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.

A Choice Outstanding Academic Title, 2011

‘Slovakia is a small country, only recently independent. But it is larger, and its history far longer and richer, than might be assumed. For centuries its inhabitants shared in the destinies of the Kingdom of Hungary; then for decades they formed an organic part of the modern state of Czechoslovakia. Here for the first time is a full and satisfactory treatment of that past in English. Authored mainly by Slovaks, it transcends the myopia and prejudice which have often disfigured the historiography of the subject and it incorporates many fresh research findings.’

Robert Evans - Regius Professor of History, Oxford University

‘This useful collection of essays presents the history of Slovakia and the Slovaks from the Middle Ages to the present and brings the results of research by Slovak historians of the post-Communist era to an international readership. It will be required reading for anyone interested in the history of East-Central Europe.’

Richard Evans - Regius Professor of History, University of Cambridge

'The work is invaluable as the reference book on the topic, as it is full of well-researched detail.'

Zuzana Slobodova Source: British Czech and Slovak Review