Great Moravia

Great Moravia was an empire existing in Central Europe between 833 and the early 10th century. The first West Slavic state was inhabited and ruled by the ancestors of modern Moravians and Slovaks. The core territory laid on both sides of the Morava river, in present-day Slovakia and the Czech Republic, but the empire also extended into what is today Hungary, Romania, Poland, Austria, Germany, Serbia, Slovenia, Croatia and Ukraine.

Great Moravia was founded when Prince Mojmír I unified by force the neighboring Principality of Nitra with his own Moravian Principality in 833. Unprecedented cultural development resulted from the mission of Saints Cyril and Methodius, who came during the reign of Prince Rastislav in 863. The empire reached its greatest territorial extent under King Svatopluk I (871-894). Weakened by internal struggle and frequent wars with the Frankish Empire, Great Moravia was ultimately overrun by Magyar invaders in the early 10th century and its remnants were later divided between the Kingdom of Hungary, Bohemia, Poland, and the Holy Roman Empire.

Great Moravia left behind a lasting legacy in Central and Eastern Europe. Most castles and towns survived the destruction of the empire. The Glagolitic script and the Old Church Slavonic language even diffused to other Slavic countries, charting path to their cultural development. The Great Moravian tradition was also instrumental in the Czech and Slovak national revival in the 18th century.