Hum of history

1. ROMAN ERA: (up until year 476)
-Insufficiently researched;
-In the 9th century B.C Slunj belongs to the territory inhabited by Iapydes which falls under the Roman rule in the region of Ilyria;
-Roman coins were found around Slunj;
-Roman emperor Julius Caesar Germanicus (15 BC-19 AD) -Attacked lapydes town Splaunum or Splonum. It is presumed this was today’s Slunj;

2. CROATIA BETWEEN BYZANTIUM AND THE FRANK EMPIRE AND THE TIMES OF CROATIAN RULERS (477-1097)
-Conflicts of the Byzantium and the Franks for the domination of this area;
-Constant battles for domination between Croatian noble dynasties;
-The shortest route from Panonnian and Adriatic (Dalmatian) Croatia passes near Slunj.
-The conflict between the last Croatian king Petar Svačić and Hungarian king Coloman in broader Slunj area;
-1322 Hungarian-Croatian king Karlo Robert by decree gifted Friedrich III Frankopan the parish of Drežnik with the town of Slunj;

3.
PERSONAL UNION WITH HUNGARY (1102-1526)
-First joint Hungarian-Croatian king Coloman enforces feudal system;
-Frequent Mongolian attacks and pillaging of these parts;
-Beginning of the war against Ottomans;
-1322 Hungarian-Croatian king Karlo Robert by decree gives Friedrich III Frankopan the parish of Drežnik with the town of Slunj;
-1390 document in which Ivan, the duke of Krk, rents Slunj to duke Pavlo Zrinski
-1449 Slunj is transferred to duke Djam Frankopan who establishes the famous lineage of Frankopans of Slunj;
-1493 first breaches of the border in this area by the Ottomans

4. THE HAPSBURGS (1527-1818)
-Slunj area is a part of the military frontier, border area of the Hapsburg empire, initially organised as a defensive belt against the Ottomans that, due to a long period of wars, becomes a large war province;
-1527 Croatia joins the Hapsburg monarchy, and the new king Ferdinand wows to help its defence with 1000 horsemen and 200 footmen. The king did not keep his word;
-Building fortified towns along the border and centuries of bloody wars against the Ottomans;
-The lack of understanding of the war and little help from Vienna in the defence from the Ottomans;
-1572 the death of Franjo Frankopan Slunjski and the end of Frankopan lineage, the rulers of Slunj;
-1578 the Ottomans conquer Slunj for the first time;
-Up until 1699 and the Karlovac peace accord between the Ottoman empire and Austria, Slunj belongs to “no man’s land”, pillaged area and a target of regular Ottoman military campaigns;
-1746 Reform of the military frontier. Slunj becomes military centre of the area, and Slunj regiment covers 64 settlements. From there the defence from the Ottomans is coordinated;

5. THE FRENCH RULE (1810-1813)
(BLUE PEACEFUL PERIOD OF GENERAL TIMELINE)
Short French rule governed by marshal Marmont, time of peace and revolutionary sociopolitical changes and sizeable investment in infrastructure;
-Napoleon’s warehouse is built and social changes are introduced
-building of a bridge
-Mills are renovated and become housing units, and Rastoke becomes a settlement

6. HAPSBURGS (1814-1918)
(BLUE PEACEFUL PERIOD OF THE TIMELINE)
-Reinstatement of centralist rule of Vienna and German language;
-Slow recuperation of Slunj, building of roads, bridges and schools is restarted
-Despite the stabilization of borders with the Ottoman empire, Slunj remains the area of “eternal soldiers” from where fighters for wars in Italy, on Rhine, in Prussia and Russia are recruited;
The era that ends with World War I in which many Slunj men fought on the Austrian side;
-1876 founding of the lower secondary school in Slunj;
-1874-1892 forestation of Jelovik near Korana
-1881 End of military frontier and integration with Croatia;

7. KINGDOM OF SERBS, CROATS AND SLOVENES – KINGDOM OF YUGOSLAVIA (1918-1941)
-Accession of Croatia into an unequal union and further struggles for the equality of all nationalities against Serbian hegemony;

8. INDEPENDENT STATE OF CROATIA (NDH) (1941-1945)
-Alignment of major part of quisling Croatia with the Nazi Germany during World War II;
-The heaviest battles are fought in Slunj area between the antifascists and Nazi occupiers, justifying the story about the character of “eternal soldiers”;
-This area was from 1942 until the end of the war, with short breaks, a free territory, and Slunj and Rastoke were a large meeting point of a number of cultural, political and social antifascist activists who did not accept NDH;
-1943 Founding session of the State Anti-fascist Council for the National Liberation of Croatia (ZAVNOH) was supposed to be held in Slunj, but it was postponed due to the advances of the enemy and was instead held in nearby Otočac;
-1944 In spring, Slunj becomes the headquarters of ZAVNOH
9. SOCIALIST FEDERATIVE REPUBLIC OF YUGOSLAVIA (1945-1991)
-New political system, communism
-Initially all nations were equal, but it ended up with the War of Independence of Croatia
-1969 Rastoke is listed as an immovable cultural monument, and more systematic protection is carried out

10. REPUBLIC OF CROATIA (1991-present day)
-Political struggle for democracy and independence
-The War of Independence (1991-1995) to liberate occupied territory;
-1992 International recognition of the Republic of Croatia;
-1995 military/police campaign code named Oluja (Storm), liberation of Slunj and end of the war
-2013 Accession of the Republic of Croatia to the European Union;
-2013 By decree of the Government of the Republic of Croatia eco-network NATURA 2000 is adopted.