Martin Declaration

The final months of the war saw a gradual disintegration of the empire, which led to the party deciding to resume its drive for a separate Slovak state.

Its chairman, Matúš Dula, chose Martin, a centre for Slovak cultural and political life since the 19th century, as the venue for a general meeting of the party.

The council attempted to take control of Slovakia but was thwarted by a Hungarian military intervention, which seized Martin on 15 November.

Czech troops soon took the town, and the new government in Prague appointed Vavro Šrobár as minister for Slovakia.

The Slovaks had been promised to become equal partners in what Edvard Beneš, the foreign minister of the Provisional Czechoslovak government, had declared would be a Swiss-style federated state.