Slovakia Travel Notes. Short URL: - National Anthem of Slovakia. Slovakia, formerly a part of Czechoslovakia, became an independent republic on January 1st, 1993. Slovakia Travel Brochures. Quick Links Around Slovakia, Bratislava, Getting to Slovakia, Kosice, Map of Slovakia, Slovakia Tourism, Slovakia Travel Guides, The Language of Slovakia, The Slovaks, Trencin. Countries neighbouring Slovakia are: Czech Republic, Poland, Ukraine, Hungary and Austria. The Carpathian Mountains stretch into the west of Slovakia.
Weather in Slovakia View a graphical weather forecast for the week ahead in places around Slovakia. Bratislava Weather, Kosice Weather, Piestany Weather, Poprad Weather, Trnava Weather. Flying to Slovakia There are few direct international flights into Slovakia from the West, although you can change planes in Prague (Czech Republic) and then fly on to Bratislava. Driving in Slovakia Like Hungary, you need to drive with your headlights on at all times of the day, or risk getting a fine. Slovakia. The Slovak Republic (or, in short form, Slovakia i/sloʊˈvɑːkiə/ or /sləˈvækiə/; Slovak: Slovensko (Slovak pronunciation: [ˈslovɛnsko] ( )), long form Slovenská republika (Slovak pronunciation: [ˈslovɛnskaː ˈrɛpublɪka] ( ))) is a landlocked state in Central Europe.[6][7] It has a population of over five million and an area of about 49,000 square kilometres (19,000 sq mi).
Slovakia is bordered by the Czech Republic and Austria to the west, Poland to the north, Ukraine to the east and Hungary to the south. The largest city is the capital, Bratislava, and the second largest is Košice. Slovakia is a high-income advanced economy[9][10] with one of the fastest growth rates in the European Union and the OECD.[11] The country joined the European Union in 2004 and the Eurozone on 1 January 2009.[12] Slovakia, together with Estonia, Latvia, and Slovenia are the only former Communist states to be part of the European Union, Eurozone, Schengen Area, and NATO simultaneously.
History[edit] Iron age[edit] Czechoslovakia. Czechoslovakia (or Czecho-Slovakia;[1] Czech and Slovak: Československo, Česko-Slovensko)[2] was a sovereign state in Central Europe that existed from October 1918, when it declared its independence from the Austro-Hungarian Empire, until its peaceful dissolution into Czechia and Slovakia on 1 January 1993. From 1939 to 1945, following its forced division and partial incorporation into Nazi Germany, the state did not de facto exist but its government-in-exile continued to operate. On 29 June 1945, a treaty was signed between Czechoslovakia and the Soviet Union, ceding Carpatho-Ukraine to the USSR.
From 1948 to 1990 Czechoslovakia had a command or planned economy, which was disintegrated on 1 January 1991, removing price controls after a period of preparation. Basic characteristics[edit] The Czech lion in the small coat of arms Form of state Neighbours Topography The country was of generally irregular terrain. Climate Official names[edit] History[edit] Foundation[edit] Origins[edit] Founding[edit]
Slovak Republic (1939–45) Postage stamps of Slovakia, including a stamp of Czechoslovakia with an overprint reading "Slovak State 1939". Territorial changes of Slovak Republic from 1938 to 1947 (Red indicating areas with a Hungarian majority. Changes on border with Poland are missing). After the Munich Agreement, Slovakia gained autonomy inside Czecho-Slovakia (as the former Czechoslovakia had been renamed) and lost its southern territories to Hungary under the Vienna Award.
As Nazi Führer Adolf Hitler was preparing an invasion of the Czech lands and creation of Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia, he had various plans for Slovakia. On 13 March 1939, Hitler invited Monsignor Jozef Tiso (the Slovak ex-prime minister who had been deposed by Czechoslovak troops several days earlier) to Berlin and urged him to proclaim Slovakia's independence. On 14 March, the Slovak parliament convened and heard Tiso's report on his discussion with Hitler as well as a declaration of independence.
Main article: Hlinka Guard. Slovak Socialist Republic. From 1969 to 1990, the Slovak Socialist Republic (Slovenská socialistická republika in Slovak; abbreviated SSR) was the official name of that part of Czechoslovakia that is Slovakia today. The name was used from 1 January 1969 until March 1990. History[edit] Federalization was notional – all the real power was kept by the Communist Party. The increased number of "parliaments" conveniently provided more positions for party members though their role was just symbolic. After the fall of socialism in Czechoslovakia, the word "socialist" was dropped in the names of the two republics, i.e. the Slovak Socialist Republic was renamed Slovak Republic (still part of Czechoslovakia, since April 1992 of the Czech and Slovak Federal Republic).
The complicated system of parliamentary voting (there were de facto 5 different bodies each having right of veto) was kept after the fall of socialism, complicating and delaying political decisions during radical changes in the economy. See also[edit] Coordinates: Velvet Revolution. Memorial plaque on Albertov (cs), the place where Velvet revolution started. Translation: when – if not now? Who – if not us? Václav Havel honoring the deaths of those who took part in the Prague protest. Non-violent protesters facing armed policemen with flowers The Velvet Revolution (Czech: sametová revoluce) or Gentle Revolution (Slovak: nežná revolúcia) was a non-violent transition of power in what was then Czechoslovakia. On November 17, 1989 (International Students' Day), riot police suppressed a student demonstration in Prague.[2] That event sparked a series of demonstrations from November 19 to late December.
In response to the collapse of other Warsaw Pact governments and the increasing street protests, the Communist Party of Czechoslovakia announced on November 28 that it would relinquish power and dismantle the single-party state. In June 1990, Czechoslovakia held its first democratic elections since 1946. Prior to the revolution[edit] Chronology[edit] November 16[edit] Dissolution of Czechoslovakia. The Dissolution of Czechoslovakia, which took effect on 1 January 1993, was an event that saw the self-determined split of the federal state of Czechoslovakia. The Czech Republic and Slovakia, entities which had arisen respectively as the Czech Socialist Republic and the Slovak Socialist Republic in 1969 within the framework of Czechoslovak federalisation. It is sometimes known as the Velvet Divorce, a reference to the bloodless Velvet Revolution of 1989 that led to the end of the rule of the Communist Party of Czechoslovakia and the formation of a democratic government.
Background[edit] Czechoslovakia was created with the dissolution of Austria-Hungary at the end of World War I. In 1917, a meeting took place in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, where the future Czechoslovak president Tomáš Garrigue Masaryk and other Czech and Slovak representatives signed the Pittsburgh Agreement which promised a common state consisting of two equal nations, Slovakia and Czechia. Separation[edit] Territory[edit] The History of the Czech Republic and Slovakia - William M. Mahoney. History of Slovak Literature - Peter Petro. The Slovak Republic: A Decade of Independence, 1993-2002. Slovakia: The Heart of Europe - Ol̕ga Drobná, Eduard Drobný, Magdalena Gocnikova. Slovakia - Lucy Mallows.