Italian irredentism in Istria



The Italian irredentism in Istria was the political movement supporting the unification to Italy, during the 19th and 20th centuries, of the peninsula of Istria. It is considered closely related to the Italian irredentism in Trieste and Rijeka (Fiume), two cities bordering the peninsula.

History
Istria was a part of the Roman Empire from 177 BC until the arrival of the Goths, who eventually occupied it. Around the beginning of the 7th century, Slavic incursions began happening around Istria and by the middle of the century, they began to settle in the region.

The area came under Venetian rule around the 13th century and remained under it until the fall of the Republic of Venice to Napoleon in 1797. When Napoleon conquered the territory of Istria, he found that Istria was populated by Italians on the coast and in the main cities, but the interior was populated mainly by Croats and Slovenians: this multi-ethnic population in the same peninsula created a situation of antagonism between Slovenes, Croats and Italians, when started the first nationalisms after Napoleon's fall. Following 1815, Istria became a part of the Austrian monarchy, and Croats, Slovenians and Italians engaged in a nationalistic feud with each other. Following Napoleon's defeat, Istria became part of the Kingdom of Illyria and later the Austrian Littoral as the Margraviate of Istria. A census in 1910 found that 38.1% of the population of Istria was Italian, as opposed to 43.5% Serbo-Croatian and 14.3% Slovene. This census did not count ethnic groups but rather the "language of daily interaction" (Umgangssprache).

As a consequence, Istria was a theater of a nationalistic ethnic struggle between them during the 19th and 20th centuries. Italian irredentism was actively followed by many Italians in Istria, such as the Italian sailor and irredentist Nazario Sauro, native to Koper (Capodistria).

Between 1918 and 1947 Istria was part of the Kingdom of Italy. Followings its annexation from Austria, the Italian government pursued Italianisation of the peninsula. Italians from elsewhere, primarily the south, were also resettled to Istria. Due to the efforts of the Italian government ruled by Benito Mussolini, the number of Slovenes and Croats in the Julian March diminished from 466,730 in 1918 to 382,113 in 1936 (a 19% decrease), while the number of Italians rose from 354,908 to 559,553 (a 57% increase).

From 1923 onwards and then under the Mussolini government, assimilation of non-Italian people became a national focus. Methods included shutting down Slovene and Croatian schools and public institutions, gerrymandering to reduce the number of Slovene representatives in Rome, pushing Slovene and Croatian priests and teachers from Istria to Yugoslavia or other areas. In 1927, a law was passed that Italianised Slavic names in Istria. In response to these, the anti-Italian nationalist organisation TIGR (a Slovene acronym for Trieste (Trst), Istria (Istra), Gorizia (Gorica) and Rijeka (Reka).) was founded.

Following the end of World War II, Istria was divided between the newly-created Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia and the Free Territory of Trieste in north-western Istria, which was then divided between Yugoslavia and Italy. Following the division, up to 40,000 Istrian Italians chose to leave the Yugoslav partition. Following World War II, around 350,000 Italians chose to leave Istria and Dalmatia. Many Italian communists also immigrated to Istria, believing that Yugoslavia was the only place where they could build socialism. However, they were accused of deviationism by the Yugoslav government and many were sent to concentration camps.

Since the end of World War II, irredentism has largely disappeared in Istria, in most part because of the Istrian exodus.

Istria is today primarily populated by Croats in Croatian Istria and Slovenes in Slovenian Istria, but a minority of Istrian Italians still exist. The 2002 census in Slovenia recorded 2,258 Italians while the Croatian Istria County and Primorje-Gorski Kotar County combined recorded 13,220 Italians.

Italian irredentism
After Napoleon the idea of "unification" of all the Italian people in a "united Italy" started to be developed by intellectuals like the Istrian Carlo Combi. As a consequence, the Italian irredentism promoted the unification of those areas not included in the creation of the Kingdom of Italy after 1861: Istria was one of those.

"The irredentist ideas of the Italian nationalists became stronger after the unification of Italy (1861). The main representatives of these ideas in historical writings are Pacifico Valussi and the Istrians Carlo Combi, Tommaso Luciani and Sigismondo Bonfiglio. Opinion about the Slavs had entirely changed: they were seen as peasant folk unable to build a nation of their own and therefore condemned to be assimilated within an Italian identity. And they already envisaged the frontiers of Italy extending to the Oriental Alps and to Arsa, some even to Fiume/Rijeka."



Many Italians in Istria supported the Italian Risorgimento and, because of this, the Austrians saw the Italians as enemies and favored the Slavic communities of Istria. During the meeting of the Council of Ministers of 12 November 1866, Emperor Franz Joseph I of Austria outlined a wide-ranging project aimed at the Germanisation or Slavicisation of the areas of the empire with an Italian presence:

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

This created a huge wave of emigration of Italians from Istria before World War I, reducing their percentage inside the peninsula inhabitants (they were more than 50% of the total population for centuries, but at the end of the 19th century they were reduced to only two fifth according to some estimates).

Indeed, in 1910, the ethnic and linguistic composition was completely mixed and the Italians were reduced to a minority in the Austrian province of Istria (even if huge). According to the Austrian census results, out of 404,309 inhabitants in the "Margravate of Istria", 168,116 (41.6%) spoke Croatian, 147,416 (36.5%) spoke Italian, 55,365 (13.7%) spoke Slovene, 13,279 (3.3%) spoke German, 882 (0.2%) spoke Romanian, 2,116 (0.5%) spoke other languages and 17,135 (4.2%) were non-citizens, which had not been asked for their language of communication.

But scholars like Matteo Bartoli complained that these census percentages included areas outside Istria (like the island of Veglia/Krk and the city of Castua/Kastav, a mostly Croatian town situated north of Fiume and outside the real Istrian peninsula): in his opinion the peninsula of Istria was still with a majority of Italians during World War I. Generally speaking, Italians lived on coast, while Croats and Slovenes lived inland.

In the second half of the 19th century, a clash of new ideological movements, Italian irredentism (which claimed Trieste and Istria) and Slovene and Croatian nationalism (developing individual identities in some quarters whilst seeking to unite in a South Slavic bid in others), resulted in growing ethnic conflict between Italians one side and Slovenes and Croats in opposition. This was intertwined with the class and religious conflict, as inhabitants of towns and western agricultural lands were mostly Italian, whilst Croats or Slovenes largely lived out in the countryside and elsewhere.

"Slav priests had an important role (in the ethnic conflict)... they, controlling the official church registration of the names, did many abuses (changing to slav many Italian family names).... In 1877 the Italian deputy to the Vienna Parliament Francesco Sbisà denounced the transformation of Italian names and surnames to Slavic ones.... In 1897 Matteo Bartoli, a linguist from Rovigno, pinpointed that 20,000 names were changed with this forgery, mainly in eastern Istria and even in some Dalmatian islands."

Capodistria was the center of Italian nationalism in Istria. In it, there was the main Comitato istriano (Istrian Committee for Union to Italy), the meeting place of famous Istrian irredentists like Carlo Combi and Antonio Madonizza. From there, many Istrian italians went to fight for Venice against the Austrians in the Legione Istriano-dalmata.

After 1866, when Venice and the Veneto region were united to Italy, there was widespread support for unification of Istria with Italy as well. Tino Gavardo, Pio Riego Gambini and Nazario Sauro where the most renowned between those who promoted the Istrian unification to Italy. Many of them enrolled voluntarily in the Italian Army during World War I against the Austrian Empire. Some, namely Nazario Sauro, were later captured, trialed for treason and executed in Austria.

In 1913 Pio Riego Gambini, Luigi Bilucaglia e Piero Almerigogna created the Fascio Giovanile Istriano.

After Istria was united to Italy, following the Italian victory during World War I, some Istrian irredentists reached high levels of importance inside the Italian government, like general Vittorio Italico Zupelli, who was appointed minister.

After World War II, there was a huge exodus of Italian speaking people from Istria.

There is a growing movement in Italy (and Europe) toward asking for the official recognition of "genocide" or even democide of the Italians in Istria (as it has been done with the Armenian genocide done by the Turks).