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40 Austria for the beneﬁt of the Magyars in 1848, wishing to preserve their political relations with the Slovaks. So they fought together for the federalism of Austria-Hungary in order to unite the Czechs and Slovaks in a single independent national group. The Slovaks derived a great advantage from their geographical position; and in the great fight against the House of Austria, which ended so tragically for the Czechs, they escaped some of the persecutions and sacrifices the latter had to endure from the Habsburgs; it is owing to this that they were able more easily to preserve their national traditions and play such an important part in the regeneration of the Czechs at the beginning of the nineteenth century.

In 1848 began a new era for the national life of the Slovaks and the development of the relations between the Czechs and Magyars. Austria-Hungary was shaken by the revolution, and the Magyars to free themselves, undertook an armed fight against Vienna.

From the very beginning, the Austro-Hungarian Slavs fought for national, political, and constitutional liberty; they feared German and Magyar ambitions.

First of all, the Czechs rose up against the Pan-Germanistic Germans of Frankfort, while the Slovaks and Croats opposed the Magyar revolution,