Prehistory to Slavic settlement Prehistory The area later known as Slovenia has been inhabited since
prehistoric times. There is evidence of
human habitation from around 250,000 years ago. A
pierced cave bear bone, dating from 43100 ± 700
BP, found in 1995 in
Divje Babe cave near
Cerkno, is considered a kind of flute, and possibly the oldest musical instrument discovered in the world. In the 1920s and 1930s, artifacts belonging to the
Cro-Magnon, such as pierced bones, bone points, and a needle were found by archaeologist
Srečko Brodar in
Potok Cave. In 2002,
remains of pile dwellings over 4,500 years old were discovered in the
Ljubljana Marsh, later protected as a
UNESCO World Heritage Site, along with the
Ljubljana Marshes Wooden Wheel, the oldest wooden wheel in the world. It shows that wooden wheels appeared almost simultaneously in Mesopotamia and Europe. In the transition period between the
Bronze Age to the
Iron Age, the
Urnfield culture flourished. Archaeological remains dating from the
Hallstatt period have been found, particularly in southeastern Slovenia, among them a number of
situlas in
Novo Mesto, the "
Town of Situlas".
Roman era In
Roman times, the area that would later become Slovenia was shared between
Venetia et Histria (region X of
Roman Italia in the classification of
Augustus) and the provinces
Pannonia and
Noricum. The Romans established posts at
Emona (Ljubljana),
Poetovio (Ptuj), and
Celeia (Celje); and constructed trade and military roads that ran across Slovene territory from
Italy to Pannonia. In the 5th and 6th centuries, the area was subject to invasions by the
Huns and
Germanic tribes during their incursions into Italy. Part of the inner state was protected with a defensive line of towers and walls called
Claustra Alpium Iuliarum. A
crucial battle between
Theodosius I and
Eugenius took place in the
Vipava Valley in 394.
Slavic settlement The
Slavic tribes migrated to the Alpine area after the westward departure of the
Lombards (the last Germanic tribe) in 568, and, under pressure from
Avars, established a
Slavic settlement in the Eastern Alps. From 623 to 624 or possibly 626 onwards,
King Samo united the Alpine and Western Slavs against the Avars and Germanic peoples and established what is referred to as Samo's Kingdom. After its disintegration following Samo's death in 658 or 659, the ancestors of the
Slovenes formed the independent
duchy of Carantania, and
Carniola, later duchy Carniola. Other areas that would later become part of Slovenia were again ruled by Avars before
Charlemagne's victory over them in 803.
Middle Ages in
Slovene until 1414 The
Carantanians, one of the ancestral groups of the modern Slovenes, particularly the
Carinthian Slovenes, were the first Slavic people to
accept Christianity. They were mostly Christianized by Irish missionaries, among them
Modestus, known as the "Apostle of Carantanians". This process, together with the Christianization of the
Bavarians, was later described in the memorandum known as the
Conversio Bagoariorum et Carantanorum, which is thought to have overemphasized the role of the Church of Salzburg in the Christianization process over similar efforts of the Patriarchate of
Aquileia. In the mid-8th century, Carantania became a
vassal duchy under the rule of the
Bavarians, who began
spreading Christianity. Three decades later, the
Carantanians were incorporated, together with the Bavarians, into the
Carolingian Empire. During the same period
Carniola, too, came under the Franks, and was Christianised from
Aquileia. Following the anti-Frankish rebellion of
Liudewit at the beginning of the 9th century, the
Franks removed the Carantanian princes, replacing them with their own border dukes. Consequently, the Frankish
feudal system reached the Slovene territory. After the victory of Emperor
Otto I over the
Magyars in 955, Slovene territory was divided into a number of border regions of the
Holy Roman Empire. Carantania was elevated into the
Duchy of Carinthia in 976. By the 11th century, the Germanization of the area that would later become
Lower Austria, effectively isolated the Slovene-inhabited territory from the other
western Slavs, speeding up the development of the
Slavs of Carantania and of
Carniola into an independent Carantanian/Carniolans/Slovene ethnic group. By the
High Middle Ages, the historic provinces of Carniola,
Styria,
Carinthia,
Gorizia,
Trieste, and
Istria developed from the border regions and were incorporated into the medieval
Holy Roman Empire. The consolidation and formation of these historical lands took place in a long period between the 11th and 14th centuries, and were led by a number of important feudal families, such as the
Dukes of Spanheim, the
Counts of Gorizia, the
Counts of Celje, and, finally, the
House of Habsburg. In a parallel process, an intensive Germanization significantly diminished the extent of Slovene-speaking areas. By the 15th century, the
Slovene ethnic territory was reduced. In 1335,
Henry of Gorizia, Duke of Carinthia, Landgrave of Carniola and Count of Tyrol, died without a male heir. His daughter
Margaret was able to keep the
County of Tyrol, while the Wittelsbach emperor
Louis IV passed Carinthia and the Carniolan march to the Habsburg duke
Albert II of Austria, whose mother,
Elisabeth of Carinthia, was a sister of the late duke Henry of Gorizia. Therefore, most of the territory that would later become Slovenia became a hereditary land of the
Habsburg monarchy. As with the other component parts of the Habsburg monarchy, Carinthia and Carniola remained a semi-autonomous state with its own constitutional structure for a long time. The
counts of Celje, a feudal family from this area who in 1436 acquired the title of state princes, were powerful competitors of the house of
Habsburg for some time. This large dynasty, important at a European political level, had its seat in Slovene territory but died out in 1456. Its numerous large estates subsequently became the property of the Habsburgs, who retained control of the area right up until the beginning of the 20th century.
Patria del Friuli ruled the western portion of the lands that would later become Slovenia until
Venetian takeover in 1420. army
battling the
Habsburgs during the
Great Turkish War in the area that would later become Slovenia. At the end of the Middle Ages, the
Slovene Lands suffered a serious economic and demographic setback because of the
Turkish raids. In 1515, a
peasant revolt spread across nearly the whole Slovene territory. In 1572 and 1573 the
Croatian-Slovenian peasant revolt wrought havoc throughout the wider region. Such uprisings, which often met with bloody defeats, continued throughout the 17th century. Industrialization was accompanied by construction of railroads to link cities and markets, but the urbanization was limited. Due to limited opportunities, between 1880 and 1910 there was extensive emigration; around 300,000 Slovenes (1 in 6) emigrated to other countries, mostly
to the US, but also
to South America (the main part to
Argentina), Germany,
Egypt, and to larger cities in Austria-Hungary, especially
Vienna and
Graz. Entire areas of the
Slovene Littoral were destroyed. The
Treaty of Rapallo of 1920 left approximately 327,000 out of the total population of 1.3 million Slovenes in Italy. After the
fascists took power in Italy, they were subjected to a policy of violent Fascist
Italianization. This caused the mass emigration of Slovenes, especially the middle class, from the Slovene Littoral and
Trieste to
Yugoslavia and South America. Those who remained organized several connected networks of both passive and armed resistance. The best known was the
militant anti-fascist organization
TIGR, formed in 1927 to fight Fascist oppression of the Slovene and Croat populations in the
Julian March.
State of Slovenes, Croats and Serbs in Ljubljana on 29 October 1918 The
Slovene People's Party launched a movement for self-determination, demanding the creation of a semi-independent
South Slavic state under
Habsburg rule. The proposal was picked up by most Slovene parties, and a mass mobilization of Slovene civil society, known as the
Declaration Movement, followed. This demand was rejected by the Austrian political elites; but following the dissolution of the Austro-Hungarian Empire in the aftermath of the
First World War, the
National Council of Slovenes, Croats and Serbs took power in
Zagreb on 6 October 1918. On 29 October, independence was declared by a national gathering in Ljubljana, and by the Croatian parliament, declaring the establishment of the new
State of Slovenes, Croats, and Serbs.
Kingdom of Serbs, Croats, and Slovenes (later the Kingdom of Yugoslavia) On 1 December 1918, the State of Slovenes, Croats and Serbs merged with
Serbia, becoming part of the new
Kingdom of Serbs, Croats, and Slovenes; in 1929, it was renamed the
Kingdom of Yugoslavia. The area that would later become Slovenia, being the most industrialized and westernized compared to other less developed parts of Yugoslavia, became the main centre of industrial production. Compared to Serbia, Slovene industrial production was four times greater; and it was 22 times greater than in
North Macedonia. The interwar period brought further industrialization in the area that would become Slovenia, with rapid economic growth in the 1920s, followed by a relatively successful economic adjustment to the
1929 economic crisis and
Great Depression. Although Slovenia did not exist as an autonomous administrative unit between 1921 and 1941, the
Drava Banovina of the
Kingdom of Yugoslavia was frequently called simply "Slovenia", even in some official documents. Following a
plebiscite in October 1920, the Slovene-speaking southern
Carinthia was ceded to
Austria. With the
Treaty of Trianon, the Kingdom of Yugoslavia was awarded the mostly Slovene-inhabited
Prekmurje region, formerly part of Austria-Hungary. Slovenes living in territories that fell under the rule of the neighboring states—Italy, Austria, and Hungary—were subjected to
assimilation.
World War II and annexation During World War II,
Nazi Germany and
Hungary annexed northern areas (brown and dark green areas, respectively), while Fascist
Italy annexed the vertically hatched black area (solid black western part having been annexed by Italy in 1920 with the
Treaty of Rapallo). Some villages were incorporated into the
Independent State of Croatia. After 1943, Germany also occupied the area that Italy had annexed. The area later known as Slovenia was trisected and completely annexed into
Nazi Germany and Fascist
Italy during World War II. In addition, the
Prekmurje region in the east was annexed to Hungary, and some villages in the
Lower Sava Valley were incorporated in the newly created Nazi puppet
Independent State of Croatia (NDH). Axis forces
invaded Yugoslavia in April 1941 and defeated the country in a few weeks. The southern part, including
Ljubljana, was annexed to Italy, while the Nazis took over the northern and eastern parts of the country. The Nazis had a plan of
ethnic cleansing of these areas, and they resettled or expelled the local Slovene civilian population to the puppet states of
Nedić's Serbia (7,500) and
NDH (10,000). Furthermore, the annexed government deported over 10 000 Jews into German concentration camps. In addition, some 46,000 Slovenes were expelled to Germany, including children who were separated from their parents and allocated to German families. At the same time, the ethnic Germans in the
Gottschee enclave in the Italian annexation zone were resettled to the Nazi-controlled areas cleansed of their Slovene population. Around 30,000 to 40,000 Slovene men were drafted to the
German Army and sent to the Eastern front. Slovene was banned from education, and its use in public life was limited. After the resistance started in summer 1941, Italian violence against the Slovene civilian population escalated. The Italian authorities deported some 25,000 people to
concentration camps, which equaled 7.5% of the population of their occupation zone. The most infamous ones were
Rab and
Gonars. To counter the Communist-led insurgence, the Italians sponsored local anti-guerrilla units, formed mostly by the local conservative Catholic Slovene population that resented the revolutionary violence of the partisans. After the
Italian armistice of September 1943, the Germans took over both the province of Ljubljana and the Slovenian Littoral, incorporating them into what was known as the
Operation Zone of Adriatic Coastal Region. They united the Slovene anti-Communist counter-insurgence into the
Slovene Home Guard and appointed a puppet regime in the province of Ljubljana. The anti-Nazi resistance however expanded, creating its own administrative structures as the basis for Slovene statehood within a new, federal and socialist Yugoslavia. In 1945,
Yugoslavia was liberated by the partisan resistance and soon became a socialist federation known as the
People's Federal Republic of Yugoslavia. Approximately 8% of the Slovene population died during
World War II. The small Jewish community, mostly in the
Prekmurje region, was destroyed in 1944 in the
holocaust of Hungarian Jews. The German-speaking minority, amounting to 2.5% of the Slovenian population prior to the war, was either expelled or killed in the aftermath of the war. Hundreds of
Istrian Italians and Slovenes that were members of fascist and collaborationist forces, alongside civilians presumed to oppose communism, were killed in the
foibe massacres, and more than 25,000 fled or were expelled from
Slovenian Istria. Around 130,000 persons, mostly political and military opponents, were executed in May and June 1945.
Socialist Republic of Slovenia During the re-establishment of Yugoslavia in World War II, the
Socialist Republic of Slovenia was created and became part of
Federal Yugoslavia. Yugoslavia was a
socialist state, but because of the
Tito–Stalin split in 1948, economic and personal freedoms were much broader than in the
Eastern Bloc countries. In 1947, the
Slovene Littoral and the western half of
Inner Carniola, which had been annexed by Italy after World War One, were annexed to Slovenia. (dark green) was, along with
SR Croatia and
SAP Vojvodina (light green), the richest entity of
SFR Yugoslavia. After the failure of
forced collectivisation that was attempted from 1949 to 1953, a policy of gradual economic liberalisation, known as
workers self-management, was introduced under the advice and supervision of the Slovene Marxist theoretician and Communist leader
Edvard Kardelj, the main ideologue of the
Titoist path to socialism. Suspected opponents of this policy both from within and outside the Communist party were persecuted and thousands were sent to
Goli otok (where also opponents from
Tito-Stalin split, which developed at the same time, were sent). The late 1950s saw a policy of liberalization in the cultural sphere as well, and unlimited border crossing into western countries was allowed, both for Yugoslav citizens and for foreigners. In 1956,
Josip Broz Tito, together with other leaders, founded the
Non-Aligned Movement. In the 1950s, Slovenia's economy developed rapidly and was strongly industrialized. With further economic decentralization of Yugoslavia in 1965–66, Slovenia's
domestic product was 2.5 times the average of Yugoslav republics. While a Communist country, after the Tito–Stalin split Yugoslavia initiated a period of military neutrality and non-alignment. JAT Yugoslav Airlines was the flag carrier and during its existence it grew to become one of the leading airlines in Europe both by fleet and destinations. By the 1970s more airlines were created including Slovenian
Adria Airways mostly focused in the growing tourist industry. Until the 1980s,
Slovenia enjoyed relatively broad autonomy within the federation. It was the most liberal communist state in Europe, and the passport of the Yugoslavia Federation allowed Yugoslavs to travel to the most world countries of any socialist country during the Cold War. Many people worked in western countries, which reduced unemployment in their home country. Opposition to the regime was mostly limited to intellectual and literary circles and became especially vocal after Tito's death in 1980 when the economic and political situation in Yugoslavia became very strained. On 7 March 1990, the Slovenian Assembly changed the official name of the state to the "Republic of Slovenia". In April 1990, the first democratic election in Slovenia took place, and the united opposition movement
DEMOS led by
Jože Pučnik emerged victorious. tank which entered Slovenia during the
Ten-Day War, 1991 The initial revolutionary events in Slovenia pre-dated the
Revolutions of 1989 in Eastern Europe by almost a year, but went largely unnoticed by international observers. On 23 December 1990, more than 88% of the electorate voted for a sovereign and independent Slovenia. On 25 June 1991, Slovenia became independent. On 27 June in the early morning, the
Yugoslav People's Army dispatched its forces to prevent further measures for the establishment of a new country, which led to the
Ten-Day War. On 7 July, the
Brijuni Agreement was signed, implementing a truce and a three-month halt of the enforcement of Slovenia's independence. At the end of the month, the last soldiers of the Yugoslav Army left Slovenia. In December 1991, a new
constitution was adopted, The members of the
European Union recognised Slovenia as an independent state on 15 January 1992, and the United Nations accepted it as a member on 22 May 1992. Slovenia joined the
European Union on 1 May 2004. Slovenia has one Commissioner in the
European Commission, and seven Slovene parliamentarians were elected to the
European Parliament at elections on 13 June 2004. In 2004 Slovenia also joined
NATO. Slovenia subsequently succeeded in meeting the
Maastricht criteria and joined the
Eurozone (the first transition country to do so) on 1 January 2007. It was the first post-Communist country to hold the
Presidency of the Council of the European Union, for the first six months of 2008. On 21 July 2010, it became a member of the OECD. The disillusionment with domestic socio-economic elites at municipal and national levels was expressed at the
2012–2013 Slovenian protests on a wider scale than in the smaller
15 October 2011 protests. In relation to the leading politicians' response to allegations made by the official
Commission for the Prevention of Corruption of the Republic of Slovenia, legal experts expressed the need for changes in the system that would limit political
arbitrariness. == Geography ==