Middle Ages
Great Moravia during Svatopluk I (r. 871–894), according to
Štefanovičová (1989)
When Slav migrations ended, their first state organizations appeared, each headed by a prince with a
treasury and a defense force. In the 7th century, the Frankish merchant Samo supported the Slavs
against their Avar rulers and became the ruler of the first known Slav state in Central Europe, Samo's
Empire. This early Slavic polity probably did not outlive its founder and ruler, but it was the foundation
for later West Slavic states on its territory. The oldest of them was Carantania; others are the Principality
of Nitra, the Moravian principality (see under Great Moravia) and the Balaton Principality. The First
Bulgarian Empire was founded in 681 as an alliance between the ruling Bulgars and the
numerous Slavs in the area, and their South Slavic language, the Old Church Slavonic, became the main
and official language of the empire in 864. Bulgaria was instrumental in the spread of Slavic literacy and
Christianity to the rest of the Slavic world. The expansion of the Magyars into the Carpathian Basin and
the Germanization of Austria gradually separated the South Slavs from the West and East Slavs. Later
Slavic states, which formed in the following centuries, included the Kievan Rus', the Second Bulgarian
Empire, the Kingdom of Poland, Duchy of Bohemia, the Kingdom of Croatia, Banate of Bosnia and
the Serbian Empire.[ citation needed ]
Modern era
Seal from the pan-Slavic Congress held in Prague, 1848Pan-Slavism, a movement which came into prominence in the mid-19th century, emphasized the
common heritage and unity of all the Slavic peoples. The main focus was in the Balkans where the South
Slavs had been ruled for centuries by other empires: the Byzantine Empire, Austria-Hungary,
the Ottoman Empire, and Venice. Austro-Hungary envisioned its own political concept of Austro-
Slavism, in opposition of Pan-Slavism that was predominantly led by the Russian Empire.[ citation needed ]