Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- List of figures
- List of maps
- Notes on contributors
- Acknowledgements
- Map 1 Slovak Republic
- 1 Slovakia, the Slovaks and their history
- 2 The Duchy of Nitra
- 3 The beginnings of the nobility in Slovakia
- 4 Medieval towns
- 5 Renaissance and humanist tendencies in Slovakia
- 6 The period of religious disturbances in Slovakia
- 7 The Enlightenment and the beginnings of the modern Slovak nation
- 8 Slovak Slavism and Panslavism
- 9 The Slovak political programme: from Hungarian patriotism to the Czecho-Slovak state
- 10 Slovakia in Czechoslovakia, 1918–1938
- 11 Slovakia from the Munich Conference to the declaration of independence
- 12 The Slovak state, 1939–1945
- 13 The Slovak question and the resistance movement during the Second World War
- 14 The Slovak National Uprising: the most dramatic moment in the nation's history
- 15 The Slovak question, 1945–1948
- 16 Czechoslovakism in Slovak history
- 17 The Magyar minority in Slovakia before and after the Second World War
- 18 The establishment of totalitarianism in Slovakia after the February coup of 1948 and the culmination of mass persecution, 1948–1953
- 19 Slovakia and the attempt to reform socialism in Czechoslovakia, 1963–1969
- 20 Slovakia's position within the Czecho-Slovak federation, 1968–1970
- 21 Slovakia under communism, 1948–1989: controversial developments in the economy, society and culture
- 22 The fall of communism and the establishment of an independent Slovakia
- 23 Afterword: Slovakia in history
- Index
16 - Czechoslovakism in Slovak history
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 07 October 2011
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- List of figures
- List of maps
- Notes on contributors
- Acknowledgements
- Map 1 Slovak Republic
- 1 Slovakia, the Slovaks and their history
- 2 The Duchy of Nitra
- 3 The beginnings of the nobility in Slovakia
- 4 Medieval towns
- 5 Renaissance and humanist tendencies in Slovakia
- 6 The period of religious disturbances in Slovakia
- 7 The Enlightenment and the beginnings of the modern Slovak nation
- 8 Slovak Slavism and Panslavism
- 9 The Slovak political programme: from Hungarian patriotism to the Czecho-Slovak state
- 10 Slovakia in Czechoslovakia, 1918–1938
- 11 Slovakia from the Munich Conference to the declaration of independence
- 12 The Slovak state, 1939–1945
- 13 The Slovak question and the resistance movement during the Second World War
- 14 The Slovak National Uprising: the most dramatic moment in the nation's history
- 15 The Slovak question, 1945–1948
- 16 Czechoslovakism in Slovak history
- 17 The Magyar minority in Slovakia before and after the Second World War
- 18 The establishment of totalitarianism in Slovakia after the February coup of 1948 and the culmination of mass persecution, 1948–1953
- 19 Slovakia and the attempt to reform socialism in Czechoslovakia, 1963–1969
- 20 Slovakia's position within the Czecho-Slovak federation, 1968–1970
- 21 Slovakia under communism, 1948–1989: controversial developments in the economy, society and culture
- 22 The fall of communism and the establishment of an independent Slovakia
- 23 Afterword: Slovakia in history
- Index
Summary
The concept of ‘Czechoslovakism’ can be regarded as being both an ideology, which holds that the Czechs and the Slovaks comprise one nation, and a political programme designed to result in the unification of both nations in one state. Czechoslovakism as a political programme was first formulated during the First World War by the independence movement abroad, in order to justify the establishment of a Czechoslovak state, comprising the Czech Lands and Slovakia. The idea that the Czechs and Slovaks were twin aspects of a single nation had a far older pedigree, going back to the national revivals of the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries. Czechoslovakist ideology had its heyday during the First Czechoslovak Republic (1918–1938), when it became the state doctrine, and it was officially abandoned after the Second World War. Czechoslovakism also existed in two versions: the first version held that Czechs and Slovaks jointly comprised a Czechoslovak nation formed from two tribes, Czechs and Slovaks; the second maintained that the Slovaks were actually less developed Czechs.
During the First Republic, the theory of a unitary Czechoslovak nation was closely associated with administrative centralism. While there was little Czech opposition to official Czechoslovakism, Slovakia's political elite were split over this issue and the majority opposed their imposition.
The purpose of this chapter is to examine the ideological composition of Czechoslovakism, and to give an overview of the role of Czechoslovakism in Slovak history.
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- Slovakia in History , pp. 247 - 268Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2011
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