This paper tries to present the development of the Slovene national movement in Carinthia from the revolution in 1848 to the start of World War I in 1914. It also addresses different theories that seek to explain the origin of nationalism. Theories of modernist paradigm and ethnosymbolism are highlighted. The paper includes theories of the following authors: Benedict Anderson, Eric Hobsbawm, Anthony D. Smith, and Ernest Gellner. The year 1848 was very important for the Slovene national movement, as the revolution that broke out in that period provided great impetus for the movement. People started to fight for their national rights in Slovene lands that formed the multinational Austria-Hungary. In the following decades, Slovenes strove to have their demands met, yet, especially in Carinthia, their efforts yielded no results. Different political struggles took place between the German and the Slovene side; moreover, the situation was oftentimes aggravated, from the Slovene perspective, by the Carinthian administration. In the early 20th century, the proportion of people who identified themselves as Slovenes in this land thus started to decrease.
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