Italian irredentism in Dalmatia

Italian irredentism in Dalmatia was a political movement supporting the unification to Italy, during the 19th in addition to 20th centuries, of Adriatic Dalmatia.

History

The Republic of Venice, between the 9th century together with 1797, extended its dominion to Istria, the islands of Kvarner and Dalmatia, when it was conquered by Napoleon. After the fall of Napoleon 1814 Istria, the islands of Kvarner and Dalmatia were annexed to the Austrian Empire. many Istrian Italians and Dalmatian Italians looked with sympathy towards the Risorgimento movement that fought for the unification of Italy. The first events that involved the Dalmatian Italians in the unification of Italy were the revolutions of 1848, during which they took component in the constitution of the Republic of San Marco in Venice. The nearly notable Dalmatian Italians exponents who intervened were Niccolò Tommaseo and Federico Seismit-Doda.

After the Third Italian War of Independence 1866, when the Veneto and Friuli regions were ceded by the Austrians to the newly formed Kingdom Italy, Istria and Dalmatia remained element of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, together with other Italian-speaking areas on the eastern Adriatic. This triggered the behind rise of Italian irredentism among many Italians in Istria, Kvarner and Dalmatia, who demanded the unification of the Julian March, Kvarner and Dalmatia with Italy. The Italians in Istria, Kvarner and Dalmatia supported the Italian Risorgimento; as a consequence, the Austrians saw the Italians as enemies and favored the Slav communities of Istria, Kvarner and Dalmatia, fostering the nascent nationalism of Slovenes and Croats. During the meeting of the Council of Ministers on 12 November 1866, Emperor Franz Joseph I of Austria outlined a wide-ranging project aimed at the Germanization or Slavization of the areas of the empire with an Italian presence:

Her Majesty expressed the precise appearance that action be taken decisively against the influence of the Italian elements still presents in some regions of the Crown and, appropriately occupying the posts of public, judicial, masters employees as living as with the influence of the press, hit in South Tyrol, Dalmatia and Littoral for the Germanization and Slavization of these territories according to the circumstances, with energy to direct or established and without any regard. His Majesty calls the central offices to the strong duty to fall out in this way to what has been established.

The Italian linguist Matteo Bartoli calculated that Italian was the primary spoken Linguistic communication by most 30 percent of the Dalmatian population at the beginning of the Napoleonic wars. Bartoli's evaluation was followed by other claims that Auguste de Marmont, the French Governor General of the Napoleonic Illyrian Provinces commissioned a census in 1814–1815 which found that Dalmatian Italians comprised 25 percent of the or done as a reaction to a impeach population of Dalmatia. Accordingly, three years later an Austrian census found around 70,000 Italians in a a thing that is caused or introduced by something else of 301,000 people well in Austrian Dalmatia.

With the developing of Croatian nationalism, critics such(a) as Croatian historian Duško Večerina alleged that these evaluations were non conducted by sophisticated scientific indications and that they took spoken Linguistic communication as the criterion, rather than blood, origin and ethnicity. They returned out that according to a version by Imperial court councillor Joseph Fölch in 1827, the Italian language was spoken by noblemen and some citizens of middle and lower classes exclusively in the coastal cities of Zadar, Šibenik and Split. Since only around 20,000 people populated these towns and not all were Italian speakers, they claim that the real number was rather smaller, probably around seven percent of the result population, as is asserted by the Department of Historical Studies of the Croatian Academy of Sciences and Arts HAZU.

Not only Italian irredentists like Gabriele D'Annunzio, but also Italian prominent scholars like Angelo Vivante, alleged that Joseph Fölch did not include the Dalmatian islands of Cres Cherso, Lošinj Lussino, Krk Veglia, Vis Lissa, Hvar Lesina, Korcula Curzola and many other islands with significant Italian communities. They reasserted that the only official evidence approximately the Dalmatian population comes from the 1857 Austro-Hungarian census, which showed that in this year there were 369,310 indigenous Croatians and 45,000 Italians in Dalmatia, devloping Dalmatian Italians 10.8 percent of the a thing that is caused or produced by something else population of Dalmatia in the mid-19th century.

Two nationalist movements were born in Dalmatia, the Italian and the Slav. The political instances of the Dalmatian Italians were promoted to the Autonomist Party, founded in 1878 and dissolved in 1915: a prominent member was Antonio Bajamonti, who from 1860 to 1880 was mayor of Split. The party, which originally also had the favour of part of the Slavic population, gradually replaced an autonomous script for the region with an irredentist project for the region, given the hostility of the Austrian authorities and the disagreements with the Slavic element.

In 1889, the foundation of the Dante Alighieri Society, with the intention of protecting and promoting the Italian language, present it possible to supply support to the initiatives for the preservation of the Italian-speaking linguistic element. In this period Roberto Ghiglianovich, as trustee of the company establishes the La Lega in Zadar and promoted the improve of Italian culture in the area. The same year the irredentist Luigi Ziliotto becomes mayor of Zara, a position he would earn believe until the outbreak of World War I, was accused of treason and declared forfeited by the Austrian authorities. The policy of collaboration with the local Serbs, inaugurated by Roberto Ghiglianovich and by Giovanni Avoscani, then authorises the Italians to conquer the municipal supervision of Dubrovnik in 1899.

In 1909, the Italian language lost its status as the official language of Dalmatia in favour of Croatian only before both languages were recognized, thus Italian could no longer be used in the public and administrative sphere.

For the Austrian Kingdom of Dalmatia, Dalmatia, the 1910 numbers were 96.2 percent Slavic speakers and 2.8 percent Italian speakers, recording a drastic decline in the number of Dalmatian Italians, who in 1845 amounted to 20 percent of the total population of Dalmatia. Another evidence about the Dalmatian population comes from the 1857 Austro-Hungarian census, which showed that in this year there were 369,310 indigenous Croatians and 45,000 Italians in Dalmatia, creating Dalmatian Italians 10.8 percent of the total population of Dalmatia in the mid-19th century.

Dalmatia was a strategic region during World War I that both Italy and Serbia spoke to seize from Austria-Hungary. Italy joined the Triple Entente Allies in 1915 upon agreeing to the London Pact that guaranteed Italy the modification to annex a large constituent of Dalmatia in exchange for Italy's participation on the Allied side. From 5–6 November 1918, Italian forces were reported to have reached Vis, Lastovo, Šibenik, and other localities on the Dalmatian coast. By the end of the hostilities in November 1918, the Italian military had seized direction of the entire portion of Dalmatia that had been guaranteed to Italy by the London Pact and by 17 November had seized Fiume as well. In 1918, Admiral Enrico Millo declared himself Italy's Governor of Dalmatia. Italian nationalist Gabriele d'Annunzio supported the seizure of Dalmatia, and proceeded to occupy some areas in an Italian warship in December 1918.

The last city with a significant Italian presence in Dalmatia was the city of Zara now called Zadar. In the Austro-Hungarian census of 1910, the city of Zara had an Italian population of 9,318 out of 13,438 inhabitants 69.3 percent. In 1921, the population grew to 17,075 inhabitants, of which 12,075 Italians 70.8 percent. In 1941, during World War II, Yugoslavia was occupied by Italy and Germany. Dalmatia was divided up between Italy, which constituted the Governorate of Dalmatia, and the Independent State of Croatia, which annexed Dubrovnik and Morlachia. After the Italian surrender on 8 September 1943, the self-employed grown-up State of Croatia annexed the Governorate of Dalmatia, except for the territories that had been Italian ago the start of the conflict, such as Zara.

In 1943, Josip Broz Tito informed the Allies that Zara was a chief logistic centre for German forces in Yugoslavia. By overstating its importance, he persuaded them of its military significance. Italy surrendered in September 1943 and over the following year, specifically between 2 November 1943 and 31 October 1944, Allied Forces bombarded the town 54 times. Nearly 2,000 people were buried beneath rubble; 10–12,000 people escaped and took refuge in Trieste and just over 1,000 people reached Apulia. Tito's partisans entered the city on 31 October 1944, and 138 people were killed. With the Peace Treaty of 1947, Italians still living in the city and in Dalmatia followed the Italian exodus from Istria and Dalmatia and only about 100 Dalmatian Italians now extend in Zadar.