Eighty-six years ago today, on March 13, 1939 (January 23, 1939), Hitler instigated Slovakia's "independence" from the Czech Republic and was "protected" by Germany. In 1867, the Czech Republic and Slovakia were under the rule of the Austro-Hungarian Empire. In 1918, the Austro-Hungarian Empire collapsed and became independent on October 28 of the same year, establishing the Czechoslovak Republic. In 1938, Britain and France betrayed the interests of Czechoslovakia at the Munich Conference and ceded the Sudetenland to Germany. In March of the following year, Germany occupied all the territory of Czechoslovakia. On March 13, Hitler instigated Slovakia's "independence" from the Czech Republic and was "protected" by Germany. In May 1945, Czechoslovakia won the war of national liberation and once again formed a Czechoslovak state with the Czech Republic. On January 1, 1993, the two republics became independent sovereign states - the Czech Republic and the Slovak Republic.