It is not known when Radkersburg was first settled or where the first settlement, mentioned in an 1182 deed, was located. It is also not known when it fell under princely territorial rule. Most likely, Radkersburg originally did not belong to the
Dukes of Styria, but possibly to an aristocrat named
Radger to whom it had been given by the
German king. A
market is documented in a 1265/67
urbarium issued under King
Ottokar II of Bohemia, who ruled Styria from 1261 to 1278, however, contemporary research suggests that the present-day town was founded by the
Habsburg king
Albert I of Germany, Duke of Styria, in the end of the 13th century. The appearance of the city today is apparently based on a precise plan, surrounded by a wall with towers. Radkersburg was first mentioned as a
town in 1299. Located near the border with the
Kingdom of Hungary, it was affected by the armed conflict between King
Matthias Corvinus and Emperor
Frederick III in the late 15th century. During the
Ottoman–Habsburg wars, extended fortifications were laid out according to plans designed by the
Italian architect
Domenico dell'Allio. Radkersburg was elevated to an
Imperial fortress by resolution of the 1582
Diet of
Augsburg. In the course of the 19th century language conflict, nationalist struggles in the ethnically mixed area arose between the predominantly German-speaking citizens and the Slovene-speaking peasant population down the Mur River. A
garrison town of the
Austro-Hungarian Army in
World War I, it was occupied by troops of the newly emerged
Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes (Yugoslavia) on 1 December 1918. An armed revolt against the occupation forces, led by
Johann Mickl, in order to affiliate the town with
German-Austria failed. Nevertheless, by resolution of the 1919
Treaty of Saint-Germain, the area north of the Mur passed to the
First Austrian Republic, while
Oberradkersburg (Gornja Radgona) and the neighbouring
municipality of Apače (
Abstall), on the south bank, became part of Yugoslavia. The nationalist conflicts lingered on, on both sides of the border. In
World War II many members of the German minority greeted the
Wehrmacht invasion of Yugoslavia in 1941 and joined the German combat units, while large parts of Radkersburg were devastated by armed conflicts. After the war, most of the remaining German-speaking population south of the Mur was forcibly
expelled. The Radkersburg bridge across the Mur was reopened on October 12, 1969, which led to a first
rapprochement between Austria and
Yugoslavia. In 1975 the town achieved spa status, another
thermal spring was made accessible in 1978, soon followed by an extension to the bathing site. Since Slovenia joined the
Schengen Area in 2007, border controls between Radkersburg and Gornja Radgona have been abolished.
Population ==Politics==