Duchy of Carinthia - World War I and Carinthian Plebiscite

World War I and Carinthian Plebiscite

During World War I, Carinthia experienced a relatively high number of war deaths - thirty-seven for every 1,000 inhabitants. This was higher than in most other German speaking areas of Austria-Hungary (except German South Moravia).

Following the end of the war and the dissolution of Austria-Hungary, the 1919 Treaty of Saint-Germain stipulated the Carinthian Canal Valley stretching from Tarvisio as far as Pontafel (172 square miles) go to Italy and that the Slovene-speaking areas of the Meža Valley, the Drava Valley area around Unterdrauburg, which was afterwards renamed Dravograd, and the Jezersko area (128 square miles of territory) be ceded to the new SHS-State. The Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes, however, was not satisfied with these parts of the former duchy and also occupied land north of the Karawanken mountain range, including the capital city of Klagenfurt. The Entente powers decided on a two-stage referendum, of which the first stage, the Carinthian Plebiscite was held on October 10, 1920 to determine the fate of Carinthia. The outcome in favour of Austria did not change the borders as decided upon in the Treaty of Saint-Germain.

The Austrian part of the former duchy today forms the federal state of Carinthia (German: Land Kärnten), while the area that was ceded to Italy as a part of the claimed "Julian March", belongs to the autonomous region of Friuli–Venezia Giulia. Most of the area that had fallen to Yugoslavia (cf. Slovenian Carinthia) now forms part of the larger Koroška statistical region in Slovenia.