Revolution convulses Europe in 1848, and demonstrators…
1840 CE to 1851 CE
Revolution convulses Europe in 1848, and demonstrators in cities throughout the Austrian Empire call for constitutional monarchy.
Crowds in Ljubljana cheer the apparent downfall of the old order.
Intellectual groups draft the Slovenes' first political platforms.
Some programs call for an autonomous "Unified Slovenia" within the empire; others support unification of the South Slavs into an Illyrian state linked with Austria or Germany.
The 1848 revolutions sweep away serfdom in the Austrian Empire, but the political movement of the Slovenes makes little headway before the Austrian government regains control and imposes absolutist rule.