Karlovac is quite a young town compared to the thousand years long history of Croatia, but nevertheless it has always had important and rather significant geostrategic position in the territory of Croatia.
     Almost four centuries ago, the feudal fortified town of Dubovac stood on the hill above 
the Kupa river. Its downtown, today the part of Karlovac, was bellow the walls of Dubovac.
     In 7578 the Austrian aristocracy brought the decision about the construction of the new warfare and defensive fortress at the Convention in Bruck upon Mura. This was the beginning of Karlovac's history. The military strategists and constructors determined its 
position between the parallel flows of the rivers Kupa and Korana. They designed the ideal plan of the renaissance and military town surrounded by the system of ramparts and bastions in the sixlegged star shape. The construction of the fortress began on 13th July, 1579. The building of the town and the fortress was finished three years later and the name was given after the Austrian archduke Karl-Karlovac.
     In 1581 Rudolph the Tzar, gave Karlovac the status of privileged military town where everything was subordinated to the military needs and defence. In the course of the 16th and 17th century the fortress of Karlovac had fulfilled its historical purpose. In the 18th century its defensive task was reduced while the town was overgrowing its ramparts and bastions. The suburbs: Dubovac, Banija, Gaza and Rakovac were built.
     In 1781 Joseph II, the Tzar, gave the town of Karlovac another privilege. Karlovac was appointed as Free Royal Town. By this Decree, the civic life was given the advantage ahead of the military one. The frontier army remained in town but the town was independently growing and intensively improving. That was the golden age of Karlovac. The trade economy was developing. The construction of modern road system made Karlovac the junction of mercantile traffic. The number of inhabitants was constanly growing and the town was renewed and rebuilt. Many new town dwellers' houses and baroque palaces were built. The culture of living was improving. Many cultural institutions, schools and associations were founded. In the middle of the 19th century, Karlovac became political and cultural center and after Zagreb it was the most significant town in Croatia; town of developed economy, civic democracy and high level of culture.
     After the Austro-Hungarian Monarchy had fallen, in the period between 1918 and 1945, where centralised serbian terror was dominating among federal units of the newly formed country, Karlovac was stagnating in growth. The situation continued even after the World War II. The construction of giant socialistic industrial factories, economicaly badly planned and managed, brought to the town only relative improvement, whereas the fall of the communism brought complete economical and cultural disaster.

          St. Francis' Convent and the Holy Trinity Church
 

     The political industrialization of the town, the big demographic changes resulting from the immigration of the privileged level of serbian population from the rural area around Karlovac, which also brought many urban, social and cultural problems to the town.
     The same problems are still present in every day life of the town and are still obstacle in the formation of a new economic and cultural scene of this town.
     During the Croatian Liberation War (1991-1995), imposed on Croatia by serbian imperialism, Karlovac stood on the first line of the war front. Karlovac was supposed to be the central serbian town in this territory with a new name - Kordunovac. Month after month the town was heavily bombarded. In spite of that the citizens didn't leave the town except for those of Serbian nationality. Instead of serbian runaways, thousand of refugees from Croatia and Bosnia came to Karlovac and they are still living in the Refugee Camp Gaza.
     Now, the town is in the phase of revival of its economy as well as of its buildings, streets and of the new cultural and spiritual identity of the town. And all of this is now happening within the new policy and real democracy of the free and independent Republic of Croatia.