The history of the Czech Republic is rich, complicated, and ancient.
By the 6th century, following the Great Migration of the early Middle Ages, the area of modern Czech Republic was fully inhabited by Slavs. The first unified "state" in the territory, however, was not established until the 7th century under the Frankish merchant Samo. It collapsed after his death.
The Greater Moravian Empire emerged in the 9th century, covering most of today's Slovakia, Moravia, and Bohemia.
It disintegrated at the beginning of the 10th century and Slovakia was annexed into the Magyar Kingdom, where it remained until the end of World War I.

Basic Historical Outline

• End of the 5th and beginning of the 6th century - arrival of Slavs in present-day Moravia and Slovakia
• Second half of the 9th century - arrival of Christian missionaries
• 9th century - 1306 a gradual strengthening of the Czech state during the reign of the Premyslid dynasty
• 1346-1378 - the peak in the prestige and power of the kingdom of Bohemia during the reign of Charles IV
• Beginning of the 15th century - a crisis of state leads to the Hussite movement
• 1526 - the Habsburg dynasty succeeds to the throne of Bohemia - the formation of a multi-national empire
• 1620 - the defeat of the Bohemian Estates at the Battle of White Mountain, continued centralization of the Habsburg Empire
• 28.10.1918 - foundation of an independent state of Czechs and Slovaks
• 15.3.1939 - 9.5.1945 - German occupation
• February 1948 - Communist takeover
• August 1968 - Soviet-led invasion of Czechoslovakia by Warsaw Pact countries brings an end to the "Prague Spring" and the Communist Party's attempt to build "Socialism with a human face"
• November 1989 - fall of the Communist regime
• 1.1. 1993 Czech Republic founded after the split of Czechoslovakia