History of Bratislava
Because of the city's strategic geographical location, it was an important European hub due to its proximity to the advanced cultures of the Mediterranean and the Orient as well as its link to the rest of Europe, which were possible by the Danube River.
[1] In the area where present-day Bratislava lies, three skeletons of the (Epi)Pliopithecus vindobonensis were found in the borough Devínska Nová Ves in 1957, dating to 25–15 million years ago.
The early Iron Age brought a shift of the settlements focus again to the area of today's historical centre and the castle of Bratislava.
This period is considered an epilogue to Central European pre-history and this is attributed to the migration of the Thracian tribes, which brought with them their version of the Hellenic civilization.
Celts (more exactly the tribe of Boii) formed between 125 and 50 BC an important Celtic oppidum (fortified town) with a mint in the area of the castle hill and the historical centre.
After the bloody defeat at the hands of Dacian forces under the leadership of King Burebista (shortly after the middle of the 1st century BC) the remaining Celts retreated to the site of Devín, creating a smaller, more easily protected hill-fort settlement.
There is, for example, the case of the Devín Castle, which historical records such as the Chronicle of Fulda, alluded to as the impregnable Roman military garrison called Dowina.
Recently, archaeologists found a carbonized loaf of bread at Devin and its age was estimated to be older than the Slavic settlement but still fell within the period of the migration of nations.
Around 900 it was probably owned by the (originally) Lower Pannonian prince Braslav (Bräslav, Brazlaw) - or by a magnate of the same name - who was a vassal of Bavaria (Germany).
[9] In 1030 the Czech duke Břetislav I, participating in a campaign of the German emperor Konrad II against Hungary, devastated present-day western Slovakia and undertook an attack against the Pozsony castle but was defeated by the Hungarian king.
In 1052 the German king Henry III besieged Pozsony for 2 months without success, but caused considerable damage to the castle.
The following year, Pope Leo IX personally visited the town to achieve a peace between Henry and the Hungarian king.
Hungarians settled in the market settlement below the castle in several waves in the 12th and 13th centuries, joining the previously predominantly Slovak inhabitants there[citation needed].
The city was captured by the Hungarian nobleman and palatine Nicolaus von Güssing in 1285–1286, who (temporarily) burned down the castle in 1286, but his revolt against the king was defeated.
In 1436 Sigismund of Luxemburg awarded Pressburg the right to use its own coat of arms[14] and orders to improve the fortification of the castle (because of the last Hussite invasion during that year).
After the Battle of Mohács in 1526, where the Kingdom of Hungary was defeated by the expanding Ottoman Empire, the Turks besieged Pressburg 1529, but failed to conquer it.
As a consequence of Ottoman advances through Hungarian territory and the capture of Buda, the city of Pressburg was designated as the capital of Royal Hungary in 1536.
Finall, the town, but not the castle, capitulated in July 1683 and was only reconquered by Imperial troops after the Turks were defeated near Vienna (September 1683).
The Pragmatic Sanction law was enacted in 1713, which decided the Habsburg monarch's unity and that woman can inherit the Hungarian throne.
[22] However, in 1783, under the reign of Joseph II, the Crown Jewels were taken to Vienna, and many central offices moved to Buda, which were followed by a big part of the nobility.
Ten years later the first (horse-)railway line in Hungary and present-day Slovakia was built from Pressburg to the town of Svätý Jur, north of Bratislava.
[27] In 1905 Philipp Lenard, the Hungarian-German physicist and winner of the Nobel Prize for Physics for his research on cathode rays and the discovery of many of their properties, visited Pressburg.
The minister for the administration of Slovakia, V. Šrobár, requested to negotiate a peaceful surrender of Bratislava to the Czecho-Slovak troops, through sheriff S. Zoch.
A contemporary Slovak language newspaper reported that "a mob spat on our soldiers, tore down badges from their hats, physically attacked them and shot on them from windows.
"[43][44][45] According to Hungarian historian Attila Simon, the intervention by the Czechoslovak soldiers firing on the peaceful demonstrators caused 8 deaths and 14 injuries,[37] while Slovak historian Marián Hronský mentions 6 dead and several injured, including the Czechoslovak military commander who was left wounded by Hungarian demonstrators.
Hotel Zöldfa had included Lajos Kossuth, Franz Joseph I, Alfred Nobel, and Albert Einstein amongst its guests.
[51] In 1946, the city incorporated the neighbouring villages of Devín, Dúbravka, Lamač, Petržalka, Prievoz (now part of Ružinov), Rača, and Vajnory (Karlova Ves had been annexed in 1944).
The city also expanded once more in 1972, annexing villages of Jarovce, Rusovce, Čunovo, Devínska Nová Ves, Záhorská Bystrica, Vrakuňa and Podunajské Biskupice.
In 1991 the factory of the automaker Volkswagen was founded in Bratislava (until 1994 as a joint venture with the Bratislavské automobilové závody); the fourth bridge over the Danube, Most Lafranconi, was built.
The ethnic makeup of the town's population during the last two centuries has been as follows: This is a comprehensive list of historical figures who were born and/or lived in or visited Bratislava.
