Vienna, Bratislava, and the Question of Austrian-Slovak Relations
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Vienna, Bratislava, and the Question of Austrian-Slovak Relations
Crucial Milestones, Key Figures, and Historical Background
£24.00
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After the fall of the Iron Curtain and the opening of the borders, people from Bratislava began visiting Vienna, which suddenly transformed from an inaccessible metropolis into a city that they could, once again, visit after many years; to attend cultural events, admire historical monuments, and soak in the atmosphere of Vienna’s boulevards. Opportunities also opened up to study the shared historical events of both metropolises on the Danube. This publication outlines the key milestones and main actors in Slovak-Austrian relations during the 20th century. They include the end of World War I, the emergence of successor states, and the new political order in Central Europe. Another decisive turning point is World War II and the emergence of a bipolar Europe. Slovak-Austrian relations were also influenced by the year 1968 and the 1970s, marked by ›normalization‹, as well as by contacts between dissidents in Czechoslovakia and Austrian political representatives. The beginning of the transformation process in 1989 marked a new stage in the development of mutual relations. From a foreign policy perspective, the year 1993 is a very important turning point, as Slovak-Austrian relations took the form of bilateral relations between two independent states for the first time in history.
Dr Zuzana van Duin Poláčková, PhD, studied History, Political Science in Bratislava, Brno. Since 2000, she is Senior Research Fellow, Associate Professor of history and political science at the Institute of History of the Slovak Aademy of Sciences, Bratislava, Slovakia.