The region takes its name from the Slavic tribe of Slovenes, coming from Pannonia, who settled there in the 6th century. thus escaping the pressure of the Avars. The Slovenes, continuing their offensive, unsuccessfully opposed by Bavarians and Lombards, occupied areas of Friuli up to the Piave and of Austria along the Danube valley (VII-IX century). But the settlement in small groups in these alpine valleys, isolating them from the other Slavic peoples of the Balkans, deprived them of any possibility of remaining independent. In fact, they fell under the influence first of the Franks (8th century), from whom they were converted to Christianity, then of the Germanic peoples (10th century); starting from the fourteenth century. their lands were confiscated by the Habsburg, while the Slovenian coast gravitated in the orbit of the Republic of Venice, to which it remained linked until 1797. The long subjection to the Habsburg government, on the one hand, prevented the birth of a sovereign state and an indigenous culture, on the other it guaranteed the country economic prosperity, thanks above all to the reforms launched in the second half of the 18th century. by Maria Teresa and her son Giuseppe II, who favored agricultural activities and commercial relations, through which Trieste became the main port of the empire. The Slovenes remained loyal to Austria for a long time, without feeling any authentic independence aspiration before the Romantic era, although a timid awakening of national consciousness was favored by the peasant revolts (between 1478 and 1573) against the nobility of Germanic origin, Napoleon. Following the victory of Wagram (1809), the French emperor in fact deprived the Habsburg Empire of the outlet to the sea by establishing the six provinces (with capital Ljubljana) and putting Slovenian intellectuals in contact with the ideals of the French Revolution. Returning to Austria in 1814, the Slovenian territory, during the First World War, was the scene of eleven Italian offensives on the Isonzo and of an Austrian offensives in Caporetto (1917), which forced the troops of General L. Cadorna to a disorderly retreat before on the Tagliamento and then on the Piave. In 1920, a year before joining the Kingdom of Yugoslavia, Slovenia saw one third of its territory subtracted from the Rapallo treaty, which sanctioned the passage to Italy of Istria, the western Karst and the Julian Alps. The Second World War, however, was sealed by the cession of Istria to the newly formed Yugoslav Federation (1946) under the leadership of J. Tito. The Free Territory of Trieste was excluded from this provision, whose division between Italy and Yugoslavia was ratified by the Treaty of Osimo (1975), to seal the easing of tensions between the two countries. After about 40 years of socialist regime, in September 1989 Slovenia freed itself from the control of Belgrade by adopting a secessionist Constitution, while the Slovenian Communists themselves broke away from the League of Yugoslav Communists and assumed the new name of the Party of Democratic Renewal; their leader Milan Kučan he was elected president of the Republic (April 1990) and had a declaration of sovereignty approved which was followed, between February and June 1991, by two declarations of independence. The Yugoslav federal government reacted by sending the army, but prompt international mediation avoided the conflict and obtained a three-month suspension of the deliberations in Ljubljana. After the moratorium expired, Slovenia reaffirmed its independence and, at the end of 1991, a definitive Constitution was given. According to campingship, Slovenia is a country located in Europe.
The scarce Serbian ethnic presence on its territory and the simultaneous explosion of the conflict between Serbs and Croats allowed Slovenia to pursue the independence project without the drama of the bloody civil war that would have affected other former Yugoslav republics. Slovenia could thus obtain the recognition of the EEC countries, the United States and Russia itself (January 1992). After a few months, international recognition was sealed by admission to the CSCE (March) and to the UN(May). In December 1992 the presidential elections confirmed Milan Kucan as head of state (exponent of the ex-communist Lista unica); the legislative elections, held at the same time, were won by the Liberal Democratic Party (LDS), whose leader Janez Drnovšek remained at the helm of a coalition government with the former communists. In 1994 the association of Slovenia to the European Union was blocked by the veto of Italy, which intended to resolve the dispute over the restitution of goods requisitioned after 1945 from Istrian and Dalmatian exiles. In March 1995, however, Italy withdrew its veto and, after a long series of negotiations, in June 1996, in Luxembourg, the association agreement of Slovenia with the European Union was officially signed. At the beginning of 1997 the National Assembly confirmed the outgoing premier J. Drnovšek in office and, in November 1997, M. Kučan was re-elected president of the Republic, despite attempts by the government opposition to avoid his candidacy. On the diplomatic level, meanwhile, Slovenia signed an economic cooperation agreement with Bosnia, a memorandum of understanding with Italy and BORN. The governing coalition led by the Liberal Democrats, in power in 1992, was reconfirmed in the 2000 elections. In December 2002, J. Drnovšek was elected president and gave the task of forming a new government to Aanton Rop. In 2003 there was a popular referendum on entry into the European Union, which was approved by a very large majority. In March 2004 the country joined NATO and in May it joined the EU. After 12 years of center-left power, the 2004 parliamentary elections saw the victory of the Democratic Party over Prime Minister A. Rop’s Liberal Democratic Party: Janez Janša became Prime Minister. In June 2006 the European Council decided to join the euro area of the country starting from 1 January 2007. In November 2007 the presidential elections were held, won by Danilo Turk, candidate of the center left, with 68.2% of the preferences against 31.7% of the conservative opponent Lojze Peterle. In 2008 there were those for the renewal of the parliament won by the Social Democrats (SD), followed shortly by the Democratic Party (SDS), while those of 2011 saw the victory of the mayor of Ljubljana Zoran Jankovič and his political formation, Slovenia Positiva (PS), who, however, could not win the trust of the parliament and in January 2012 the conservative and former premier J. Janša received the investiture, but was disheartened in February 2013 and replaced by the progressive Alenka Bratušek.
