15 g, 100th anniversary of the end of the First World War (2018)

After four bloody years, the “War to end all wars” ended with the signing of three armistices: by the Ottoman Empire in October 1918, Austria-Hungary on 4 November 1918 and finally by Germany on 11 November of the same year. The war changed the idea of war up to that time, along with the geographical and political map of Europe and the world. It heralded the demise of the British Empire and the rise of the USA as a new world superpower.

The First World War left an indelible mark on northwest Slovenia and on the Posočje and Karst regions. From May 1915 to October 1917 the Soča (Isonzo) Front, a 90-kilometre section along the River Soča from Rombon to the Gulf of Trieste, was the scene of one of the biggest mountain conflicts in human history. Today the heritage of the Soča Front is linked together in the Walk of Peace from the Alps to the Adriatic. The period at the end of the First World War was an important time for the Slovenian nation, for at that time the Slovenians broke with Austria-Hungary, and in conjunction with other south Slavic nations they pursued the creation of a sovereign state. This led to the founding of the State of Slovenes, Croats and Serbs, which after just 33 days merged with the Kingdom of Serbia into the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes.

The cross symbolises the irreplaceable lives, and the gradual condensing of crosses to a blur symbolises the unimaginable and still today unknown number of victims. The mesh of crosses symbolises the military and also civilian victims. The vertical termination of the line of crosses visually supports the message “1918 – end of the First World War”.

Design: Robert Žvokelj, Ljubljana

Minting: Istituto Poligrafico e Zecca dello Stato, Italy

Source: Banka Slovenije