slovakia. The movement toward autonomy built up gradually from the 1920s until it culminated in independence in 1939.<ref name="Kirschbaum, 2005">{{cite book | title=A history of Slovakia : the struggle for survival | publisher=Palgrave Macmillan | author=Kirschbaum, Stanislav J. | year=2005 | location=New York | pages=[https://archive.org/details/historyofslovaki00kirs/page/179 179–183] | isbn=978-1-4039-6929-3 | edition=Second | url=https://archive.org/details/historyofslovaki00kirs/page/179 }}</ref>

In the period between the two world wars, the Czechoslovak government attempted to industrialize Slovakia. These efforts did not meet with success, partially due to the [[Great Depression]], the worldwide economic slump of the 1930s. Slovak resentment over perceived economic and political domination by the Czechs led to increasing dissatisfaction with the republic and growing support for ideas of independence. Many Slovaks joined with Father [[Andrej Hlinka]] and [[Jozef Tiso]] in calls for equality between Czechs and Slovaks and for greater autonomy for Slovakia.{{Citation needed|date=September 2009}}

=====Towards autonomy of Slovakia (1938–1939)=====
[[File:Slovakia borderHungary.png|thumb|right|210px|Territorial losses in 1938–39.]]

In September 1938, France, Italy, United Kingdom and [[Nazi Germany]] concluded the [[Munich Agreement]], which forced Czechoslovakia to cede the predominantly German region known as the [[Sudetenland]] to Germany. In November, by the [[First Vienna Award]], Italy and Germany compelled Czechoslovakia (later Slovakia) to cede primarily Hungarian-inhabited Southern Slovakia to Hungary. They did this in spite of pro-German official declarations of Czech and Slovak leaders made in October. The [[Autonomous Land of Slovakia]] was established within the [[Second Czechoslovak Republic]].

On 14 March 1939, the [[Slovak Republic (1939–1945)|Slovak Republic]] (''Slovenská republika'') declared its independence and became a nominally independent state in Central Europe under [[Nazi Germany|Nazi German]] control of foreign policy and, increasingly, also some aspects of domestic policy. [[Jozef Tiso]] became Prime Minister and later President of the new state.

On 15 March, Nazi Germany invaded what remained of [[Bohemia]], [[Moravia]], and [[Silesia]] after the Munich agreement. The Germans established a protectorate over them which was known as the [[Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia]]. On the same day, [[Carpatho-Ukraine]] declared its independence. But Hungary immediately invaded and annexed the Republic of Carpatho-Ukraine. On 23 March, Hungary then occupied some additional disputed parts of territory of the present-day Eastern-Slovakia. This caused the brief [[Slovak-Hungarian War]].

====World War II====
{{Main|Slovak Republic (1939–1945)|Slovak invasion of Poland|The Holocaust in Slovakia|Slovak National Uprising}}

[[File:Slovakia1941 02.png|thumb|right|210px|Tiso's independent Slovakia in 1941.]]
The nominally independent [[Slovak Republic (1939–1945)|Slovak Republic]] went through the early years of the war in relative peace. As an [[Axis Powers|Axis]] ally, the country took part in the [[Slovak invasion of Poland|wars against Poland]] and the Soviet Union. Although its contribution was symbolic in the German war efforts, the number of troops involved (approx. 45,000 in the Soviet campaign) was rather significant in proportion to the population (2.6 million in 1940).

Soon after independence, under the authoritarian government of Jozef Tiso, a series of measures aimed against the 90,000 Jews in the country were initiated. The [[Hlinka Guard]] began to attack Jews, and the "[[Jewish Code]]" was passed in September 1941. Resembling the Nuremberg Laws, the Code required that Jews wear a yellow armband, and they were banned from intermarriage and from many jobs. More than 64.000 Jews lost their livelihood.{{sfn|Nižňanský|2010|p=178}} Between March and October 1942, the state deported approximately 57,000 Jews to the German-occupied part of Poland, where almost all of them were killed in [[Extermination camp]]s. The Slovak Parliament accepted a bill that retroactively legalized the deportation in May 1942. The deportation of the remaining Jewish population was stopped when the government "resolved" the social problem caused by its own policy.{{sfn|Nižňanský|2010|p=178}} However, 12,600 more Jews were deported by the German forces occupying Slovakia after the [[Slovak National Uprising]] in 1944. Around a half of them were killed in concentration camps.<ref>"[http://www.ushmm.org/wlc/article.php?lang=en&ModuleId=10007324 Holocaust Encyclopedia]," (accessed 25 April 2007).</ref> Other Jews were rounded up and massacred in the country by Slovak collaborators under German command, at [[Kremnička and Nemecká massacres|Kremnička and Nemecká]].<ref>{{Cite web |url=https://www.ceskatelevize.cz/porady/1091682868-osudove-okamziky/403235100081020/ |title=Kremnička a Nemecká 1945 - Osudové okamžiky &#124; Česká televize |work=www.ceskatelevize.cz |access-date=6 January 2018}}</ref> Some 10,000 Slovak Jews survived in Slovakia.

On 29 August 1944, 60,000 Slovak troops and 18,000 partisans, organized by various underground groups and the [[Czechoslovak government-in-exile]], rose up against the Nazis. The insurrection later became known as the Slovak National Uprising. Slovakia was devastated by the fierce German counter-offensive and occupation, but the guerrilla warfare continued even after the end of organized resistance. Although ultimately quelled by the German forces, the uprising was an important historical reference point for the Slovak people. It allowed them to end the war as a nation which had contributed to the Allied victory.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Múzeum Slovenského národného povstania {{!}} Oslavy 70. výročia Slovenského národného povstania |url=http://www.muzeumsnp.sk/ |access-date=2022-05-10 |website=Múzeum Slovenského národného povstania |language=sk-SK}}</ref>

Later in 1944 the Soviet attacks intensified. The [[Red Army]], helped by Romanian troops, gradually routed out the German army from Slovak territory. On 4 April 1945, Soviet troops marched into the capital city of the Slovak Republic, Bratislava.

====Czechoslovakia after World War II====
{{Main|History of Czechoslovakia}}

The victorious Powers restored Czechoslovakia in 1945 in the wake of [[World War II]], albeit without [[Carpathian Ruthenia]], which Prague ceded to the [[Soviet Union]]. The [[Beneš decrees]], adopted as a result of the events of the war, led to disenfranchisement and persecution of the Hungarian minority in southern Slovakia. The local [[Carpathian Germans|German minority]] was [[Flight and expulsion of Germans (1944–1950)|expelled]], with only the population of some villages such as [[Chmeľnica]] evading expulsion but suffering discrimination against use of their language.{{citation needed|date=June 2019}}
<!-- Unsourced image removed: [[File:Dubcek.jpg|thumb|left|Alexander Dubček.]] -->
The Czechs and Slovaks held elections in 1946. In Slovakia, the Democratic Party won the elections (62%), but the [[Czechoslovak Communist Party]] won in the Czech part of the republic, thus winning 38% of the total vote in Czechoslovakia, and eventually seized power in February 1948, making the country effectively a [[satellite state]] of the Soviet Union.

Strict [[Communist]] control characterized the next four decades, interrupted only briefly in the so-called [[Prague Spring]] of 1968 after [[Alexander Dubček]] (a Slovak) became First Secretary of the Central Committee of the [[Communist Party of Czechoslovakia]]. Dubček proposed political, social, and economic reforms in his effort to make "[[socialism with a human face]]" a reality. Concern among other [[Warsaw Pact]] governments that Dubček had gone too far led to the [[Warsaw Pact invasion of Czechoslovakia|invasion and occupation of Czechoslovakia]] on 21 August 1968, by Soviet, Hungarian, Bulgarian, East German, and Polish troops. Another Slovak, [[Gustáv Husák]], replaced Dubček as Communist Party leader in April 1969.

[[File:Czechoslovakia.png|thumb|right|210px|Czechoslovakia 1969–1990.]]
The 1970s and 1980s became known as the period of "[[Normalization (Czechoslovakia)|normalization]]", in which the apologists for the 1968 Soviet invasion prevented as best they could any opposition to their conservative régime. Political, social, and economic life stagnated. Because the reform movement had had its center in Prague, Slovakia experienced "normalization" less harshly than the Czech lands. In fact, the Slovak Republic saw comparatively high economic growth in the 1970s and 1980s relative to the Czech Republic (and mostly from 1994 till {{As of|2005|alt=today}}).

The 1970s also saw the development of a dissident movement, especially in the Czech Republic. On 1 January 1977, more than 250 [[human rights]] activists signed a manifesto called [[Charter 77]], which criticized the Czechoslovak government for failing to meet its human rights obligations.

==== Velvet Revolution (1989) ====

On 17 November 1989, a series of public protests known as the "[[Velvet Revolution]]" began and led to the downfall of Communist Party rule in Czechoslovakia. A transition government formed in December 1989, and the first free elections in Czechoslovakia since 1948 took place in June 1990. In 1992, negotiations on the new federal constitution deadlocked over the issue of Slovak autonomy. In the latter half of 1992, agreement emerged to dissolve Czechoslovakia peacefully. On 1 January 1993, the Czech Republic and the Slovak Republic each simultaneously and peacefully proclaimed their existence. Both states attained immediate recognition from the United States of America and from their European neighbors.

In the days following the "Velvet Revolution," Charter 77 and other groups united to become the [[Civic Forum]], an umbrella group championing bureaucratic reform and [[civil liberties]]. Its leader, the playwright and former dissident [[Václav Havel]] won election as President of Czechoslovakia in December 1989. The Slovak counterpart of the Civic Forum, [[Public Against Violence]], expressed the same ideals.

In the June 1990 elections, Civic Forum and Public Against Violence won landslide victories. Civic Forum and Public Against Violence found, however, that although they had successfully completed their primary objective – the overthrow of the communist régime – they proved less effective as governing parties. In the 1992 elections, a spectrum of new parties replaced both Civic Forum and Public Against Violence.