[7] Slovenia was in a rare position in Europe during the Second World War because only Greece shared its experience of being divided between three or more countries.

[13] An emphasis on the defence of ethnic identity was shown by naming the troops after important Slovene poets and writers, following the example of the Ivan Cankar battalion.

[18][19] After World War I ended in 1918, the Slovene-settled territory partially fell under the rule of the neighboring states of Italy, Austria, and Hungary.

The majority of Slovene victims of the Axis authorities were from the regions annexed by the Germans, i.e. Lower Styria, Upper Carniola, Central Sava Valley, and Slovenian Carinthia.

The Italian policy in the Province of Ljubljana gave Slovenes cultural autonomy, however the Fascist system was systematically introduced.

After the establishment of the Liberation Front, the violence against the Slovene civil population in the zone escalated and easily matched the German.

[22] The first partisan shot in the Slovene Lands was fired by one Miha Novak on 22 July 1941 at a former Yugoslav policeman who was claimed to have collaborated with the Germans and to have betrayed to them local supporters of the Communist Party.

[23] At the very beginning the Partisan forces were small, poorly armed and without any infrastructure, but Spanish Civil War veterans amongst them had some experience with guerrilla warfare.

[25] In March 1945, the Slovene Partisan Units were officially merged with the Yugoslav Army and thus ceased to exist as a separate formation.

[28][29][30] Although the majority of Gottschee ethnic Germans obeyed the Nazi Germany which issued an order that all of them should relocate from Province of Ljubljana, which had been annexed by the Fascist Italy, to the "Ranner Dreieck" or Brežice Triangle, which was in the German annexation zone, 56 refused to leave their homes, and instead joined Slovene Partisans fighting against the Italians.

[31][32] In December 1943, Franja Partisan Hospital was built in difficult and rugged terrain, only a few hours from Austria and the central parts of Germany.

After the assassination of Lambert Ehrlich, and 429 shot by VOS (varnostno-obeščevalna služba; security and intelligence service) agents in May 1942, and especially the murder of a number of priests, Bishop Rožman rejected the OF (osvobodilna fronta; liberation front) and Partisans outright.

Gottschee ethnic German priest Josef Gliebe, who preferred to stay with those who did not want to be moved away, helped Partisans with food, shoes and clothes, being labelled "red one" by Slovene Home Guard.

The Partisans were under the command of the Liberation Front (OF) and Tito's Yugoslav resistance, while the Slovenian Covenant served as the political arm of the anti-Communist militia.

Between 1943 and 1945, smaller anti-Communist militia existed in parts of the Slovene Littoral and in Upper Carniola, while they were virtually non-existent in the rest of the country.