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Italian Regency of Carnaro Reggenza Italiana del Carnaro (Italian) | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1919–1920 | |||||||||
 Flag | |||||||||
| Motto: Si spiritus pro nobis, quis contra nos? (Latin for 'If the spirit is with us, who is against us?') | |||||||||
 Map of the "Italian Regency of Carnaro" | |||||||||
| Status | Unrecognized state | ||||||||
| Capital | Fiume | ||||||||
| Common languages | Italian | ||||||||
| Government | Provisionalauthoritariancorporatistrepublic | ||||||||
| Comandante | |||||||||
• 1919–1920 | Gabriele D'Annunzio | ||||||||
| Legislature | Arengo del Carnaro | ||||||||
| Consiglio degli Ottimi | |||||||||
| Consiglio dei Provvisori | |||||||||
| Historical era | Interwar period | ||||||||
• Coup d'état and establishment | 12 September 1919 | ||||||||
• Modus Vivendi Plebiscite | 18 December 1919 | ||||||||
| 8 September 1920 | |||||||||
| 12 November 1920 | |||||||||
| 29 December 1920 | |||||||||
| |||||||||
| Today part of | Croatia | ||||||||
TheItalian Regency of Carnaro (Italian:Reggenza Italiana del Carnaro) was a self-proclaimed state in the city of Fiume (nowRijeka, Croatia) led byGabriele d'Annunzio between 1919 and 1920.
DuringWorld War I (1914–1918), which theKingdom of Italy entered on the side of theAllies in May 1915, Italy made a pact with the Allies, theTreaty of London, in which it was promised all of theAustrian Littoral, but not the city of Fiume (known inCroatian asRijeka).Austria-Hungary disintegrated in October 1918 during the final weeks of the war, which ended in the defeat of theCentral Powers in November 1918. After the war, at theParis Peace Conference in 1919, this delineation of territory was confirmed, with Fiume remaining outside of Italy's borders and amalgamated into the Kingdom of the Serbs, Croats and Slovenes (which in 1929 would be renamed theKingdom of Yugoslavia).
As anItalian nationalist, thepoet,playwright,orator,journalist, andaristocratGabriele D'Annunzio, who had served as anofficer in the ItalianRoyal Army (Italian:Regio Esercito) during World War I, was angered by what he considered to be the surrender of an Italian city. On 12 September 1919, he led a force of 186 so-called "legionaries" fromRonchi in Italy to Fiume. His legionaries were members of theRoyal Italian Army's2nd Grenadiers Regiment's I Battalion. Within days troops from other army units joined D'Annunzio in Fiume, who soon commanded a force of 2,500 troops of former Royal Italian Army troops, Italian nationalists, and veterans of theItalian front during World War I.[1] They were successful in seizing control of the city and forced the withdrawal of theAllied occupying forces, composed of troops fromFrance, theUnited Kingdom, and theUnited States. The march from Ronchi to Fiume became known as theImpresa di Fiume ("Fiume endeavor" or "Fiume enterprise"), and in 1925 Ronchi was renamedRonchi dei Legionari in honor of it.
Theethnic Italian portion of the population of Fiume welcomed D'Annunzio enthusiastically,[2] and on the same day, he announced that he hadannexed the territory to the Kingdom of Italy. The Italian government opposed this and attempted to pressure D'Annunzio into withdrawing by initiating ablockade of Fiume and demanding that the plotters surrender.
Fiume became a city that attracted artists and radicals from all over Europe.Guido Keller taughtyoga to legionaries whileHarukichi Shimoi taught karate.Vladimir Lenin sent D'Annunzio a box of caviar.[3] During his time in Fiume in September 1919, the Italian poet,editor, andart theorist,Filippo Tommaso Marinetti, the founder of theFuturist movement, praised the leaders of theimpresa as "advance-guarddeserters" (disertori in avanti).
On 8 December 1919, the Italian government proposed amodus vivendi recognizing Fiume's desire for annexation and promising they would "only consider acceptable a solution consonant with that which Fiume declared to desire."[4] On 11 and 12 December 1919, D'Annunzio met withGeneralPietro Badoglio to try to obtain more concessions. Badoglio refused, and D'Annunzio said he would submit themodus vivendi to the Italian National Council of Fiume. The National Council accepted the proposal on 15 December 1919.[5]
After the National Council's decision, D'Annunzio addressed a crowd of 5,000 people and incited them to reject themodus vivendi, promising to put the issue to a plebiscite. The plebiscite was held on 18 December 1919, and despite violence and irregularities the results were overwhelmingly in favour of themodus vivendi. D'Annunzio nullified the results, blaming the violence at the polls for his actions, and announced he would make the final decision himself. He ultimately rejected themodus vivendi. According tohistorianMichael Ledeen, D'Annunzio made this decision because he distrusted the Italian government and doubted its ability to deliver on its promises.[6]
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On 8 September 1920, D'Annunzio proclaimed the city to be under theItalian Regency of Carnaro with a constitution foreshadowing some of the laterItalian Fascist system, with himself as dictator, with the title of theComandante.
The nameCarnaro was taken from theGolfo del Carnaro (Kvarner Gulf), where the city is located. It was temporarily expanded by D'Annunzio in order to include the island ofVeglia.
TheCharter of Carnaro (Italian:Carta del Carnaro) was a constitution that combined Soreliannational syndicalist,corporativist, anddemocratic republican ideas. D'Annunzio is often seen as a precursor of the ideals and techniques ofItalian fascism. However, D'Annunzio coauthored the charter with syndicalistAlceste De Ambris, who would emerge as a prominent Anti-Fascist and go into exile following Mussolini's seizure of power. De Ambris provided the legal and political framework, to which D'Annunzio added his skills as a poet. The charter designatesmusic a "religious and social institution".
The constitution established acorporatist state,[7] with nine corporations to represent the different sectors of the economy, where membership was mandatory, plus a symbolic tenth corporation devised by D'Annunzio, to represent the "superior individuals" (e.g. poets, "heroes" and "supermen"). The other nine were as follows:
The executive power would be vested in seven ministers (rettori):
The legislative power was vested in a bicameral legislature. Joint sessions of both councils (Arengo del Carnaro) would be responsible for treaties with foreign powers, amendments to the constitution, and appointment of adictator in times of emergency (this derived from the institutions of the ancientRoman Republic).
Judicial power was vested in the courts:
Benito Mussolini was influenced by portions of the constitution, and by D'Annunzio's style of leadership as a whole. D'Annunzio has been described as the "John the Baptist ofItalian Fascism,"[8] as virtually the entire ritual of Fascism was invented by D'Annunzio during his occupation of Fiume and his leadership of the Italian Regency of Carnaro.[9] These included the balcony address, theRoman salute, the cries of "Eia, eia, eia!Alala!" taken fromAchilles' cry in theIliad, the dramatic and rhetorical dialogue with the crowd, and the use of religious symbols in new secular settings.[8] It also included his method of government in Fiume: the economics of the corporate state; stage tricks; large emotive nationalistic public rituals; and blackshirted followers, theArditi, with their disciplined, bestial responses and strongarm repression of dissent.[10] He was even said to have originated the practice of forcibly dosing opponents with large amounts ofcastor oil, a very effective laxative, to humiliate, disable or kill them, a practice which became a common tool of Mussolini'sblackshirts.[11][12][13]
However, while these links to Fascism became obvious later, they were not so clear at the time itself. While the English and French workers' organizations saw Fiume's expedition as animperialist undertaking and called on Italian workers toboycott, the UIL (Unione Italiana del Lavoro), influenced by De Ambris, declared its support for Fiume's enterprise.[14] Otherleft-wing leaders showed some sympathy for Fiume.Antonio Gramsci, who distrusted D'Annunzio, considered that his movement had appreciable popular elements, andLenin advised an alliance of theSoviet Russia with Carnaro's Italian Regency.[15]
The approval of theTreaty of Rapallo on 12 November 1920 turned Fiume into an independent state, theFree State of Fiume.
D'Annunzio ignored the Treaty of Rapallo and declared war on Italy itself. On 24 December 1920 theRoyal Italian Army, led by GeneralEnrico Caviglia, launched afull-scale attack against Fiume: after several hours of intense fighting, a truce was proclaimed forChristmas Day (25 December 1920); the battle subsequently resumed on 26 December. Since D'Annunzio's legionaries were refusing to surrender and were strongly resisting the attack usingmachine guns andgrenades, the ItaliandreadnoughtsAndrea Doria andDuilio opened fire on Fiume and bombarded the city for three days. D'Annunzio resigned on 28 December and the Regency capitulated on 30 December 1920. Italian forces occupied it.
The Free State of Fiume lasted officially until 1924, when the Kingdom of Italy formallyannexed it under the terms of theTreaty of Rome of 1924. Under the Kingdom of Italy, the administrative division previously represented by the Free State of Fiume became theProvince of Fiume.
