Eastern Europe · SVK

Slovakia

The story · 12 chapters

How it was drawn

Celts, Quadi and Samo's Slavs, the heart of Great Moravia, then the northern highlands of Hungary for nine centuries, joined to the Czechs in 1918 and independent since 1993.

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Through the ages

Rivals in history

The kingdoms, empires and states Slovakia fought or stood against, from the first to today.

Roman Empire166 to 180
The Quadi north of the Danube joined the Marcomanni against Rome. Marcus Aurelius campaigned against them, writing part of his Meditations among the Quadi on the Hron river, and Roman troops wintered at Trencin in 179.
Avar Khaganate623 to 658
Slavs revolted against Avar overlordship around 623 and chose the merchant Samo as king. His realm held off the Avars and also defeated a Frankish army at Wogastisburg around 631.
East Frankish kingdom846 to 874
Great Moravia fought the East Frankish kings for its independence. Louis the German invaded several times, and Svatopluk's victories led to the Peace of Forchheim in 874, after which Moravia expanded.
Magyars896 to 907
Hungarian tribes settled the Pannonian plain in the 890s and helped destroy Great Moravia in the early 900s. At Pressburg in 907 they routed a Bavarian army, and Slovakia gradually became part of the Hungarian state.
Mongol Empire1241 to 1242
The Mongol invasion of 1241 and 1242 shattered the Hungarian army at Mohi and devastated the kingdom, including southern Slovakia, before the Mongols withdrew. Stone castles were built afterwards against their return.
Ottoman Empire1526 to 1699
After Mohacs in 1526 the Ottomans took central Hungary. They captured southern Slovak towns such as Nove Zamky in 1663 and raided far to the north, until the Habsburg reconquest and the Treaty of Karlowitz in 1699.
Hungarian Soviet Republic1919
In 1919 the army of the Hungarian Soviet Republic pushed into eastern and central Slovakia and proclaimed a short-lived Slovak Soviet Republic. It withdrew under Allied pressure that summer, and the Treaty of Trianon fixed the border in 1920.
Kingdom of Hungary1938 to 1945
The First Vienna Award of 1938 gave southern Slovakia, with Kosice, to Hungary. In March 1939 Hungary attacked again in the Little War and took a strip in the east. The settlement after 1945 restored the earlier border.
Nazi Germany1939 to 1945
Germany made Slovakia a satellite state in March 1939. When the Slovak National Uprising broke out in August 1944, German troops occupied the country and crushed it, with mass reprisals, until the Red Army drove them out in 1945.
Soviet Union1968 to 1991
Warsaw Pact armies led by the Soviet Union invaded Czechoslovakia in August 1968 to end the Prague Spring, led by the Slovak Alexander Dubcek. Soviet troops stayed in the country until 1991.
Hungary1989 to 2017
A joint dam project on the Danube split the two countries after Hungary pulled out in 1989 and Czechoslovakia diverted the river at Gabcikovo in 1992. The International Court of Justice found both at fault in 1997; the case was finally closed in 2017.

Today

Slovakia now

Slovakia traces its roots to the 9th century state of Great Moravia. The Slovaks then became part of the Hungarian Kingdom, where they remained for the next 1,000 years. After the formation of the dual Austro-Hungarian monarchy in 1867, language and education policies favoring the use of Hungarian (known as "Magyarization") led to a public backlash that boosted Slovak nationalism and strengthened Slovak cultural ties with the closely related Czechs, who fell administratively under the Austrian half of the empire.

Capital: Bratislava
Government: parliamentary republic
Head of government: Robert Fico
Head of state: Peter Pellegrini
Languages: Slovak
Area: 49,030 km²

Through time

Then and now

Population5.5 million2023 · 3.5 million in 1950
Life expectancy78.3 years2023 · 60.8 years in 1950
GDP per person$27,5192022
Living in cities53%2025 · 30% in 1950
Political regimeElectoral democracy2025 · Closed autocracy in 1950
Military alliancesNATO2024 · None of these in 1950
Military spending2.0% of GDP2025
War deathsNone2025

Population: HYDE 3.3, Gapminder and UN WPP. GDP per capita: Maddison Project Database 2023. Urban share: UN WPP. Life expectancy: Riley, HMD, UN WPP. Literacy: OWID historical estimates, World Bank, UNESCO. Military spending: SIPRI. War deaths: UCDP. Political regime: V-Dem, Regimes of the World. All via Our World in Data (CC BY 4.0). Alliances and organization memberships: compiled by Atlas. Satellites in orbit: CelesTrak SATCAT. Modern borders, backcast.

Relations

Close partners and tensions

Close partners

United States
Germany
France
Poland
Czechia

Tensions

Russian Federation

Summarised from World Bank and Wikipedia data, updated 24 October 2026.

Rivals in history

The kingdoms, empires and states Slovakia fought or stood against, from the first to today.

Roman Empire166 to 180

The Quadi north of the Danube joined the Marcomanni against Rome. Marcus Aurelius campaigned against them, writing part of his Meditations among the Quadi on the Hron river, and Roman troops wintered at Trencin in 179.

Avar Khaganate623 to 658

Slavs revolted against Avar overlordship around 623 and chose the merchant Samo as king. His realm held off the Avars and also defeated a Frankish army at Wogastisburg around 631.

East Frankish kingdom846 to 874

Great Moravia fought the East Frankish kings for its independence. Louis the German invaded several times, and Svatopluk's victories led to the Peace of Forchheim in 874, after which Moravia expanded.

Magyars896 to 907

Hungarian tribes settled the Pannonian plain in the 890s and helped destroy Great Moravia in the early 900s. At Pressburg in 907 they routed a Bavarian army, and Slovakia gradually became part of the Hungarian state.

Mongol Empire1241 to 1242

The Mongol invasion of 1241 and 1242 shattered the Hungarian army at Mohi and devastated the kingdom, including southern Slovakia, before the Mongols withdrew. Stone castles were built afterwards against their return.

Ottoman Empire1526 to 1699

After Mohacs in 1526 the Ottomans took central Hungary. They captured southern Slovak towns such as Nove Zamky in 1663 and raided far to the north, until the Habsburg reconquest and the Treaty of Karlowitz in 1699.

Hungarian Soviet Republic1919

In 1919 the army of the Hungarian Soviet Republic pushed into eastern and central Slovakia and proclaimed a short-lived Slovak Soviet Republic. It withdrew under Allied pressure that summer, and the Treaty of Trianon fixed the border in 1920.

Kingdom of Hungary1938 to 1945

The First Vienna Award of 1938 gave southern Slovakia, with Kosice, to Hungary. In March 1939 Hungary attacked again in the Little War and took a strip in the east. The settlement after 1945 restored the earlier border.

Nazi Germany1939 to 1945

Germany made Slovakia a satellite state in March 1939. When the Slovak National Uprising broke out in August 1944, German troops occupied the country and crushed it, with mass reprisals, until the Red Army drove them out in 1945.

Soviet Union1968 to 1991

Warsaw Pact armies led by the Soviet Union invaded Czechoslovakia in August 1968 to end the Prague Spring, led by the Slovak Alexander Dubcek. Soviet troops stayed in the country until 1991.

Hungary1989 to 2017

A joint dam project on the Danube split the two countries after Hungary pulled out in 1989 and Czechoslovakia diverted the river at Gabcikovo in 1992. The International Court of Justice found both at fault in 1997; the case was finally closed in 2017.

Slovakia now

Capital

Bratislava

Government

parliamentary republic

Head of government

Robert Fico

Head of state

Peter Pellegrini

Languages

Slovak

Area

49,030 km²

Then and now

Population5.5 million2023 · 3.5 million in 1950

Life expectancy78.3 years2023 · 60.8 years in 1950

GDP per person$27,5192022

Living in cities53%2025 · 30% in 1950

Political regimeElectoral democracy2025 · Closed autocracy in 1950

Military alliancesNATO2024 · None of these in 1950

Military spending2.0% of GDP2025

War deathsNone2025