United Slovenia

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The famous map by Peter Kozler.
The famous map by Peter Kozler.

United Slovenia (Slovene: Zedinjena Slovenija) is the name of a political programme of the Slovenes from 1848, that demanded (a) unification of all the Slovene-inhabited areas into one single kingdom under the rule of the Austrian Empire, (b) equal rights of the Slovene language in public, and (c) strongly opposed the planned integration of the Habsburg Monarchy with the German Confederation. The programme failed to meet its main objectives, but it remained the common political programme of all Slovenes until World War I and is still significant today.

Following the Vienna Uprising that forced Ferdinand I to abolish feudalism and adopt a constitution, many nations of the Austrian Empire saw a chance for strengthening their ideas. After the Congress of Vienna in 1815, for the first time in centuries, all Slovenes were under the rule of one emperor. They were, however, divided between different political subdivisions, namely the provinces of Carniola, Styria, Carinthia, Gorica and Gradisca, Istria, Trieste, Lombardy and Venetia (the Venetian Slovenia) and the Kingdom of Hungary (Prekmurje). In such a fragmentation, a self-government on national basis was impossible.

The programme of United Slovenia was prepared on 20th April 1848 by the society of Slovenes from Vienna, led at this time by the famous linguist Fran Miklošič, and was first published on 29th April the same year in the Klagenfurt Slovene newspaper Novice. At that time geographer Peter Kozler delivered a map of all the Slovene Lands with ethnic-linguistic lines. The editor of Novice, Janez Bleiweis, presented the Slovene demands to the emperor's younger brother archduke John, who had been living amongst the Slovenes in Maribor for 15 years. The three key points of the programme (the creation of Slovenia as a distinct entity, recognition of the Slovene language and opposition to joining the German Confederation) were signed as a petition; 51 signed sheets still exist, showing that the programme was well-supported by the masses. The signed petition was presented to the Austrian parliament; however, due to the uprising in Hungary, the parliament was dissolved before it could even discuss the Slovene issue.

The political aspirations of the Slovenes were suppressed by Baron Alexander von Bach's absolutism in 1851, and national awakening was moved to the cultural field. The programme of United Slovenia, however, remained the common political programme of all the Slovenes and was gaining power in the period of tabori between 1868-1871. After the First World War and dissolution of Austria-Hungary, it was partially replaced by the idea of integration with other South Slavs in the common country of Yugoslavia, but a significant number of Slovenes (mostly in the Julian March and Carinthia) remained outside the country.

Pošta Slovenije issued a stamp on the occasion of 150th anniversary of the United Slovenia movement.

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[edit] Sources

  • Stane Granda, Prva odločitev Slovencev za Slovenijo (Ljubljana: Nova revija, 1999).
  • Peter Kovačič Peršin (ed.), 150 let programa Zedinjene Slovenije (Ljubljana: Društvo 2000, 2000).
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