page_title: Italian irredentism in Dalmatia
section_title: Dalmatia "Redenta"
hierarchical_section_title: Italian irredentism in Dalmatia / History / Dalmatia "Redenta"
caption_attribution_description: English: Map of "Governatorato di Dalmazia" (1941-1943) taken from old book about Italian history during WWII, edited in 1941. I have cut the image and added data in red with my software.Español: Mapa del Governatorato di Dalmazia (Gobernación de Dalmacia) entre 1941 y 1943.
context_page_description: Italian irredentism in Dalmatia is related to the tentative of accession to Italy of coastal Dalmatia, promoted by the Dalmatian Italians from the Napoleonic era to World War II.
context_section_description: Dalmatian Italians obtained their "Redenzione" (meaning redemption or union to Italy) in the years following the Italian victory in World War I. In the peace treaty the territory of Zara and some Dalmatian islands (Cherso, Lussino and Lagosta) were united to the Kingdom of Italy. But the full agreements reached in 1915 in the Treaty of London were not respected by the Allies, because of the opposition from US president Woodrow Wilson. This created huge resentment, that was pinpointed in the phrase "Vittoria mutilata" (mutilated victory) created by the nationalist D'Annunzio.
  As a direct consequence in 1920 Gabriele D'Annunzio made his famous Occupation of Fiume. The so-called "Poeta imaginífico" did a dramatic attack with paramilitaries and a group of "Legionaires" from the Italian city of Monfalcone and occupied the city of Fiume, which the Allied powers had assigned to Italy as winner of the war. With this gesture D'Annunzio reached the pinnacle of the process of building their own personal and political myth. D'Annunzio personally entered in Fiume with a column of Dalmatian Italian volunteers (mostly irredentist).
  On November 12, 1920 was signed the Treaty of Rapallo: Fiume became a free city (Free State of Fiume), while Zara was given to Italy. But D'Annunzio did not accept the agreement and the Italian Government, on 26 December 1920, evicted from Fiume the Legionaries by force. Fiume and the more northern islands of Dalmatia were incorporated in 1924 to the Kingdom of Italy, thanks to the large contribution of the Italian irredentists in town.
  Even in Trau the irredentists attempted to repeat what D'Annunzio did in Fiume: the local Count Farfogna in September 1919 occupied Trau with some Italian troops, but the Us intervention blocked him. Other problems arose in Spalato in 1920, in the so-called Incidents of Spalato.
  The irredentist aspiration of the Dalmatian Italians was fully met when Yugoslavia in April 1941 was conquered and occupied by Italy and Germany. At the end of that month almost all of the Dalmatian coast, with the major cities of Spalato, Sebenico and Cattaro were annexed to Italy with the name Governatorate of Dalmatia. The coastal area between Fiume and Segna was not incorporated in the Governatorate and went to the fascist Croatia of Ante Pavelić (although it was controlled militarily by the Italian army). Even the area around Ragusa was theoretically croatian, but the Italians ruled everything in the city, opening even Italian schools.
  The Governatorate was divided between the three provinces of Zara, Spalato and Cattaro, and many families of Dalmatian italians who were forced to move to Italy after World War I were relocated in these provinces (mainly in order to administer it).
  Though Italy had initially larger territorial aims that extended from the Velebit mountains to the Albanian Alps, Mussolini decided against annexing further territories due to a number of factors. One was that Dalmatian irredentists like Antonio Tacconi complained that a larger annexation would have included hundreds of thousands of Slavs, who were partially hostile to Italy within the enlarged national borders.
  But this "Redemption" (as was called by the Dalmatian Italians) lasted only a few years: with the defeat of Italy in World War II the Italians of Istria and Dalmatia were expelled 'en masse' during the Istrian-Dalmatian exodus (while Zara was fully destroyed by Allies bombings promoted by Tito and later nicknamed the "Italian Dresden" by Enzo Bettiza).
caption: Detailed map of the "Governatorate of Dalmatia"
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