What Is The Main Characteristic Of Slovak Historiography?
Slovak historiography, like the histories of other relatively young nations, has been characterized by what some historians have observed as a struggle for recognition. Prior to the formation of the first independent Slovak state in 1939, most historians were uncertain as to whether Slovaks even had an independent history. This conundrum certainly raises the question of whether a people without a state can actually have its own history, or historiography. Ideally, the answer to this question should be ‘yes,’ but in reality nations with a state are much more likely to have a developed historical discipline than those without their own country. Slovak history was usually seen as a valid field of study when the Slovaks had their own state. Prior to this, however, Slovak historiography was very underdeveloped. Before 1920, Slovakia had no professional historians and only two amateur historians, namely Jozef Skultety and Julius Botto. The country’s first professional historian was Daniel Ra
