The Požega Valley (Croatian: Požeška kotlina) is a geographic microregion of Croatia, located in central Slavonia, encompassing the eastern part of the Požega-Slavonia County.

The Požega Valley was first inhabited in the prehistoric era, with archaeological finds spanning the Neolithic to classical antiquity and the Early Middle Ages, the period to which the oldest surviving historical records of the region date.

[8] The Pannonian Basin took shape through Miocenian thinning and the subsidence of crust structures formed during Late Paleozoic Variscan orogeny.

[9] Ultimately, up to 3,000 metres (9,800 feet) of the sediment was deposited in the basin, and the Pannonian Sea eventually drained through the Iron Gate gorge.

[17] Finds dated to the Early Middle Ages include 9th-century Avar and Slavic culture items and a 12th-century Benedictine abbey in Rudine at the foot of Psunj.

Rudine represents the most important early medieval archaeological find in the region, and items found there include a glagolitic inscription dated to 1129.

The Cistercian wine cellar in Kutjevo has continuously supported winemaking since it was completed in 1232,[19] making it the oldest continuously-operated winery in Croatia.

[20][21] In the early 13th century, the capitulum of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Pécs was established in Kaptol, containing a public archive of the region.

[22] During the Great Turkish War (1667–1698), the Ottomans abandoned the region in 1687[23] and finally liberated in 1689 when Luka Ibrišimović led a revolt in Požega.

[30] The new kingdom abolished traditional subdivisions of Croatia, including Požega County, in 1922 when oblasts were introduced, succeeded by the banovinas of Yugoslavia.

[41] By the end of 1991, a high intensity war fought along a wide front reduced government control to about two-thirds of its historic territory.

[42][43] Western Slavonia was occupied in August 1991, following an advance by the Yugoslav forces north from Banja Luka across the Sava River cutting the primary communication route to the nation's capital.

[44] This was partially pushed back by the Croatian Army in operations named Otkos 10[41] and Orkan 91 that established a front line around Okučani and south of Pakrac.