Slovenes first began to settle in their current territory during the period from the 6th to the 8th century AD. In the 8th century the region came under the Frankish empire of Charlemagne, before being ruled by Germany as part of the Holy Roman Empire.

In 1526 most of the territory inhabited by Slovenes was formally put under the control of the Hapsburg monarchs of the Austrian Empire. During the Napoleonic Wars, Slovenia was part a Slavic state set up by the French in 1809, known as the Illyrian Provinces. This state collapsed in 1813 and control of the region reverted to Austria. Slovenes were inspired by the various political revolutions which occurred throughout Europe in 1848 and, although divided among several Austrian provinces, began their struggle for political and national unification.

In July 1914, the Austro-Hungarian Empire attacked Serbia, thus starting World War I. Fighting on the Balkan Front went badly for the Hapsburg Empire and by the second-half of 1918, Austro-Hungary was in a state of near collapse. A number of Austrian provinces took the opportunity to break-away. On 29th October 1918, the State of Slovenians, Croats and Serbs (State of S.H.S) was declared. This new state comprised present-day Slovenia, Croatia and Bosnia, but not Serbia or Montenegro. On 1st December 1918, the Kingdoms of Serbia and Montenegro joined the new state, forming the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes. During 1918-1919, Slovenia was involved in a military confrontation with Austria over the border provinces of Carinthia and south Styria. (The dispute was resolved by a League of Nations sponsored plebiscite in October 1920, in which most of the territory voted to remain with Austria). Later in 1919 Slovenian forces were integrated into those of the new Kingdom. The country was renamed Yugoslavia in 1928.

On 6 April 1941 Nazi Germany invaded Yugoslavia. The territory of Slovenia was occupied by German, Italian and Hungarian troops. This occupation marked the start of a long and hard guerrilla war by local partisans against the invaders. The surrender of occupying forces was immediately followed by efforts to re-establish a Yugoslav state. Slovenia became a republic within the new Federal Yugoslavia on 29 November 1945. The leadership of the new country was dominated by communist members from the former wartime partisan forces. In 1947 a section of former Italian Adriatic coastline was handed over to Slovenia. (This former Austro-Hungarian territory had been handed to Italy in 1921 as a reward for its help to the Allies in World War I. The majority of the population remained Slovene and Croatian however, and Italy's choice of the losing side in World War 2 led to the return of the territory.)

During the postwar period, Slovenia gradually became the most prosperous and westernised of the Yugoslav republics. By the 1980s, all of the original partisan-era leaders had either died or retired, and Yugoslavia was becoming increasingly dominated by Serbian nationalists.

In April 1990 Slovenia held free elections and elected a non-communist coalition government for the first time. On 25 June 1991 parliament declared Slovenia independent of Yugoslavia. The Serb-dominated Yugolav Army tried to halt the secession by force, but after some fighting was forced to withdraw.

The European Community recognised Slovenian independence in December 1991. On 22 May 1992, Slovenia was admitted into the United Nations.