The History of Slovenia: The Middle Ages to the Present

Abstract

The early Middle Ages was a decisive period in the history of Slovenia, defined by the settlement of the Slavs, which shaped the area’s ethnic character. From the Middle Ages to the 1918 dissolution of the Habsburg Monarchy, this territory was administratively divided into the historical provinces of Carinthia, Carniola, Styria, and Gorizia, of which only Carniola had a majority Slovenian population. From the Middle Ages onward, Slovenian territory was traversed by important trade routes that ran between the Pannonian Basin and northern Italy and between Vienna via Graz and Maribor toward Trieste. In the sixteenth century, the Reformation laid the foundations for the development of the standard Slovenian language and Slovenian literature, and in the late sixteenth century, the Slovenian lands were marked by Ottoman incursions and the triumph of the Counter-Reformation. Under absolutism, the Theresian and Josephinian reforms aimed to unify the Habsburg lands, which led to the beginnings of the Slovenian national awakening. Around 1800, Slovenian territory was impacted by the Napoleonic Wars, and in 1809, the Illyrian Provinces were established, with Ljubljana as their capital. The pre-March period was when Slovenia’s greatest poet, France Preseren, was active. He wrote the poem “Zdravljica” (The Toast), which later became the Slovenian national anthem. In 1848, the Slovenian political program United Slovenia (Zedinjena Slovenija) was drafted, calling for the unification of all Slovenians into one political entity and equal use of Slovenian in public. Around 1900, clashes between Slovenians and ethnic Germans and the political division of Slovenians into clerical and liberal factions grew stronger. During the First World War, the Isonzo Front between Italy and Austria-Hungary cut through Slovenian ethnic territory. The end of the war saw the dissolution of the monarchy; the establishment of the State of the Slovenes, Croats, and Serbs on October 29, 1918; and its merger with the kingdoms of Serbia and Montenegro into the Kingdom of the Serbs, Croats, and Slovenes (Yugoslavia) under the Karadjordjevic dynasty on December 1, 1918. After the borders had been set, Slovenians were divided among four countries. During the Second World War, Slovenian territory was divided among four Axis powers, and the Slovenian people were affected by ethnocide, the resistance movement, collaboration, and fratricidal war. The resistance movement became part of the anti-Hitler coalition and came out of the war as the victor in Slovenia. After the Second World War, the border was settled at the Paris Peace Conference. The new authorities led by the Communist Party established a Yugoslav communist regime. In 1990, the first democratic multiparty elections and a referendum were held in Slovenia, leading to Slovenia’s independence in June 1991.