In a Nutshell - Slovakia

Eastern Orthodox Icon - photo by Joann Sturman

Scott Sturman

The Slovaks and Czechs pulled off quite a feat in 1993, when they orchestrated the Velvet Divorce and parted ways bloodlessly.  The long term advantages were questionable, and although less than 40% of the population in both countries supported the schism, political momentum was impossible to stop.  It wasn’t the first time the Czechs and Slovaks went their separate ways. The Slovaks saw their chance during WWII and allied themselves with the Nazis, only to be forced to reunite with the Czechs during the Communist years.

Slovakia typifies countries of eastern Europe–small land areas, small and falling populations, low birth rates, aging demographics, difficult native languages, low defense budgets, secular orientation, and capital cities where 15-20% of the country's population resides.  All suffered immensely from Communism and are just beginning to grasp the basics of free market capitalism and democratic rule.  The recession has been a difficult time.  In the view of the ordinary Slovak the only ones doing well are politicians and former Communist apparatchiks who shed their titles but remained in charge of the purse strings. 

  Budapest - photo by JoAnn Sturman

  
Slovakia, with one of the lowest birthrates in the world, is a country of 5.5 million crammed into an area smaller than West Virginia.  To their credit, they have adapted a realistic view of military relationships between their neighbors and spend only 1% of their budget for military purposes.

Driving southeast from Prague the hills give way to flatter lands of the Danube Valley.  Rising above the fields, a smokestack of an enormous VW manufacturing facility is visible for miles.  Lower labor costs and a skilled work force in this part of the European Union provide desperately needed jobs for a country otherwise reliant on forest products and its massive Danube River port at Bratislava. 

Autumn Along the Danube - photo by JoAnn Sturman

Between Brno in the Czech Republic and Bratislava, the capital of Slovakia, amid farm land bordered by rolling hills planted with grapes, it is difficult to imagine that in 1805 one of the world’s great battles unfolded in this otherwise tranquil setting.  Out numbered and out gunned by his Austrian and Russian adversaries, Napoleon’s modern army employed innovative techniques to crush their opponents at Austerliz.  Perhaps Slovaks similarly will prove a small country can prosper among far larger competitors, but do so they will require Swiss-like efficiency and insist on zero tolerance to lingeringly corruption that plagues countries of the former Communist block. 

 Photo by JoAnn Sturman