The idea of South Slavic–speaking territories creating a new state of their own had been one of the key issues debated among Slovene intelligentsia throughout the second part of the 19th century, especially in the aftermath of the spring of nations.

As a consequence of Austro-Hungarian invasion of the Kingdom of Serbia the Yugoslav committee was formed, with its goal being the unification of South Slavic lands known as Yugoslavia.

In 1916 the Serbian parliament in exile voted in favour of creating a Kingdom of Yugoslavia as a plan of post-world war governance of the Balkan peninsula.

[7] No formal border was yet recognised between the newly created entities, with both sides claiming that they were in control of the area along the ethnically mixed communities.

The National Council for Styria (Slovene: Narodni svet za Štajersko) gave permission to Rudolf Maister, a veteran of the World War and a former officer of Austria-Hungary to take control of the military branch in Maribor.

[9] On 31 October, Rudolf Maister announced his disagreement[10] with the municipal declaration of Maribor in front of an audience of Lieutenant Colonel Anton Holik and his officers at the Melj military barracks of the 26th infantry regiment.

From 27 November onward, the Slovene fighters, under the direct command of Maister, took control of Spielfeld (Špilje), Bad Radkersburg (Radgona), Mureck (Cmurek), Leutschach (Lučane), Marenberg (Radlje ob Dravi), and Muta (Hohenmauthen), while the units from Celje (Cilli) under the command of Franjo Malgaj took control of the Meža Valley (Mießtal), Bleiburg (Pliberk), where Serb volunteers returning from the Eastern front of World War I also joined Malgaj's unit.

The agreement included permission to take control of all Slovene-majority settlements, but remained unsupported and criticized by Styrian, Carinthian, and German-Austrian authorities, as well as the National council in Ljubljana.

[12] Timeline First armed clashes already occurred under command of Malgaj during the attack on Bleiburg, but it was not until the battle in Lučane when violent confrontations became apparent.

[14] In late November and early December, the military units of the Maribor Infantry Regiment occupied large areas along the Slovenian national border, including Leutschahc (Lučane).

Under the cover of darkness, all the enemy columns noiselessly approached the defenders, according to the plan, and waited for the signal for a joint coordinated attack in several places at the same time.

In the first onslaught by the Germans, counting on surprise, the exposed Slovenian guards covered before the enormous superiority of the enemies, who suddenly appeared out of the darkness.

They arbitrated a ceasefire, whereafter a nine-day U.S. Army commission under Lt. Col. Sherman Miles surveyed the disputed region between river and mountains in January and February 1919 and made the crucial recommendation that the Karawanken frontier should be retained, thus opening the possibility of a plebiscite.

Two days later Austrian counter-offensive reached the Gallizien (Slovene: Galicija)-Abtei (Apače)-Sankt Margareten im Rosental (Šmarjeta) line.

After a military defeat in the April offensive, authorities in Ljubljana mobilised all their forces and drafted regiments from Serbia to regain lost territory.

On 26 May a new offensive was authorised which lasted throughout May and until 6 June, during which they managed to capture much of the Klagenfurt region to as far north as Maria Saal (Gospa Sveta).

[17] The Paris peace conference turned the tide, when an order was given to the Yugoslavs to completely retreat from the northern B zone of the Klagenfurt Basin area in a time frame set to end on 31 July, at the latest, to enable the commission to carry out the planned plebiscite.

The outcome of the plebiscite held on 10 October 1920, was 22,025 votes (59.1% of the total cast) for adhesion to Austria and 15,279 (40.9%) for annexation by the Kingdom of the Serbs, Croats, and Slovenes.

While a majority in the remote Alpine villages on the slopes of the Karawanks voted for Yugoslavia, the inhabitants of the densely-settled Klagenfurt Basin were motivated by their evolved social, cultural and economic ties to the central Carinthian region.