Why is not Italian Rijeka/Rijeka? History of a city that has been contested for many years

The city of RiverToday Rijekain Croatia, has been at the center of numerous historical events and conflicts. After the Second World War he was occupied by the Yugoslav partisans and annexed to Yugoslavia with the 1947 peace treaty. He currently has little more than 100,000 inhabitantsalmost all of Croatian language and ethnicity, but in the past the city has been a multiethnic center with a great percentage of Italians. For this reason, at the beginning of the twentieth century and, above all, after the First World War, some political movements claimed its annexation to Italy: between 1919 and 1920 the city was occupied by the legionaries led by Gabriele D’Annunziobut only in 1924 an Italian-Jugoslav treaty recognized the belonging of Fiume to the Kingdom of Italy, which lasted until the Second World War.

River in the Austro -Hungarian Empire

The city of Fiume, founded at the time of ancient Rome, in 1779 was annexed to Hungary by Maria Teresa of Austria. In the last decades of the nineteenth century and in the early twentieth century, a great demographic and economic growth has been encountered and, thanks to the prosperity guaranteed by the port, the inhabitants passed by just over 20,000 to 50,000.

On the eve of the First World War, almost half of the population was of Italian language and ethnicity; The other inhabitants were Croatians, Hungarian or belonging to other ethnic groups. Until 1915, however, Fiume did not fall among the main claims of Italy, much more interested in other “irreverent” lands, that is, territories inhabited by Italians but belonging to the Austrian Empire: Trentino and the city of Trieste.

Stalingrado cover

The city of Fiume during the First World War

During the First World War Italy fought against Austria-Hungary and Germany and, before entering the conflict, the government of Rome signed with the allies-France, the United Kingdom and Russia-the London pact, To establish the territorial fees that would be due to the country after the war. Among these were included the “I.Ge” lands (Trentino, Trieste, Western Istria and part of Dalmatia) Some Austrian territories such as South Tyrol/South Tyrol, and the eastern part of Istria, although not inhabited by Italians. However, the city of River. Nonetheless, at the end of hostilities, a vast protest movement developed in Italy, which asked for the annexation of the city because it is inhabited by an Italian majority. The request, in reality, was inconsistent: the Kingdom of Italy He claimed the territories included in the London pact, including where they did not live Italians, because they had been agreed before the war, and the city of Fiume because, although not being included in the pact, it was inhabited by Italians. In essence, the kingdom of Italy was asserted The principle of self -determination of peoples Only when he benefited from it. Meanwhile, the myth of the mutilated victoryaccording to which the country had not been rewarded enough for his effort in the war, and Fiume became the main claim of nationalists.

Fiume’s feat: D’Annunzio and his supporters

In September of 1919 some departments of the Italian army, together with numerous exponents of the nationalist movements, they occupied the river. Head of the company was Gabriele D’Annunziopoet and political leader of great popularity.

Fiume’s feat enjoyed broad support in Italy, but risked dragging the country into a war with Yugoslavia, a state founded after the First World War and officially called “Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenians”, and to prejudice Relations with the United Kingdom, France and the United States. The employment, therefore, was not recognized by the Italian government, which in November of 1920 signed with Yugoslavia the Rapallo Treatyestablishing that the city had to remain independent and not be part of any state. In December 1920, the Italian armed forces attacked Fiume, forcing D’Annunzio and his soldiers to escape. The requests of annexation continued until 1924when a new treaty Italian-Jugoslavo allowed to annex the city to the Italian territorywhile in return, the Yugoslavia maintained its suburbs.

Fiume in 1937

The Second World War and the transition to Yugoslavia

River was part of the kingdom of Italy for the duration of the fascist regime, but in 1943when Italy signed the armistice with the Anglo -Americans, was occupied by the Nazi troopswho included the city in their “area of ​​operations of the Adriatic coast”. Fiume thus ceased to belong to the Kingdom of Italy. In May of [1945was occupied by Yugoslav partisanswho fought against the Nazi -fascist occupation of their country, and two years later the peace treaty signed by Italy he recognized the Yugoslav annexation of the city. Much of the population of Italian language and ethnicity he left Fiumemore or less forcedly, in the context of the Julian-Dalmatian exodus.

Since 1991 the city has been part of the Croatia (one of the republics that made up the Yugoslavia and that made themselves independent). The great majority of the population is Croatian and today only a small minority, about 1.9% qualify as Italian.