Slovakia marks 107 years since the founding of the first Czechoslovak Republic, established on October 28, 1918, when the Czechoslovak National Council in Prague declared independence from Austria-Hungary. The anniversary is observed as the Day of the Establishment of the Independent Czechoslovak State — a national holiday in Slovakia, though not a public day off. President Peter Pellegrini has commemorated the occasion by laying a wreath at the Monument to Czechoslovak Statehood in Bratislava. Across Slovakia and the Czech Republic, Czech and Slovak flags are flying this week to mark the Week of Czech-Slovak Friendship, celebrating shared history and enduring ties between the two nations.
The creation of Czechoslovakia was the result of years of diplomatic efforts by Czech and Slovak leaders abroad, culminating in the Pittsburgh Agreement of May 1918. The agreement promised Slovakia its own administration, courts, and the use of the Slovak language in schools and public life.
Among the key figures of the new state were Tomáš Garrigue Masaryk, the first president, Milan Rastislav Štefánik, and Edvard Beneš. Historian Dagmar Hájková of the Masaryk Institute notes that Masaryk “always recognized the need for Slovakia to have cultural autonomy and distinctiveness,” though not as a separate nation.
Historian Eva Škovránková adds that many other personalities contributed to the movement that made independence possible. For the first time, Slovaks had direct representation in government — and, as Hájková points out, “the opportunity to develop a sense of identity as an independent and culturally confident nation.”
The coexistence of Czechs and Slovaks lasted for more than seventy years, ending peacefully on New Year’s Eve 1992 with the split into two independent states.
Source: STVR, TASR
