The History of Croatia and Slovenia

Christopher Deliso, The History of Croatia and Slovenia (Greenwood, 2020)

This history textbook, written in easy-to-read language and weaving in both the well-known and lesser-known elements of Eastern Adriatic history, covers the periods from prehistory to 2019.

Reviews

“Recommended. General readers, lower-division undergraduates, and two-year program students.”

—Choice, December 1, 2021

From the publisher’s 2020 book description:

“Known for their beautiful landscapes and unique architecture, Croatia and Slovenia have become popular filming locations for Hollywood movies and shows, including HBO’s Game of Thrones.”

This new addition to Greenwood’s Histories of the Modern Nations series provides a comprehensive introduction to the intertwined histories of Croatia and Slovenia, two Balkan nations and former members of the Yugoslav Federation.

The recent histories of Croatia and Slovenia have been relatively stable, as both countries have merged successfully into modern Europe. But how did these countries arrive at such a place? The History of Croatia and Slovenia provides factual overviews of these countries’ political systems, geographical details, significant individuals, and more. The volume opens with the prehistoric and ancient roots of these states, though this history predates their modern ethnic and linguistic identities as we know them. Chapters cover the Roman period, followed by barbarian waves and the countries’ subsequent absorption into the Venetian, Hungarian, and Holy Roman Empires. The modern period of national awakening in the nineteenth century, when the ethno-genesis of modern Croatia and Slovenia began, is covered in great detail.

The volume additionally covers subsequent turbulent events such as WWI, WWII, the Holocaust, Communist Yugoslavia, and its civil wars of the 1990s, through the events of 2019. Written in approachable yet scholarly language, this volume is ideal for high school and university students, as well as any reader interested in Balkan or European history.

Features of the Book

-Covers the oft-overlooked contributions to European development made by various ethnic groups no longer extant, such as the Avars, and the unexpected modernity of former civilizations, such as the Republic of Ragusa (Dubrovnik)

-Provides a critical view of the past century of political turbulence in this part of the Balkans, objectively discussing the mixed roles of local and foreign protagonists and their continuing legacies

-Includes a chronology of important events in the histories of both Croatia and Slovenia, providing students with an at-a-glance overview of the two countries’ histories

-Provides biographies of those who have made important contributions to the countries through history in an appendix of Notable People in the History of Croatia and Slovenia Provides readers with detailed information on further resources for their personal research in an annotated bibliography.