DVE PERIFÉRIE V DVOCH KRAJINÁCH OKTÓBER 1918 – JANUÁR 1919. VÝCHODNÉ SLOVENSKO A UHORSKÁ RUS NA CESTE DO ČESKOSLOVENSKEJ REPUBLIKY

Until the fall of the Austro-Hungarian monarchy, Eastern Slovakia and present-day Transcarpathia (Zakarpattia; until 1919 Hungarian Rus’; between 1919 and 1939 Subcarpathian Rus’) were peripheral territories, which were reflected in the harsh living conditions of their inhabitants and consequent mass emigration. In Hungary Slovaks and Rusyns facing not only economic but also national discrimination (Magyarization), provided support to each other. They welcomed Czechoslovakia as a state in which their position would significantly change. However, while, in the case of Slovaks, there was gradual national unification and constitutionalization, the Rusyns divided into three ethnic groups – Rusyn, Ukrainian and Russian. At the same time, the existing cooperation between Slovaks and Rusyns was impaired by the difficulty of solving the conflict regarding the territory of north-eastern Slovakia (where both populations lived).