Slowakei - Österreich#

Slovakia - Austria: Slovakia remained part of Hungary until 1918, i.e. until the end of the Austro-Hungarian monarchy; accordingly, the Slovakian upper class mainly consisted of Magyars. Nonetheless the Slovakian cities, with their great number of German-speaking inhabitants (Pressburg/Bratislava, towns in mountainous areas and the Zips/Spi<!SZ<!-hatschek>s district), continued to maintain close relations with Austria. In the 15th and 16th centuries the silver mines of Altsohl (Zvolen), Neusohl (Banská Bystrica), Kremnitz (Kremnica) and Schemnitz (Banská Štiavnica) played an important political-economic role. The territory called "Upper Hungary" remained under Habsburg rule even though the Princes of Transylvania were trying hard to acquire, to wage war against Austria or to become kings of Hungary; Slovakia was worst affected by the Kuruc Invasions (1703-1711). As long as a major part of Hungary remained under Turkish rule, Pressburg/Bratislava served as coronation town; Thyrnau (Trnava) was still the seat of the Archbishop of Gran (Esztergom) between 1543 and 1820 and had a university between 1635 and 1777; from the 18th century all governmental functions were transferred to Budapest. In the 19th century the written language in Slovakia was developed by poets such as L. Štur, H. M. Hurban and M. M. Hodža.

The rural population was predominantly Slovak. The territory of what is now the Lower Austrian Marchfeld plain was also populated by Slovaks, who, from the 19th century, began to adapt more and more to their German-speaking environment. People increasingly migrated to industrialised towns (Hohenau) and to Vienna. Agricultural workers and craftsmen (tinsmiths and tinkers) from Slovakia worked in Lower Austria during harvest time until up to the mid-20th century.

Due to efforts made by T. Masaryk, Czech and Slovakian emigrants signed the Pittsburgh Convention on May 30, 1918 and founded the ČSR, which soon was exposed to considerable national tensions. In October 1938 Slovakia was granted autonomy; on March 14, 1939 the state of Slovakia was established under German sovereignty. In August 1944 there was a revolt against Germany. 1945 saw the reestablishment of the ČSR (from 1960 ČSSR, from 1991 ČSFR). In 1969 Slovakia became an autonomous country; at the end of 1992/beginning of 1993 the ČSFR was dissolved and the independent Republic of Slovakia was founded (area 49,035 km2, pop. 5.346 million). - Due to the proximity of Vienna and Bratislava close economic ties were maintained even under Communist rule during the Iron Curtainera.