Second Czechoslovak Republic - Ethnic Tensions

Ethnic Tensions

The greatly weakened Czechoslovak Republic was forced to grant major concessions to the non-Czechs. Following the Munich Agreement, the Czechoslovak army transferred parts of its units, originally in the Czech lands, to Slovakia, meant to counter the obvious Hungarian attempts to revise the Slovak borders.

The Czechoslovak government accepted the Žilina Agreement stipulating the formation of an autonomous Slovak government with all Slovak parties except the Social Democrat on 6 October 1938. Jozef Tiso was nominated as its head. The only common ministries that remained were those of National Defence, Foreign Affairs and Finances. As part of the deal, the country officially adopted the short-form name of Czecho-Slovakia.

Similarly, the two major factions in Subcarpathian Ruthenia, the Russophiles and Ukrainophiles, agreed on the establishment of an autonomous government, which was constituted on 8 October 1938. Reflecting the spread of modern Ukrainian national consciousness, the pro-Ukrainian faction, led by Avhustyn Voloshyn, gained control of the local government and Subcarpathian Ruthenia was renamed Carpatho-Ukraine.

On 17 October, Ferdinand Ďurčanský, Franz Karmasin and Alexander Mach were received by Adolf Hitler. On 1 January 1939 the Slovak State Assembly was opened. On 18 January the first elections of the Slovak Assembly took place, where the Slovak People's Party received 98% of the votes. On 12 February, Vojtech Tuka and Karmazin met with Adolf Hitler, and on 22 February Tiso proposed the formation of an autonomous Slovak state during his presentation of the Slovak Government to the assembly. On February 27 the Slovak government asked the central government for the Slovakisation of the Czecho-Slovak army units stationed in Slovakia and for Slovak ambassadors and consuls to be named as representatives of the autonomous Slovak state.

Disputes continued and, on 1 March 1939, the Ministerial Committee of the Czecho-Slovak government met, where the question of Slovak departure from the state was in focus. There were some disagreement between Tiso and other Slovak politicians, and Karol Sidor (who had represented the Slovak government in the meeting) returned to Bratislava to discuss the matter with Tiso. and on March 6 the Slovak government proclaimed its loyalty to the Czecho-Slovak Republic and its wish to remain a part of the state.

However, in a meeting with Hermann Göring on 7 March Ďurčanský and Tuka were pressed to declare their autonomy from the Czecho-Slovak state. After their return two days later, the Hlinka Guard was mobilised, which in turn forced the Czecho-Slovak President, Emil Hácha, to react strongly and declared martial law in Slovakia.