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Rh Since this date the country has remained under Magyar domination, but it has for several reasons always preserved its Czech and Slav character. The Magyars, repulsed on the Hungarian plains, had not sufficient moral and material strength to assimilate or to dominate this population, while on the other hand a pacific penetration was impossible for the Magyars who had remained too Oriental. Moreover, the Czechs soon began to make common cause with the Magyars against the Turkish peril.

From the end of the thirteenth century this union continued with little intermission, until the succession of the Jagellon dynasty (1471) rendered it almost permanent. The succession of the Habsburgs to the Bohemian and Magyar throne resulted in the Czechs and Slovaks finding themselves part of the same State. This greatly facilitated the economical, political, and especially the intellectual development of both branches of the Czecho-Slovak nation, and thereby saved the existence of the Slovaks and the national unity of the Czechs.

Moreover, at the commencement of the nineteenth century, when the Austro-Hungarian nationalities were beginning to rouse themselves, the Slovaks immediately recognised their racial union with the Czechs and co-operated with them. On their side, the Czechs opposed the dismemberment of