It was in 1878 that active Magyarization of Greater Hungary reached its climax. Further, one must realize that Magyarization was not just about the forced use of the Hungarian language. The doctrine's supposed justifications have root in the then Hungarian notion that a native of the Kingdom of Hungary could not be a patriot unless he spoke, thought, felt and totally identified as a Magyar. Slovaks who remained true to their ancestry, and it must be remembered that the Slovaks were in the region long before the Hungarians tribes arrived, were considered deficient in patriotism. The official political view was that a compromise with the Slovaks was impossible; that there was but one expedient, to "ethnically cleanse" them, to wipe them out as far as possible by assimilation with the Magyars. Slovak schools and institutions were ordered to be closed, the charter of the Matica Slovenska was annulled, and its library and rich historical and artistic collections, as well as its funds, were confiscated. Inequalities of every kind before the law were devised for the undoing of the Slovaks heritage, language and culture and turning them into "proper" Hungarians.

The Hungarian authorities in their endeavor to suppress the Slovak nationality went even to the extent of taking away Slovak children to be brought up as Magyars, and forbade them to learn their language and their history in school and church. Over two million Slovaks, who were predominantly Catholic, clung to their language and Slavic customs, but the clergy were educated in their seminaries through the medium of the Magyar tongue and required in their parishes to conform to state imposed restrictions. Among the 750,000 Protestant Slovaks the Government went even further by taking control of their synods and bishops. Even Slovak family names were Magyarized, and any vocational advancement was only given through Hungarians channels.