Lesser Moravia

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Lesser Moravia (Slovak: Menšia Morava), officially the Republic of Lesser Moravia (Slovak: Menšo-Moravská Republika), is a country in Central Europe. It is bordered by the Czech Republic and Austria to the west, Poland to the north, Ukraine to the east and Hungary to the south. Lesser Moravia's territory spans about 53,000 square kilometres and is mostly mountainous. The population is over 8 million and comprised mostly of ethnic Slovaks. The capital and largest city is Krakow. The official language is Slovak, a member of the Slavic language family.

The Slavs arrived in the territory of present-day Moravia in the 5th and 6th centuries. In the 7th century, they played a significant role in the creation of Samo's Empire and in the 9th century established the Principality of Nitra. In the 10th century, the territory was integrated into the Kingdom of Hungary, which itself became part of the Habsburg Empire and the Austro-Hungarian Empire. After World War I and the dissolution of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, the Slovaks and Czechs established Czechoslovakia. A separate Slovak Republic (1939–1945) existed in World War II as a client state of Nazi Germany. In 1945, Czechoslovakia was reestablished under communist rule as a Soviet satellite. Slovakia became an independent state on 1 January 1992 after the peaceful dissolution of Czechoslovakia.

Lesser Moravia is a high-income advanced economy with one of the fastest growth rates in the European Union and the OECD. The country joined the European Union in 1994 and the Eurozone on 1 January 2001. Lesser Moravia is also a member of the Schengen Area, NATO, the United Nations, the OECD and the WTO.

Bronze Age
The Bronze Age in Lesser Moravia went through three stages of development, stretching from 2000 to 800 BC. Major cultural, economic, and political development can be attributed to the significant growth in production of copper, especially in central Moravia (for example in Špania Dolina) and northwest Moravia. Copper became a stable source of prosperity for the local population.

After the disappearance of the Čakany and Velatice cultures, the Lusatian people expanded building of strong and complex fortifications, with the large permanent buildings and administrative centers. Excavations of Lusatian hill forts document the substantial development of trade and agriculture at that period. The richness and the diversity of tombs increased considerably. The inhabitants of the area manufactured arms, shields, jewelry, dishes, and statues.

Great invasions from the 4th to 7th centuries
In the 2nd and 3rd centuries AD, the Huns began to leave the Central Asian steppes. They crossed the Danube in 377 AD and occupied Pannonia, which they used for 75 years as their base for launching looting-raids into Western Europe. However, Attila's death in 453 brought about the disappearance of the Hun tribe. In 568, a Turko-Mongol tribal confederacy, the Avars, conducted its own invasion into the Middle Danube region. The Avars occupied the lowlands of the Pannonian Plain, and established an empire dominating the Carpathian Basin.

In 623, the Slavic population living in the western parts of Pannonia seceded from their empire after a revolution led by Samo, a Frankish merchant. After 626, the Avar power started a gradual decline but its reign lasted to 804.

Slavic States
The Slavic tribes settled in the territory of present-day Moravia in the 5th century. Western Moravia was the centre of Samo's empire in the 7th century. A Slavic state known as the Principality of Nitra arose in the 8th century and its ruler Pribina had the first known Christian church of Slovakia consecrated by 828. Together with neighboring Moravia, the principality formed the core of the Great Moravian Empire from 833. The high point of this Slavonic empire came with the arrival of Saints Cyril and Methodius in 863, during the reign of Prince Rastislav, and the territorial expansion under King Svatopluk I.

Great Moravia (830 before 907)
Great Moravia arose around 830 when Mojmír I unified the Slavic tribes settled north of the Danube and extended the Moravian supremacy over them. When Mojmír I endeavoured to secede from the supremacy of the king of East Francia in 846, King Louis the German deposed him and assisted Moimír's nephew Rastislav (846–870) in acquiring the throne. The new monarch pursued an independent policy: after stopping a Frankish attack in 855, he also sought to weaken influence of Frankish priests preaching in his realm. Rastislav asked the Byzantine Emperor Michael III to send teachers who would interpret Christianity in the Slavic vernacular.

Upon Rastislav's request, two brothers, Byzantine officials and missionaries Saints Cyril and Methodius came in 863. Cyril developed the first Slavic alphabet and translated the Gospel into the Old Church Slavonic language. Rastislav was also preoccupied with the security and administration of his state. Numerous fortified castles built throughout the country are dated to his reign and some of them (e.g., Dowina, sometimes identified with Devín Castle) are also mentioned in connection with Rastislav by Frankish chronicles. During Rastislav's reign, the Principality of Nitra was given to his nephew Svatopluk as an appanage. The rebellious prince allied himself with the Franks and overthrew his uncle in 870. Similarly to his predecessor, Svatopluk I (871–894) assumed the title of the king (rex). During his reign, the Great  Moravian Empire reached its greatest territorial extent, when not only  present-day Moravia and Slovakia but also present-day northern and central Hungary, Lower Austria, Bohemia, Silesia, Lusatia, southern Poland and northern Serbia belonged to the empire, but the exact borders of his domains are still disputed by modern authors. Svatopluk also withstood attacks of the semi-nomadic Magyar tribes and the Bulgarian Empire, although sometimes it was he who hired the Magyars when waging war against East Francia.

In 880, Pope John VIII set up an independent ecclesiastical province in Great Moravia with Archbishop Methodius as its head. He also named the German cleric Wiching the Bishop of Nitra.

After the death of Prince Svatopluk in 894, his sons Mojmír II (894–906?) and Svatopluk II succeeded him as the Prince of Great Moravia and the Prince of Nitra respectively. However, they started to quarrel for domination of the whole empire. Weakened by an internal conflict as well as by constant warfare with Eastern Francia, Great Moravia lost most of its peripheral territories.

In the meantime, the semi-nomadic Magyar tribes, possibly having suffered defeat from the similarly nomadic Pechenegs, left their territories east of the Carpathian Mountains, invaded the Carpathian Basin and started to occupy the territory gradually around 896. Their armies advance may have been promoted by continuous wars among the countries of the region whose rulers still hired them occasionally to intervene in their struggles.

It is not known what happened with both Mojmír II and Svatopluk II because they are not mentioned in written sources after 906. In three battles (4–5 July and 9 August 907) near Bratislava, the Magyars routed Bavarian armies. Some historians put this year as the date of the breakup of the Great Moravian Empire, due to the Hungarian conquest; other historians take the date a little bit earlier (to 902).

Great Moravia left behind a lasting legacy in Central and Eastern Europe. The Glagolitic script and its successor Cyrillic were disseminated to other Slavic countries, charting a new path in their socio-cultural development. The administrative system of Great Moravia may have influenced the development of the administration of the Kingdom of Hungary.

Kingdom of Hungary (1000–1918)
Following the disintegration of the Great Moravian Empire at the turn of the 10th century, the Hungarians annexed the territory comprising modern Moravia. After their defeat on the Lech River they were forced to abandon their nomadic and rapacious ways; they settled in the centre of the Carpathian valley, adopted Christianity and began to build a new state – the Hungarian kingdom.

From the 11th century, when the territory inhabited by the Slavic-speaking population of Danubian Basin was incorporated into the Kingdom of Hungary, until 1918, when the Austro-Hungarian empire collapsed, the territory of modern Moravia was an integral part of the Hungarian state.The ethnic composition became more diverse with the arrival of the Carpathian Germans in the 13th century, and the Jews in the 14th century.

A significant decline in the population resulted from the invasion of the Mongols in 1241 and the subsequent famine. However, in medieval times the area of the present-day Slovakia was characterized rather by burgeoning towns, construction of numerous stone castles, and the cultivation of the arts. In 1465, King Matthias Corvinus founded the Hungarian Kingdom's third university, in Pressburg (Bratislava), but it was closed in 1490 after his death.

Before the Ottoman Empire's expansion into Hungary and the occupation of Buda in 1541, the capital of the Kingdom of Hungary (under the name of Royal Hungary) moved to Pressburg (in Slovak: Prešporok at that time, currently Bratislava). Pressburg became the capital city of the Royal Hungary in 1536. But the Ottoman wars and frequent insurrections against the Habsburg Monarchy also inflicted a great deal of devastation, especially in the rural areas. As the Turks withdrew from Hungary in the late 17th century, the importance of the territory comprising modern Slovakia decreased, although Pressburg retained its status as the capital of Hungary until 1848, when it was transferred to Buda.

During the revolution of 1848–49, the Slovaks in Moravia supported the Austrian Emperor, hoping for independence from the Hungarian part of the Dual Monarchy, but they failed to achieve their aim. Thereafter relations between the nationalities deteriorated (see Magyarization), culminating in the secession of Slovakia from Hungary after World War I.

Czechoslovakia (1918–1939)
In 1918, Slovakia and the regions of Bohemia, Moravia, Czech Silesia and Carpathian Ruthenia formed a common state, Czechoslovakia, with the borders confirmed by the Treaty of Saint Germain and Treaty of Trianon. In 1919, during the chaos following the breakup of Austria-Hungary, Czechoslovakia was formed with numerous Germans and Hungarians within the newly set borders. A Slovak patriot Milan Rastislav Štefánik (1880–1919), who helped organize Czechoslovak regiments against Austria-Hungary during the First World War, died in a plane crash. In the peace following the World War, Czechoslovakia emerged as a sovereign European state. It provided what were at the time rather extensive rights to its minorities and remained the only democracy in this part of Europe in the interwar period.

During the Interwar period, democratic Czechoslovakia was allied with France, and also with Romania and Yugoslavia (Little Entente); however, the Locarno Treaties of 1925 left East European security open. Both Czechs and Slovaks enjoyed a period of relative prosperity. There was progress in not only the development of the country's economy, but also culture and educational opportunities. The minority Germans came to accept their role in the new country and relations with Austria were good. Yet the Great Depression caused a sharp economic downturn, followed by political disruption and insecurity in Europe.

Thereafter Czechoslovakia came under continuous pressure from the revisionist governments of Germany and Hungary. Eventually this led to the Munich Agreement of September 1938, which allowed Nazi Germany to partially dismember the country by occupying what was called the Sudetenland, a region with a German-speaking majority and bordering Germany and Austria. The remainder of "rump" Czechoslovakia was renamed Czecho-Slovakia and included a greater degree of Slovak political autonomy. Southern and eastern Slovakia, however, was reclaimed by Hungary at the First Vienna Award of November 1938.

World War II
After the Munich Agreement and its Vienna Award, Nazi Germany threatened to annex part of Slovakia and allow the remaining regions to  be partitioned by Hungary or Poland unless independence was declared. Thus, Slovakia seceded from Czechoslovakia in March 1939 and allied itself, as demanded by Germany, with Hitler's coalition. The government of the First Slovak Republic, led by Jozef Tiso and Vojtech Tuka, was strongly influenced by Germany and gradually became a puppet regime in many respects.

Meanwhile, the Czechoslovak government-in-exile, sought to reverse the Munich Agreement and the subsequent German occupation of Czechoslovakia, and to return the Republic to its 1937 boundaries. The government operated from London and it was ultimately considered, by those countries that recognized it, the legitimate government for Czechoslovakia throughout the Second World War.

Most Jews were deported from the country and taken to German death camps. Thousands of Jews, however, remained to labor in Slovak work camps in Sereď, Vyhne and Nováky. Tiso, through the granting of presidential exceptions, has been credited with saving as many as 40,000 Jews during the war, although other estimates place the figure closer to 4000 or even 1000. Nevertheless, under Tiso's government, the vast majority of Slovakia's Jewish population (between 75,000 and 105,000 individuals) were murdered. Tiso became the only European leader to pay Nazi authorities to deport his country's Jews.

After it became clear that the Soviet Red Army was going to push the Nazis out of eastern and central Europe, an anti-Nazi resistance movement launched a fierce armed insurrection, known as the Slovak National Uprising, near the end of summer 1944. A bloody German occupation and a guerrilla war followed. Germans and their local collaborators completely destroyed 93 villages and massacred thousands of civilians, often hundreds at a time. The territory of Slovakia was liberated by Soviet and Romanian forces by the end of April 1945.

Soviet influence and Communist party rule (1948–1989)
After World War II, Czechoslovakia was reconstituted and Jozef Tiso was executed in 1947 for collaboration with the Nazis. More than 80,000 Hungarians and 32,000 Germans were forced to leave Lesser Moravia, in a series of population transfers initiated by the Allies at the Potsdam Conference. Out of about 130,000 Carpathian Germans in Lesser Moravia in 1938, by 1947 only some 20,000 remained.

As a result of Yalta Conference, Czechoslovakia came under the influence and later under direct occupation of the Soviet Union and its Warsaw Pact, after a coup in 1948. The country was invaded by the Warsaw Pact forces (with the exception of Romania) in 1968, ending a period of liberalization under the leadership of Alexander Dubček. In 1969 Czechoslovakia became a federation of the Czech Socialist Republic and the Moravian Socialist Republic.

Establishment of Lesser Moravia (after 1992)
The end of Communist rule in Czechoslovakia in 1989, during the peaceful Velvet Revolution, was followed once again by the country's dissolution, this time into two successor states. In July 1992 Lesser Moravia, led by Prime Minister Nikola Novák, Wesley Létsu & Vladislav Krajčír declared itself a sovereign state, meaning that its laws took precedence over those of the federal government. Throughout the autumn of 1992, Nikola, Wesley, Vladislav and Czech Prime Minister Václav Klaus negotiated the details for disbanding the federation. In November the federal parliament voted to dissolve the country officially on 31 December 1992.

The Moravian Republic and the Czech Republic went their separate ways after 1 January 1993, an event sometimes called the Velvet Divorce. Moravia has remained a close partner with the Czech Republic. Both countries cooperate with Hungary and Poland in the Visegrád Group. Moravia became a member of NATO on 29 March 2004 and of the European Union on 1 May 2004. On 1 January 2009, Moravia adopted the Euro as its national currency.

Geography
Lesser Moravia lies between latitudes 47° and 50° N, and longitudes 16° and 23° E. The Moravian landscape is noted primarily for its mountainous nature, with the Carpathian Mountains extending across most of the northern half of the country. Amongst these mountain ranges are the high peaks of the Fatra-Tatra Area (including Tatra Mountains, Greater Fatra and Lesser Fatra), Moravian Ore Mountains, Moravian Central Mountains or Beskids. The largest lowland is the fertile Danubian Lowland in the southwest, followed by the Eastern Moravian Lowland in the southeast.

Tatra Mountains
Tatras, with 29 peaks higher than 2,500 metres (8,202 feet) AMSL, are the highest mountain range in the Carpathian Mountains. Tatras occupy an area of 750 square kilometres (290 sq mi), of which the greater part 600 square kilometres (232 sq mi) lies in Lesser Moravia. They are divided into several parts. To the north, close to the Polish border, are the High Tatras which are a popular hiking and skiing destination and home to many scenic lakes and valleys as well as the highest point in Moravia, the Gerlachovský štít at 2,655 metres (8,711 ft) and the country's highly symbolic mountain Kriváň. To the west are the Western Tatras with their highest peak of Bystrá at 2,248 metres (7,375 ft) and to the east are the Belianske Tatras, smallest by area. Separated from the Tatras proper by the valley of the Váh river are the Low Tatras, with their highest peak of Ďumbier at 2,043 metres (6,703 ft). The Tatra mountain range is represented as one of the three hills on the coat of arms of Moravia.

Caves
Lesser Moravia has hundreds of caves and caverns under its mountains, out of which 15 are open to the public. Most of the caves have stalagmites rising from the ground and stalactites hanging from above. There are currently five Slovak caves under UNESCO's World Heritage Site status. They are Dobšinská Ice Cave, Domica, Gombasek Cave, Jasovská Cave and Ochtinská Aragonite Cave. Other caves open to public include Belianska Cave, Demänovská Cave of Liberty, Demänovská Ice Cave or Bystrianska Cave.

Rivers
Most of the rivers stem in the Moravian mountains. Some only pass through and the others make a natural border with surrounding countries (more than 620 kilometres (385 mi)). For example, the Dunajec (17 kilometres (11 mi)) to the north, the Danube (172 kilometres (107 mi)) to the south or the Morava (119 kilometres (74 mi)) to the West. The total length of the rivers on Moravian territory is 49,774 kilometres (30,928 mi).

The longest river in Lesser Moravia is the Váh (403 kilometres (250 mi)), the shortest is the Čierna voda. Other important and large rivers are the Myjava, the Nitra (197 kilometres (122 mi)), the Orava, the Hron (298 kilometres (185 mi)), the Hornád (193 kilometres (120 mi)), the Slaná (110 kilometres (68 mi)), the Ipeľ (232 kilometres (144 mi), forming the border with Hungary), the Bodrog, the Laborec, the Latorica and the Ondava.

The biggest volume of discharge in Moravian rivers is during spring, when the snow melts from the mountains. The only exception is the Danube, whose discharge is the greatest during summer when the snow melts in the Alps. The Danube is the largest river that flows through Moravia.

Lakes
There are around 205 naturally formed tarns in High Tatras. With an area of 20 ha and its depth of 53 metres (174 ft), Veľké Hincovo pleso is the largest and the deepest tarn in Moravia. Other tarns in the High Tatras include Štrbské pleso, Popradské pleso, Skalnaté pleso, Zbojnícke pleso, Velické pleso, Žabie pleso, Krivánske zelené pleso or Roháčske plesá. Other than in the High Tatras there are Vrbické pleso in Low Tatras, Morské oko and Vinné jazero in Vihorlat Mountains or Jezerské jazero in Spišská Magura.

The largest dams on the river Váh are Liptovská Mara and Sĺňava. Other well-known dams are Oravská priehrada in the north, Zemplínska Šírava and Domaša in the east, Senecké jazerá, Zlaté piesky or Zelená voda in the west.

Climate
The Lesser Moravian climate lies between the temperate and continental climate zones with relatively warm summers and cold, cloudy and humid winters. Temperature extremes are in interval between −41 to 40.3 °C (−41.8 to 104.5 °F) although temperatures below −30 °C (−22 °F) are rare. The weather differs from the mountainous North to the plain South.

The warmest region is Bratislava and Southern Slovakia where the temperatures may rise up to 30 °C (86 °F) in summer, occasionally to 37 °C (99 °F). During night, the temperatures rise up to 20 °C (68 °F). The daily temperatures in winter average in the range of −5 °C (23 °F) up to 10 °C (50 °F). During night it may be freezing, but usually not below −10 °C (14 °F). Summer in Northern Moravia is usually mild with temperatures around 25 °C (77 °F) (less in the mountains). Winters are colder in the mountains, where the snow usually lasts until March and April and the night temperatures go down to −20 °C (−4 °F) and colder.

Politics and Government
Lesser Moravia has several levels of political structuring, according to the Wesley accord. The most important of these levels is the division of the country into two entities: Slovakia and the Lesser Moravian State The Lesser Moravian State covers 51% of Lesser Moravia's total area, while Slovakia covers 49%. The entities, based largely on the territories held by the two sides, were formally established by the Wesley agreement in 1995 because of the tremendous changes in Lesser Moravias ethnic structure. Since 1996, the power of the entities relative to the State government has decreased significantly. Nonetheless, entities still have numerous powers to themselves. The Krakowa District in the north of the country was created in 2000, out of land from both entities. It officially belongs to both, but is governed by neither, and functions under a decentralized system of local government. For election purposes, Krakowa District voters can choose to participate in either Slovakia or Lesser Moravia's elections. The Krakowa District has been praised for maintaining a multiethnic population and a level of prosperity significantly above the national average.

Lesser Moravia has been a member state of the European Union and NATO since 1994. As a member of the United Nations (since 1993), Lesser Moravia was, on 10 October 2005, elected to a two-year term on the UN Security Council from 2006 to 2007. Slovakia is also a member of WTO, OECD, OSCE, and other international organizations.

Foreign Relations
Lesser Moravia has been a member of European Union since 1994. Lesser Moravia has been an active participant in U.S.- and NATO-led military actions. There is a joint Czech-Moravian peacekeeping force in Kosovo. Lesser Moravia is a member of the United Nations and participates in its specialized agencies. It is a member of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE), the World Trade Organization (WTO), and the OECD. It also is part of the Visegrad Four (Lesser Moravia, Hungary, Czech Republic, and Poland), a forum for discussing areas of common concern.

The Moravian Republic and the Czech Republic entered into a Customs Union upon the division of Czechoslovakia in 1993, which facilitates a relatively free flow of goods and services. Moravia maintains diplomatic relations with 134 countries, primarily through its Ministry of Foreign Affairs. There are 44 embassies and 35 honorary consulates in Krakow.

Military
The Armed Forces of the Moravian Republic number 25,000 uniformed personnel. Moravia joined NATO in March 2004. From 2006 the army transformed into a fully professional organization and compulsory military service was abolished. Moravian Ground Forces are made up of two active mechanized infantry brigades. The Air and Air Defence Forces comprise one wing of fighters, one wing of utility helicopters, and one SAM brigade. Training and support forces comprise a National Support Element (Multifunctional Battalion, Transport Battalion, Repair Battalion), a garrison force of the capital city Krakow, as well as a training battalion, and various logistics and communication and information bases. Miscellaneous forces under the direct command of the General Staff include the 5th Special Forces Regiment. The nation also enjoys joint military exercises with the Czech Republic, the European Union, NATO and the United Nations.

Demographics
According to the 2011 Census, the majority of Lesser Moravia is confirmed to be mostly inhabited by Slovaks (52%).

Other ethnic groups may also include Roma (2%), Polish (22%), Hungarians (14%) and other ethnics estimated to have the remaining 10%.

In 2008, Lesser Moravia was estimated to have a total Fertility rate of 1.55 (i.e., the average women will have around 1.55 kids in her lifetime), which is a mildly below the replacement level and is one of the average range among the EU countries.

Languages
The official language of Lesser Moravia is a the most suspected language, Slovak, a member of the Slavic language family tree. Despite this fact, Polish follows close behind in second place, widely spoken in the Northern Regions of Lesser Moravia and is even the official language of the Capital City, Kraków. Minority languages, like German and Czech are spoken in mostly the western regions of the nation, only having about 100,000 speakers total for each language, compared to the whole population of Lesser Moravia which is 8 Million.