Kobarid (Italian Caporetto, German: Karfreit, Friulian Cjaurêt) is a town and seat of the municipality of the same name in Slovenia. It lies on a high terrace on the right bank of the Soča at the foot of Gradič (309 m) or Grič sv. Anton.
Kobarid is known for its turbulent past. The area of today's Kobarid was already inhabited in the Hallstatt era, as archaeologists discovered 1,079 graves with appendages on the terraces. The excavations are located in the Trieste and Tolmin museums.
Archaeologists have also found remains from Roman times, because at that time Kobarid was an important outpost on the Oglej - Norik route. The remains are visible towards the settlement of Trnovo.
In the 12th century, the place belonged to the Patriarchs of Oglej or the Chapter of Cedai. In the 15th century, it belonged to the counts of Gorizia, and after the death of Lenart (the last count of Gorizia), to the Habsburgs. The owners rented it out to various noble families. On one of the houses in the town, there is the coat of arms of the Čuks (Zucco) from Čedad from 1661. The people of Kobarid persisted in their pagan religion until 1331, when the people of Čedaj destroyed their religious symbols during the crusade.
The archaeological site Tonovcov grad, where the remains of the first churches in Slovenia were found, also originates from the time of migration of peoples (after the collapse of the Roman Empire).
At the end of the 16th century, Kobarid gets a toll on the road to Predel. In 1688, the place was destroyed by fire. In 1750, the bridge over the Soča was rebuilt, along which, after the fall of the Republic of Venice, Napoleon's army also moved north. The bridge was demolished during the withdrawal of local mobilized soldiers at the beginning of the fighting on the Soča front, and the new one, today, was built in the immediate vicinity. Locals call today's bridge Napoleon's Bridge after the old bridge.
In 1878, there was a camp in Kobarid to which people came from the wider area, including Peter Podreka, a Slovenian from Venice, who wrote a song for the local choir. It was composed by Hrabroslav Volarič. The song is entitled Slovenski mladenkam. In 1895, a court was established in Kobarid.
Kobarid is recognizable mainly by the Soča front and its conclusion, called the Miracle at Kobarid. Many soldiers of different nations took part in this great mountain battle between Italy and Austria-Hungary and Germany. This battle is also important because of the successful attack with chemical weapons at Bovec. In October 1917, in the 12th offensive, the Germans and Austrians penetrated the Italian positions at Bovec (chlorine attack) and Tolmin, and pushed the Italians towards Kobarid and later into Italy, all the way to the Piave River.
In memory of the tragic events of the war, in "Gradič" around the church of St. Anton, an Italian ossuary, where the remains of fallen Italian soldiers are kept. The events that took place during the Soča Front are also documented in Hemingway's novel A Farewell to Arms.
During the Second World War, Kobarid became the seat of the Republic of Kobarid, which was proclaimed on September 10, 1943, just two days after the capitulation of Italy. The republic covered the area from the Boka stream in the north, Venetian Slovenia to Most (Ponte San Quirino) in the west, the area around Kobarid, and the higher lying areas of the right bank of the Soča river to the Goriški Brd in the south. It existed until November 1, 1943, when Kobarid was occupied by the German army.
From 1868 to 1873, Simon Gregorčič lived in Kobarid, who founded a reading room in 1871. On the square in the middle of the village stands a monument made by Jakob Savinšek. Henrik Tuma also worked in Kobarid, who held a large political rally in 1897, and was also politically active in the years 1919 to 1921.