This chapter differs in composition from the two previous ones devoted to the politics of language in Hungary and Czechoslovakia in the short 20th century. With the exception of the brief wartime interlude of independent Slovakia (1939–1945), the Slovak nation found itself residing in Czechoslovakia between 1918 and 1992. This necessitated the representation of much Slovak history, and the vicissitudes of Czech-Slovak relations in the previous chapter, which nominally was devoted to matters Czech. It would soon be demonstrated that the past of the common state of the Czech and Slovaks could not be seamlessly divided into separate Czech and Slovak parts. Likewise, numerous international events of importance for the Slovaks occurred either in Hungary or on the plane of Czechoslovak-Hungarian relations. Understandably, these were dealt with in the two prior chapters. In order to avoid repetition, here the historical background is kept to a minimum, assuming that the reader has already acquainted herself with it.