Slovenia - Eastern Europe - page 646

SLOVENIA TODAY
Having emerged from its 10-day war of independence practically unscathed, Slovenia
is a country of tremendous stability and calm. One high-ranking E.U. official recently
referred to Slovenia as the “good pupil of the European Union,” but in fact Slovenia
could teach the rest of Europe (and much of the world, in fact) a lesson or two. A
country that quietly gets on with the job of improving its position on the world stage,
Slovenia consistently administers to all spheres of local life, thereby attracting foreign
investment through both industry and—now that the crisis faced by its Balkan neigh-
bors appears to have abated—also on the tourist front.
A LOOK AT THE PAST
Slovenes will tell you of a history fraught by outside rule; when independence was won
in 1991, it was after a 1,000-year struggle.
Once the ancient home of southerly Illyrian tribes and Celts from the north, the
Romans arrived here in A . D . 100, legendarily traversing the Julian Alps (named, in
fact, for Julius Caesar) and creating the trade hubs of Emona (Ljubljana), Poetovia
(Ptuj), and Celeia (Celje). Attila the Hun raged across Slovenia from the east, en route
to Italy in the 5th century, causing the Roman settlers to regroup at the coast, where
the port cities of Capris (Koper) and Piranum (Piran) were created.
Slavic tribes—the ancestors of contemporary Slovenes—arrived in the 6th century,
bringing pagan superstitions and an agricultural lifestyle, and finally uniting to form
the Principality of Karantania. But it wasn't long before the Slavs were forced to sub-
mit to the rule of the Frankish emperor, who converted them to Christianity. From
the 14th century, Slovenia fell to the Habsburgs, who stimulated great resentment
during most of their reign. War, Turkish invasion, and economic gloom were the
ongoing themes in the 15th and 16th centuries. The coastal cities fell under voluntary
protection of the Venetian Empire until the end of the 18th century, while the
Ottomans repeatedly trampled through the region in attempts to take Vienna.
Germanic culture was encouraged among the elite, while the peasant classes occa-
sionally rose up, determined to replant their Slavic roots. Slovene culture was touted
by nationalist movements, and for the brief 4 years (1809-13) that Napoleon made
Ljubljana the capital of his Illyrian provinces, the Slovenian language entered schools
and government. In the mid-1800s, Slovenian nationalism reached its zenith; amid
(largely unsuccessful) cries for nationhood and recognition of a unique identity, the
call for Slavic unity could be heard pushing for the unification of all Serbs, Croats, and
Slovenes. The second half of the 19th century was a period of industrialization, but
this failed to prevent mass emigration by the country's poor.
In 1914, Archduke Franz Ferdinand was assassinated, sparking off World War I
between the Austro-Hungarian Empire and the Triple Entente. Dragged into the fray,
Slovenia was forced to fight the Italians to protect their homeland. When the Austro-
Hungarian Empire collapsed in 1918, Slovenia was partially incorporated into the
newly established Kingdom of Serbs, Croats, and Slovenes, which later became
Yugoslavia (“Land of Southern Slavs”) in 1929; coastal Slovenia was given to Italy.
In 1937 the half-Slovene half-Croat Josip Broz Tito became party leader, and was
the man at the helm when Hitler invaded Yugoslavia in 1941. After World War II,
Tito headed up the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, with Slovenia as one of
six states. Tito played his cards right with both Eastern and Western powers, and—
unlike other Eastern bloc countries—Yugoslavia enjoyed a fairly open relationship
with the rest of the world.