Slovenia subsequently went under control of the Hapsburgs of Austria from the 15th to the early 19th centuries. In 1804, the entire region was dominated by the family. Although Slovenia had been compelled to succumb to the military might of the giant to the north, the Slovenes experienced a national awakening and gained strength during its period of submission. Protestantism of the 16th century became the symbol of protest against the Hapsburgs, and reformist ministers published roughly 50 books, including a book on Slovenian grammar. Two hundred years later, liberal thinker Anton Toma Linhart wrote the first history of the Slovenes.

	With the "spring of ethnic awakening" in Europe in 1848, the political framework for a "united Slovenia" was published under the initiative of the Romantic poet France Preeren, laying the philosophical foundation for national identity. The emergence of Napoleon in the latter half of the 18th century was a major turning point for the Slovenes. After crushing the Austrians in 1809, Napoleon split the Holy Roman Empire into six regions. Later, the Congress System, developed by the Austrian premier Metternich in the Congress of Vienna, again brought the people under Austrian rule in 1814. With Metternich's expulsion in the March Revolution of 1848, the System collapsed. At this point, Slovenia chose to remain in the Austria-Hungarian Empire in order to evade intervention by Germany and Italy which was now freed from the Congress System.	| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | History Top |

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