Slovakia is formally the Slovak Republic, a landlocked nation in Central Europe. It is surrounded by Poland to the north, Ukraine to the east, Hungary to the south, Austria to the southwest, as well as the Czech Republic to the northwest. Slovakia’s primarily mountainous territory spans about 49,000 square kilometres (19,000 sq mi), with a population of over 5.4 million. The funding and also largest city is Bratislava, while the second largest city is Košice.

The Slavs arrived in the territory of contemporary Slovakia in the fifth as well as 6th centuries. In the seventh century, they played a significant function in the development of Samo’s Realm. In the ninth century, they developed the Principality of Nitra, which was later on conquered by the Principality of Moravia to develop Fantastic Moravia.

In the tenth century, after the dissolution of Great Moravia, the region was incorporated right into the Principality of Hungary, which would then end up being the Kingdom of Hungary in 1000.

In 1241 as well as 1242, after the Mongol intrusion of Europe, a lot of the territory was ruined. The location was recouped greatly thanks to Béla IV of Hungary, who likewise settled Germans, leading them to become an essential ethnic group in the area, particularly in what are today parts of main and eastern Slovakia.

After World War I and also the dissolution of the Austro-Hungarian Realm, the state of Czechoslovakia was developed. It was the only nation in main as well as eastern Europe to continue to be a freedom during the interwar period. Nevertheless, local fascist celebrations slowly involved power in the Slovak lands, and also the first Slovak Republic existed throughout The second world war as a partially-recognised client state of Nazi Germany.

At the end of World War II, Czechoslovakia was re-established as an independent nation. After a coup in 1948, Czechoslovakia came under communist administration, and also came to be a part of the Soviet-led Eastern Bloc. Efforts to liberalise communism in Czechoslovakia finished in the Prague Spring, which was crushed by the Warsaw Pact intrusion of Czechoslovakia in August 1968.

In 1989, the Velvet Change quietly finished the Communist rule in Czechoslovakia. Slovakia ended up being an independent state on 1 January 1993 after the peaceful dissolution of Czechoslovakia, often known as the Velvet Divorce.