Every evening, Wilmington daily commercial., 1920-12-29
D'ANNUNZIO HANDS
Continued from page
which terrific fro was poured upon
them.

Seizure of the port of Fiume in Sep
ternber. 1919. by Gabrielle d'Anrnnzio,
Italian poet warrior, Mt the head of 5000
yollrrtecr prcnadicrs and arditi, war the
| dramatic climax to controversy reach
| iup back to the Treaty Of Lor don, con
| cluded in the sprirg Of 1915 between Italy
and the allied powers, III der when ltaiy
entered the war against the oehtrai
Powers. r.,
The treaty assigned the part OF lyTol
south of the Brenr er Pass, as we'll ne
| Trieste. Gorizia, Istria and section Of the
Dalmatian literal TO Italy, but gave
Fiume, the seaport Of Hungary, 10 Croa-
tin. When the war ended, italian Ma
tionalists, including d 'AnuUrzio, demand
| ed that Fiume, with it's prepor dcrant
Italian population, should be given to
| Italv. an act that would have required the
revision of the treaty of London. The
Italars, however, invoked the principle OF
"self-determination erurciated by Presi'
dent Wilson and PORTED to the fact that
the population of Fiume, upon the dis-
solution of the Austro- Hur garian Empire,
had proclaimed through Their NATIONAL
council the union Of fiume with Italy
Croatia, now part of JuRoTsiayin,
onnoeed the claim on the ground that
S,issak, an important suburb of fiume
and part of the city itself was overwhelm-
inplv .Jupo-Slav. In addition the eroa-
tians charged that, whereas Italy already
had an excess of valuable ports, theif
couutrv and the aojoir ing lands reeded
Fiurne as their only outlet 20 the sea. his
position won the support Of fresidef
Wilson who was subsequently denouf ccd
nv az Annur gio and his sympathizers as
afhe only obstacle to the realization of
Italv's aspiration = Preeidet " ilson 8
/ Il Il a. l.
view. however, was shared by the BRUSH
and Frcroh.
Backed by Italian public opinion, the
Italian delegation TO the faris peace con,
ference, headed by Premier Orlando ana
Foreign Nil ster Sonnino, refused to
,;oId ItaIv's clnims. In April, 1919, the
crisis came 10 head, when President
Wilson thrcatef ed TO withdraw from the
conference He Issued pu bic statement
sustaining the pact of Ior don, u solar M II
roleted to Fil,me Receipts 0f the docii-
ment in italy precipitated numerous
, anti-WiIson outbreaks IN whoh an.
ntnzio took leading part Meanwh
Orlando and SonnSo quit the Parisf
conference and returned To Rome, whore
thcv we're received with wild acclaim by
! the people The italian Chamber o.
! Deputies adopted vote Of confidence u
the Orlando ministry. Later, however, the
two statesmen returned to Paris at th'
, invitation Of their colleagues and par
/ tIcipatod IN the negotiations and the sign
r ing OF the Austrian peace treaty
Failure t. reach satisfactory solution
: of tbc Fiufuc eInbroaiio however, was on'
of the prlcipsl causes Of the downfall Q
a the Orlando ministry on June ~, l9lN
: and II was succeeded by the moderat
\lttj cabinet. whose selection oxasperate'
r. the Italian NatIonahsts and was the ioIe
! runner OF the Il 'Annunzlo coup ctat th
i following September.
= Fumc. at the time Of the ertry OF u
= Il d'Annunzio forces, was under the mn
tary control Of General Pittaluga OF IN
i italian army. The general had led
strong detachment 70 the outskirts oi IN
u CITY to intercept the invaders VINO M
/ arinorcd automobiles and were artne
with machine-guns ID AmHInzlo hl'
him with the salutation: Il understan
YOU would fire upon your brethren
Bearing his breast Fire upon me. a
this Il was reported, Pittaluga embrace
/. q Annunzio and the soldiers on pot'i si,i, ~
4 set up the crv. Viva Fiumc. Viva An
y nunziou The dAnnunsio troops the
- entered the city.
The * months that have elapsed sin'
the poet-warrior set himself up as
u Dictator have been filed with tragic
weU as opera bouffe events. Clashes D
tween the Italians and Jugo-olavs We
freouent DAnnunzIo proclaimed Il
anrexation OF Fiume To Italy even WIN
o. tba4 country was appealing To the ellie
II movers to wrest the city from him. klct
en- strikes ard fires were numerous ana u
of I ri+ed States cruisers Olympia and init
e. burq were ser.t TO the Adrlatlc To prote
or American irtere IS The Jngo-slavs G
&c of d d'Arnunzio's food supply ard itahs
ev warshiDs blockaded Fiumc from the sea
Is ID Annunzio put the city on scarf
ng tons and continued to ISSUE delaht inei
festos and declare he would never lea
Ii Tn,me alive" Many Italian sailors al
lis soldiers oined his forces until, at O
B. time he was reportd to have an army
on more than 10000 men. lie occupl
ne several other places IN the disputed regio
IN including Sussak. Risnlak, Durazzo, "a
Castlla and Zara and patrolled the ID
ue matiap coast with his warShip5.
H., On January /. 1920, when the supren
ed Allied Council disbanded III Paris I
Y Adriatic question was still unsettled Id
he March. Italy strengthened the biockaf
lso wbeTe.Ipon d d'Annunzia proclaimed tiul
"a free and independent state In a
AZ nonDcing this 10 the allied powers he sa
Did The action did not mean Plume
Tor nunclatlon OF Italy. lie also summon
ell a constituent assembly to meet an oTt
ere that precipitated the resignation OF I
to Fiume National Council and lett q a
mp nunzio as chief of state, foreign ninls
ct and commander Of the army.
Meanwhile, diplomatic efforts were
he progress between Italy and Jugo-Sla'
Try TO compose their diff erences. These led
ty. the parley between delegates represent
I'M both nations at Rapallo early IN Move
ish ber 1920. and a settlement OF the lo
Of vexing Adriatic question on the follow
sky basis: | The Istrian frontier to be c,
Jus. troIed by the Jugo-Slavs, 2, fmme to
.om independent, with territorial contlgult5
tier Italv; 3. Zara to be under Italian SUI
aid ainty: 4 Islands of Cherso, lMssn
hat IJnie to be granted TO Italy. The tres
I'm was signed by the envoys of both natl.
ed, on November TO- 1t was later approved
ans the foreign relations committee OF
Italian Chamber of Deputies. d Ann
zio was admonished to accept ITS ter
lie replied that to do so would be "sulci
forItaly. Jugo-Slavia thcTenpen appea
r 10 italy TO oust d AnnunzIo from FIJI
n d Italian rcgar troops then surrou
; cd tthe city.
= O. December /, d Annunzlo declare
Pr Pr Gate of war with Italv and there WAS m
NOR warlike activity III tlume.