Kobarid is a town and a municipality in the upper Soča (Italian
Isonzo) valley, western
SloveniaSlovenia , officially the Republic of Slovenia , is a country in Central Europe bordering Italy to the west, the Adriatic Sea to the southwest, Croatia to the south and east, Hungary to the northeast, and Austria to the north...
, near the
ItalianItaly , officially the Italian Republic , is a country located on the Italian Peninsula in Southern Europe and on the two largest islands in the Mediterranean Sea, Sicily and Sardinia. Italy shares its northern, Alpine boundary with France, Switzerland, Austria and Slovenia...
border.
Kobarid is known for the famous
Battle of CaporettoThe Battle of Caporetto , took place from 24 October to 19 November 1917, near the town of Kobarid , on the Austro-Italian front of World War I...
, where the Italian retreat was documented by
Ernest HemingwayErnest Miller Hemingway was an American writer and journalist. He was part of the 1920s expatriate community in Paris, and one of the veterans of World War I later known as "the Lost Generation." He received the Pulitzer Prize in 1953 for The Old Man and the Sea, and the Nobel Prize in Literature...
in his novel
A Farewell to ArmsA Farewell to Arms is a semi-autobiographical novel written by Ernest Hemingway, first published in 1929. The novel is told through the point of view of Lieutenant Frederic Henry, an American serving as an ambulance driver in the Italian army during World War I...
. The battle is well documented in the museum in the centre of Kobarid. The museum won a
Council of EuropeThe Council of Europe is the oldest international organisation working towards European integration, having been founded in 1949. It has a particular emphasis on legal standards, human rights, democratic development, the rule of law and cultural co-operation...
award in 1993. The adjacent Tonocov Grad archaeological site has remains of 5th century
RomanThe Roman Empire was the post-Republican phase of the ancient Roman civilization, characterised by an autocratic form of government and large territorial holdings in Europe and around the Mediterranean. The term is used to describe the Roman state during and after the time of the first emperor,...
buildings.
See also:
Gorizia and GradiscaGorizia and Gradisca was a Habsburg county in Central Europe, in what is now a multilingual border area of Italy and Slovenia. It was named for its two major urban centers, Gorizia and Gradisca d'Isonzo.-Province of the Habsburg Empire:...
,
Julian MarchThe Julian March is a former political region of Southeastern Europe on what are now the borders between Italy, Slovenia and Croatia...
Kobarid has been inhabited since pre-historical times.
Kobarid is a town and a municipality in the upper Soča (Italian
Isonzo) valley, western
SloveniaSlovenia , officially the Republic of Slovenia , is a country in Central Europe bordering Italy to the west, the Adriatic Sea to the southwest, Croatia to the south and east, Hungary to the northeast, and Austria to the north...
, near the
ItalianItaly , officially the Italian Republic , is a country located on the Italian Peninsula in Southern Europe and on the two largest islands in the Mediterranean Sea, Sicily and Sardinia. Italy shares its northern, Alpine boundary with France, Switzerland, Austria and Slovenia...
border.
Kobarid is known for the famous
Battle of CaporettoThe Battle of Caporetto , took place from 24 October to 19 November 1917, near the town of Kobarid , on the Austro-Italian front of World War I...
, where the Italian retreat was documented by
Ernest HemingwayErnest Miller Hemingway was an American writer and journalist. He was part of the 1920s expatriate community in Paris, and one of the veterans of World War I later known as "the Lost Generation." He received the Pulitzer Prize in 1953 for The Old Man and the Sea, and the Nobel Prize in Literature...
in his novel
A Farewell to ArmsA Farewell to Arms is a semi-autobiographical novel written by Ernest Hemingway, first published in 1929. The novel is told through the point of view of Lieutenant Frederic Henry, an American serving as an ambulance driver in the Italian army during World War I...
. The battle is well documented in the museum in the centre of Kobarid. The museum won a
Council of EuropeThe Council of Europe is the oldest international organisation working towards European integration, having been founded in 1949. It has a particular emphasis on legal standards, human rights, democratic development, the rule of law and cultural co-operation...
award in 1993. The adjacent Tonocov Grad archaeological site has remains of 5th century
RomanThe Roman Empire was the post-Republican phase of the ancient Roman civilization, characterised by an autocratic form of government and large territorial holdings in Europe and around the Mediterranean. The term is used to describe the Roman state during and after the time of the first emperor,...
buildings.
History
See also:
Gorizia and GradiscaGorizia and Gradisca was a Habsburg county in Central Europe, in what is now a multilingual border area of Italy and Slovenia. It was named for its two major urban centers, Gorizia and Gradisca d'Isonzo.-Province of the Habsburg Empire:...
,
Julian MarchThe Julian March is a former political region of Southeastern Europe on what are now the borders between Italy, Slovenia and Croatia...
Kobarid has been inhabited since pre-historical times. Archeological remains from the Hallstatt period have been found in the area. In the 6th century, it was settled by Slavic tribes, ancestors of modern Slovenes. During the
Middle AgesThe Middle Ages of European history is a period of European history covering roughly a millennium in the 5th century through 16th centuries. More specific starting and ending points are sometimes adopted by scholars to suit their respective specializations or current focus...
, it was first part of the
Patriarchate of AquileiaThe Patriarchate of Aquileia was an historical state and episcopal see in northeastern Italy, centred on the ancient city of Aquileia situated at the head of the Adriatic, on what is now the Italian sea-coast, at the confluence of the Anse and the Torre...
, and later of the
TolminTolmin is a small town and municipality in the Littoral region of Slovenia.-Geography:Tolmin, the old town that gave the name to the entire area , is the largest settlement in the Upper Soča Valley , as well as its economic, cultural and administrative centre. It is located on a terrace above the...
County, before being included in the
Habsburg MonarchyThe Habsburg Monarchy covered the territories ruled by the junior Austrian branch of the House of Habsburg , and then by the successor House of Habsburg-Lorraine , between 1526 and 1867/1918. The capital was mainly Vienna, except from 1583 to 1611, when the capital was Prague...
in the 15th century, like the majority of
Slovene-speaking territoriesSlovene Lands or Slovenian Lands is the historical denomination for the whole of the Slovene-inhabited territories in Central Europe...
.
With the exception of a brief period between 1809 and 1813, when it was included under the
Napoleonic Kingdom of ItalyThe Kingdom of Italy was founded in Northern Italy by Napoleon, and ended with his defeat and fall.-Constitutional Statutes:...
, it remained under the
AustriaThe Austrian Empire was a modern era successor empire founded on a remnant of the Holy Roman Empire centered on what is today's Austria that officially lasted from 1804 to 1867...
n rule until 1918.
In the mid 19th century, it became an important center of the Slovene national revival. During World War One, the whole area was the theatre of the
Battles of the Isonzo"Battles of the Isonzo" were a series of 12 battles between the Austria-Hungarian and Italian armies in World War I. They were fought along the Isonzo River on the eastern sector of the Italian Front between June 1915 and November 1917...
, fought between Italy and
Austria-HungaryAustria–Hungary, also known as the Austro-Hungarian Empire, the Dual Monarchy or the k.u.k. Monarchy, or Dual State, was a monarchic union between the crowns of the Austrian Empire and the Kingdom of Hungary in Central Europe...
. The town was almost completely destroyed between 1915 and 1917. After the end of the war in 1918, it was occupied by the Italian Army, and in 1920 it was officially annexed to Italy, and included in the
Julian MarchThe Julian March is a former political region of Southeastern Europe on what are now the borders between Italy, Slovenia and Croatia...
region. Between 1922 and 1943, Kobarid and the neighbouring villages, which had an exclusively Slovene-speaking population, was submitted to a policy of violent Fascist Italianization. Many locals emigrated to the neighbouring
Kingdom of YugoslaviaThe Kingdom of Yugoslavia was a kingdom stretching from the Western Balkans to Central Europe which existed during the often-tumultuous interwar era of 1918–1941...
. The town became one of the crucial centres of recruitment and activity of the militant anti-fascist organization
TIGRTIGR, abbreviation for Trst , Istra , Gorica and Reka , was an anti-Fascist insurgent organization, active in the 1920s and the 1930s in the eastern Italian region known as the Julian March....
, which carried out an underground fight against the Italian Fascist regime. During the Italian administration, Kobarid also became an important symbolic place of the Fascist regime because of its role in World War I. An Italian military sanctuary was built on the hill above the town, and
Benito MussoliniBenito Amilcare Andrea Mussolini,
KSMOM GCTE was an Italian politician who led the National Fascist Party and is credited with being one of the key figures in the creation of Fascism. He became the Prime Minister of Italy in 1922 and began using the title Il Duce by...
visited Kobarid in 1938. Several military memorials were built in the area.
Immediately after the Italian armistice in September 1943, Kobarid was liberated by a Partisan uprising, and became the center of large liberated area of around 2,500 square kilometers, known as the Kobarid Republic, administered by the
Liberation Front of the Slovenian PeopleOn 26 April 1941 in Ljubljana the Anti-Imperialist Front was established. It was to promote "an international massive movement" to "liberate the Slovenian nation" whose "hope and example was the Soviet Union". The fact is that, regarding the Soviet Union, that at that time the Molotov-Ribbentrop...
. During this period, almost all Italian families that settled in Kobarid during the twenty five years of Italian administration left the town. In early November 1943, Nazi German forces took over the town and established their rule until May 1945, when the town was finally liberated by the
Yugoslav People's ArmyThe Yugoslav People's Army The Yugoslav People's Army (JNA, YPA) The Yugoslav People's Army (JNA, YPA) (Serbo-Croatian, Croatian, Serbian, Bosnian, Montenegrin, or Jugoslovenska Narodna Armija – JNA,
[Two alternative name variants in Latin script. Latin script was used in...]
.
In early June 1945, Kobarid came under joined British-U.S. occupation and placed under Allied temporary military administration until the establishment of a final border between Italy and Yugoslavia. The so-called
Morgan LineThe Morgan Line was the line of demarcation set up after World War II in the region known as Julian March which prior to the war belonged to the Kingdom of Italy, between two military administrations: the Yugoslav on the east, and that of the Allied Military Government on the west...
, which divided the Allied military occupation zone from the Yugoslav one, ran just eastwards of the town, along the Soča river.
In September 1947, the Paris Peace Treaties gave the town to
YugoslaviaYugoslavia is a term that describes three political entities that existed successively on the Balkan Peninsula in Europe, during most of the 20th century.The first country to be known by this...
, namely to the
Socialist Republic of SloveniaThe Socialist Republic of Slovenia was a socialist state that was a constituent country of the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia from 1963 until 1990 when Slovenia abandoned its Communist infrastructure and became a democratic constituent republic, still within Yugoslavia...
. Several hundred inhabitants, especially from the
BreginjBreginj is a village in the Kobarid municipality in the Littoral region of Slovenia.Until the 18th century, Breginj was part of the Republic of Venice, and it is still considered as part of the historical region known as the Venetian Slovenia....
area, chose emigration to
ItalyItaly , officially the Italian Republic , is a country located on the Italian Peninsula in Southern Europe and on the two largest islands in the Mediterranean Sea, Sicily and Sardinia. Italy shares its northern, Alpine boundary with France, Switzerland, Austria and Slovenia...
rather than becoming citizens of a Communist state.
In the 1960s and 1970s, Kobarid emerged as an important tourist center. Light industry also developed.
With the breakup of Yugoslavia in 1991, Kobarid became part of the independent Slovenian state.
Famous natives
- Anton Gregorčič, politician
- Simon Gregorčič
Simon Gregorčič was a Slovene poet and Roman Catholic priest. He became popular for his post-romantic patriotic and lyric poems, and was dubbed "the songbird of Goriška".- Biography :...
, poet
- Joža Lovrenčič, poet and educator
- Andrej Manfreda, anti-Fascist resistance fighter, member of TIGR
TIGR, abbreviation for Trst , Istra , Gorica and Reka , was an anti-Fascist insurgent organization, active in the 1920s and the 1930s in the eastern Italian region known as the Julian March....
- Josip Pagliaruzzi, poet and educator
- Simon Rutar
Simon Rutar , was a Slovene historian and geographer. He wrote primarily on the history and geography of the areas that are now part of the Slovenian Littoral, the Italian region of Friuli-Venezia Giulia and the Croatian counties of Istria and Primorsko-Goranska.- Biography :Rutar was born in a...
, historian
- Jožef Školč
Jožef Školč is a Slovenian liberal politician.He was born in the village of Breginj in western Slovenia, in what was then the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia. He graduated from political science at the University of Ljubljana...
, politician
- Ivan Urbančič, philosopher
- Andrej Uršič, journalist, political activist
See also
- Goriška
The Gorizia region is a traditional region in western Slovenia on the border with Italy. It is part of the wider traditional region of the Slovenian Littoral . Its principal urban center is Nova Gorica...
- Slovene Littoral
- County of Gorizia and Gradisca
- Battles of the Isonzo
"Battles of the Isonzo" were a series of 12 battles between the Austria-Hungarian and Italian armies in World War I. They were fought along the Isonzo River on the eastern sector of the Italian Front between June 1915 and November 1917...
External links
- Kobarid, official page of municipality in Slovene, English, Italian and German
- Museum of World War I, Kobarid - English and Slovene
- LTO Sotočje, local tourist board - tourist info about the area: lodgings, natural features... (Slovene, English, German, Italian)
- The Walks of Peace in the Soča Region Foundation. The Foundation preserves, restores and presents the historical and cultural heritage of the First World War in the area of the Isonzo Front for the study, tourist and educational purposes. (The website is in Slovenian, English, German and Italian language.)
Gallery