Page:Edvard Beneš – Bohemia's case for independence.pdf/52

From Wikisource
Jump to navigation Jump to search
This page has been validated.

IV

THE CZECHO-SLOVAKS AND THE MAGYARS.
A LEGEND TO BE DESTROYED

Now we must speak of our last adversary, the Magyars. The Slovaks had always lived in close relation with the Czechs of Bohemia and Moravia. At the end of the ninth aentury they were united under the sceptre of a national prince, and formed the Empire of Great Moravia, when, suddenly in 907, the Magyars invaded their country.

This invasion had serious consequences. The Northern Slavs were separated from their Yugo-Slav brothers, and the Magyars became neighbours of the Germans. From this period commenced the struggles of the Czechs with the Magyars. The Czechs of Bohemia and Moravia always resisted successfully and remained independent, but the Slovaks who occupied the region north of the Danube, in Hungary proper, found themselves in a painful situation as, geographically, the invasion of their country was easy. So in 1025 the Magyars succeeded in taking possession of Slovakia.

38