Jump to content

Free State of Fiume

Coordinates: 45°21′11″N 14°26′34″E / 45.3531°N 14.4429°E / 45.3531; 14.4429
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

This is an old revision of this page, as edited by Hypess (talk | contribs) at 21:26, 15 April 2015. The present address (URL) is a permanent link to this revision, which may differ significantly from the current revision.

45°21′11″N 14°26′34″E / 45.3531°N 14.4429°E / 45.3531; 14.4429

Free State of Fiume
Stato libero di Fiume
Slobodna Država Rijeka
Fiumei Szabad Állam
Freistaat Fiume
1920–1924
Flag of Fiume
Flag
CapitalFiume
Common languagesofficial
Italian · Hungarian · German
regional
Venetian · Chakavian Croatian
GovernmentRepublic
• 1921–1922
Riccardo Zanella
• 1922–1923
Giovanni Giuriati
Military Governor 
• 1923–1924
Gaetano Giardino
Historical eraInterwar period
12 November 1920
• Control established
30 December 1920
• Coup d'état
3 March 1922
• Annexed by the Kingdom of Italy
22 February 1924
CurrencyFiume krone (until 1920)
Italian lira (after 1920)
Preceded by		 Succeeded by
Italian Regency of Carnaro
Kingdom of Italy (1861–1946)
Kingdom of Yugoslavia
Today part of Croatia

The Free State of Fiume (pronounced [ˈfiume]) was an independent free state called officially Stato Libero di Fiume, which existed between 1920 and 1924. Its territory of 28 km2 (11 sq mi) comprised the city of Fiume (now in Croatia and, since the end of World War II, known as Rijeka) and rural areas to its north, with a corridor to its west connecting it to Italy.

History

Part of a series on the
History of Dalmatia
Antiquity
Middle Ages
Early modern period
19th century
20th century
Croatian War of Independence

Historian Johannes Lucius added to the "Dalmatia Pale" (somewhat similar to the "English Pale" in Ireland, as boundary of roman local laws) of the Dalmatian City-States the city of "Fiume", after the year 1000 when Venice started to take control of the region.

Indeed Fiume was the former Roman Tarsatica: the city of that medieval period was a small fortified town under the Italian Aquileia (and Pola) bishops, enclosed within the town walls which had several defense towers. The town, called Flumen, was granted autonomy in the 11th century by the bishop and was divided into two parts: in the upper part, there was a medieval castle/formerly roman fort and the church of St. Vitus (thus the name 'Flumen Sancti Viti'), while in the lower part - the popular- there was a neolatin commercial and trading center where around the year 1000 many Italian merchants settled.

Fiume gained autonomy for the first time in 1719 when it was proclaimed a free port of the Holy Roman Empire in a decree issued by the Emperor Charles VI. In 1776, during the reign of the Empress Maria Theresa, the city was transferred to the Kingdom of Hungary and in 1779 gained the status of Corpus separatum within that Kingdom. The city briefly lost its autonomy in 1848 after being occupied by the Croatian ban (viceroy) Josip Jelačić, but regained it in 1868 when it rejoined the Kingdom of Hungary, again as a corpus separatum. Until 1924, Fiume existed for practical purposes as an autonomous entity with elements of statehood.[citation needed]

In the 19th century, the city was populated mostly by Italians, and as minorities by Croats and Hungarians, and other ethnicities. National affiliations changed from census to census, as at that time "nationality" was defined mostly by the language a person spoke. The special status of the city, being placed between different states, created a local identity among the majority of the population. The official languages in use were Italian, Hungarian, and German; most of the business correspondence was carried out in Italian, while most families spoke a local dialect, a blend of Venetian with a few words of Croatian and Hungarian[1] In the countryside outside the city, a particular kind of Croatian Chakavian dialect with many Italian and Venetian words was spoken.[citation needed]

Politics

After the First World War and the demise of Austria-Hungary, the question of the status of Fiume became a major international problem.

The reason was that Italy entered the war following the London Pact, an agreement that promised to the Italian kingdom the peninsula of Istria and most of northern Dalmatia. When British and French leaders refused to fulfil all the promises in the London Pact, the irredentist nationalist element of Italy considered this an inexcusable betrayal by these two European allies.

The breakdown of the London Pact helped give rise to a belief in a so-called "mutilated victory" within Italy, which played a role in determining the Italian inter-war politics of Fascism. As a consequence in 1920 Italian nationalists created the "Stato Libero di Fiume", although it had not been assigned to Italy in the Treaty of London. This underscored the unstable results of the Treaty of Versailles relative to Italian claims.

So, at the height of the dispute between the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes (later the Kingdom of Yugoslavia) and the Kingdom of Italy, the Great Powers advocated the establishment of an independent buffer state. President Woodrow Wilson of the U.S. became the arbiter in the Yugoslav-Italian dispute over the city.[2] He suggested that Fiume be set up as an independent state, and indeed as the potential home for the League of Nations organisation.[3]

The dispute led to lawlessness, and the city changed hands between a South-Slav National Committee and an Italian National Council, leading finally to the landing of British and French troops who took over the city. The National Council over-stamped Austro-Hungarian notes – the Fiume Krone - were used as official currency. This confusing situation was exploited by the Italian poet Gabriele D'Annunzio, who entered the city on 12 September 1919 and began a 15-month period of occupation. A year later after failure of negotiations with the Italian government, D'Annunzio proclaimed the Italian Regency of Carnaro.[citation needed]

On 12 November 1920, the Kingdom of Italy and the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes signed the Treaty of Rapallo by which both parties agreed to acknowledge "the complete freedom and independence of the State of Fiume and oblige to respect it for eternity".[citation needed] With this act the "Free State of Fiume" was created, which, it turned out, would exist as an independent state for about one year de facto, and four years de jure. The newly created state was immediately recognized by the United States, France and the United Kingdom. D'Annunzio refused to acknowledge the Agreement and was expelled from the city by the regular forces of the Italian Army, in the "Bloody Christmas" actions from the 24th to the 30th of December 1920.[4]

In April 1921, the electorate approved the plan for a free state and for a consortium to run the port.[5] The first parliamentary elections were held, contested between the autonomists and the pro-Italian National Bloc. The Autonomist Party, which was supported by votes from the majority of the Croats, gained 6,558 votes, while the National Bloc, composed of Fascist, Liberal and Democratic parties, received 3,443 votes. The leader of the Autonomist Party, Riccardo Zanella, became the President.[citation needed]

Control over the Free State was in an almost constant state of flux. Following the departure of D'Annunzio's troops in December 1920, the Italian National Council of Fiume re-assumed control and appointed a provisional government. A pact with the local Italian commander handed control to the military on January 18, 1921, but this lasted just three days before a nationalist rebellion. They appointed an extraordinary government, which fell two days later. In June 1921 an Italian Royal Commissioner was appointed, whose control lasted two weeks.[citation needed]

A group of D'Annunzio loyalists seized part of the town, until they were in turn pushed out in September. In October the autonomist Riccardo Zanella was appointed provisional president; his rule lasted until 3 March 1922, when Italian Fascists carried out a coup d'état and the legal government escaped to Kraljevica. On 6 March, the Italian government was asked to restore order and Italian troops entered the city on 17 March. They returned control to the minority of the constituent assembly, who were loyal to the Italian annexationists.[6]

After the proclamation of the Rapallo Treaty, the Communist Party of Fiume (Partito Comunista di Fiume – Sezione della III.a Internazionale) was instituted on November 1921. The Communist Party of Fiume was the smallest Communist Party in the world. It was founded following the principles of the Third International, according to which each sovereign state had to have its own Communist Party organization.[7]

In January 1924, the Kingdom of Italy and the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes signed the Treaty of Rome (27 January 1924), agreeing to the annexation of Fiume by Italy and the absorption of Sušak by the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes; this took effect on 16 March. The government-in-exile of the Free State considered this act invalid and non-binding under international law and continued its activities.[8]

Aftermath

With the surrender of Italy in World War II, the Fiume/Rijeka issue resurfaced. In 1944, a group of citizens issued the "Liburnia Memorandum"[9] in which it was recommended that a confederate state be formed from the three cantons of Fiume, Sušak and Ilirska Bistrica. The islands of Krk (Veglia), Cres (Cherso) and Lošinj (Lussino) would enter the common condominium as well.[10] President Zanella of the government-in-exile still sought the re-establishment of the Free State.[11]

The Yugoslavian authorities, who took over the city from German occupation on 3 May 1945, objected to these plans. The leaders of the autonomists – Nevio Skull, Mario Blasich and Sergio Sincich – were killed.[12][dead link][13][14] With the Paris Peace Treaty of 1947, Rijeka and Istria officially became part of Yugoslavia.

See also

References

  1. ^ Il nuovo Samani: Dizionario del dialetto fiumano (Rome: Società di Studi Fiumani, 2007)
  2. ^ Harold G. Nicolson, Peacemaking, 1919
  3. ^ Ljubinka Toševa-Karpowicz, D'Annunzio u Rijeci : mitovi, politika i uloga masonerije, Rijeka, Izdavački centar Sušak, Biblioteka Dokumenti ; sv. 23, 2007. The author, however, does not quote any source for this claim.
  4. ^ International Law Reports by H. Lauterpacht, C. J. Greenwood, p. 430
  5. ^ Adrian Webb, Routledge Companion to Central and Eastern Europe Since 1919
  6. ^ International Law Reports by H. Lauterpacht, C. J. Greenwood, p. 430-31
  7. ^ Mihael Sobolevski, Luciano Giuricin, Il Partito Comunista di Fiume, (1921-1924): Documenti-Građa, Centro di ricerche storiche Rovigno, Fiume: Centar za historiju radničkog pokreta i NOR-a Istre, 1982, p. 20-21.
  8. ^ Massagrande, Danilo L., Italia e Fiume 1921-1924: dal 'Natale di sangue' all'annessione, Milano, Cisalpino – Goliardica Istituto Editoriale, 1982.
  9. ^ Liburnia was the designation of the region in Antiquity.
  10. ^ Plovanić, Mladen: Liburnisti i autonomaši 1943-1944, Dometi god. XIII. br. 3-4-5, pp. 51-54 and nr. 6, pp. 68-96, Rijeka 1980.
  11. ^ Ballarini, Amleto. L’antidannunzio a Fiume – Riccardo Zanella, Trieste: Edizioni Italo Svevo, 1995.
  12. ^ E.Primeri, La questione di Fiume dal 1943 al 1945, Rigocamerano 2001
  13. ^ M.Dassovich, 1945-1947, anni difficili (...), Del Bianco 2005
  14. ^ G. Rumici, Infoibati (1943-1945): i nomi, i luoghi, i testimoni, i documenti, Mursia 2002
Wikisource has original text related to this article:
Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Free_State_of_Fiume&oldid=656664893"