The concept of loyalty.: Attitudes to the authorities in Slovakia during the First World War

The social impact of the First World War disturbed the illusions and attitudes of various groups of people towards the old authorities to varying extents. During the war, the traditional sources of social solidarity were largely exhausted. To secure obedience to binding rules, the state greatly extended its power over the citizens. It abolished town and village self-government, limited the number of societies, cooperatives and trade unions, restricted freedom of the press and strengthened the police force. The loyalty of the majority of citizens to the state did not have the form of active support, but only of passive acceptance of the political system. The attitudes of groups of inhabitants to the Kingdom of Hungary was closely connected with the hierarchization of national or ethnic relations.