Slovakia, a landlocked country in central Europe, largely corresponds to the historic region of Slovakia, the eastern part of the former Czechoslovakia from 1918 to 1992.
The brief history of independent Slovakia reflects a journey from seeking autonomy within the Czechoslovak federation to the pursuit of full sovereignty. It is a narrative marked by a resistance to being identified merely as “the nation after the hyphen.” Despite the interruption of their initial bid for independence in 1939 due to World War II, Slovakia ultimately achieved sovereignty on January 1, 1993. This milestone occurred just over three years after the Velvet Revolution, which led to the downfall of the communist regime that had governed Czechoslovakia since 1948.
