How Littoral Slovenians Viewed the Idea of a South Slavic Unit in the Habsburg Monarchy

Abstract

The article presents the idea of a third unit in the Habsburg Monarchy prior to World War I as seen through the eyes of Slovenian liberals. The author presents the broader political context in which the concept emerged and then analyses the reactions of various political groups amid national tensions in the Balkans. Extracts of two liberal Slovenian newspapers, Edinost (Trieste) and Soča (Gorizia), are examined with respect to the key geopolitical dilemmas and interests of different stakeholders affected by the new geopolitical construct. It is argued that trialism was chiefly an attempt by Austria to curtail the power of Hungary. The majority of Slovenians and Croatians initially supported the idea because it implied their political emancipation. On the other side were the Hungarians, Italians and Serbs who saw the idea as a threat to their national interests. In terms of South Slavic relations, trialism represented a new battlefield for the Catholic and Orthodox visions of Yugoslavism. With further development of the concept, first and foremost due to Austria's ambitions to satisfy the Italians and leave Trieste and Gorizia outside of the imagined third unit, the idea introduced tension into Croatian–Slovenian relations and led to a fresh dispute in the Slovenian political sphere between liberals and conservatives. Finally, the advocates of trialism were unable to gain sufficient internal support within the Habsburg Monarchy, which thereby preserved the status quo and the dual regime until the monarchy's collapse during war.