Julian March | |
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Region | |
.svg) The Julian March within theKingdom of Italy (1923–1947), with its four provinces: theProvince of Gorizia (blue), theProvince of Trieste (green), theProvince of Fiume (red), theProvince of Pola (yellow) |
TheJulian March (Croatian andSlovene:Julijska krajina), also calledJulian Venetia (Italian:Venezia Giulia;Venetian:Venesia Julia;Friulian:Vignesie Julie;Austrian German:Julisch Venetien), is an area of southernCentral Europe which is currently divided amongCroatia,Italy, andSlovenia.[1][2] The term was coined in 1863 by the ItalianlinguistGraziadio Isaia Ascoli, a native of the area, to demonstrate that theAustrian Littoral,Veneto,Friuli, andTrentino (then all part of theAustrian Empire) shared a common Italian linguistic identity. Ascoli emphasized theAugustan partition ofRoman Italy at the beginning of theEmpire, whenVenetia et Histria wasRegio X (the Tenth Region).[2][3][4]
The term was later endorsed byItalian irredentists, who sought to annex regions in which ethnic Italians made up most (or a substantial portion) of the population: the Austrian Littoral,Trentino,Fiume andDalmatia. TheTriple Entente promised the regions to Italy in the dissolution of the Austro-Hungarian Empire in exchange for Italy's joining theAllied Powers inWorld War I. The secret 1915Treaty of London promised Italy territories largely inhabited by Italians (such as Trentino) in addition to those largely inhabited byCroats orSlovenes; the territories housed 421,444 Italians, and about 327,000 ethnic Slovenes.[5][6]
A contemporary Italian autonomous region, bordering onSlovenia, is namedFriuli-Venezia Giulia ("Friuli and Julian Venetia").[7]
The term "Julian March" is a partial translation of the Italian name "Venezia Giulia" (or "Julian Venetia"), coined by the Italian historical linguistGraziadio Ascoli, who was born in Gorizia. The term "March" in "Julian March" refers to a medieval European designation for a borderland or frontier district, more specifically, a buffer zone between different realms.
In an 1863 newspaper article,[4] Ascoli focused on a wide geographical area north and east ofVenice which was underAustrian rule; he called itTriveneto ("the three Venetian regions"). Ascoli divided Triveneto into three parts:
According to this definition, Triveneto overlaps the ancient Roman region ofRegio X – Venetia et Histria introduced by EmperorAugustus in his administrative reorganization of Italy at the beginning of the first century AD. Ascoli (who was born in Gorizia) coined his terms for linguistic and cultural reasons, saying that the languages spoken in the three areas were substantially similar. His goal was to stress to the ruling Austrian Empire the region's[8]Latin and Venetian roots and the importance of the Italian linguistic element.[4]
The term "Venezia Giulia" did not catch on immediately, and began to be used widely only in the first decade of the 20th century.[4] It was used in official administrative acts by the Italian government in 1922–1923 and after 1946, when it was included in the name of the new region ofFriuli-Venezia Giulia.
At the end of theRoman Empire and the beginning of theMigration Period, the area had linguistic boundaries between speakers ofLatin (and itsdialects) and theGermanic- andSlavic-language speakers who were moving into the region.Germanic tribes first arrived in present-dayAustria[broken anchor] and its surrounding areas between the fourth and sixth centuries. They were followed by theSlavs, who appeared on the borders of theByzantine Empire around the sixth century and settled in theEastern Alps between the sixth and eighth centuries. In ByzantineDalmatia, on the east shore of theAdriatic Sea, severalcity-states had limited autonomy. The Slavs retained their languages in the interior, and localRomance languages (followed byVenetian andItalian) continued to be spoken on the coast.[9]
Beginning in theearly Middle Ages, two main political powers shaped the region: theRepublic of Venice and theHabsburg (the dukes and, later, archdukes ofAustria). During the 11th century, Venice began building an overseas empire (Stato da Màr) to establish and protect its commercial routes in the Adriatic and southeasternMediterranean Seas. Coastal areas ofIstria andDalmazia were key parts of these routes[a] sincePietro II Orseolo, theDoge of Venice, established Venetian rule in the high and middle Adriatic around 1000.[10] The Venetian presence was concentrated on the coast, replacing Byzantine rule and confirming the political and linguistic separation between coast and interior. TheRepublic of Venice began expanding toward the Italian interior (Stato da Tera) in 1420,[10] acquiring thePatriarchate of Aquileia (which included a portion of modernFriuli—the present-day provinces ofPordenone andUdine—and part of internal Istria).
TheHabsburg held theMarch of Carniola, roughly corresponding to the centralCarniolan region of present-daySlovenia (part of their holdings inInner Austria), since 1335. During the next two centuries, they gained control of the Istrian cities ofPazin andRijeka-Fiume, the port ofTrieste (withDuino),Gradisca andGorizia (with itscounty inFriuli).
The region was relatively stable from the 16th century to the 1797fall of the Republic of Venice, which was marked by theTreaty of Campo Formio between Austria and France. The Habsburgs gained Venetian lands on theIstrian Peninsula and theQuarnero (Kvarner) islands, expanded their holdings in 1813 withNapoleon's defeats and the dissolution of the FrenchIllyrian provinces. Austria gained most of the republic's territories, including the Adriatic coast, Istria and portions of present-dayCroatia (such as the city ofKarlstadt).
Habsburg rule abolished political borders which had divided the area for almost 1,000 years. The territories were initially assigned to the newKingdom of Illyria, which became theAustrian Littoral in 1849. This was established as acrown land (Kronland) of the Austrian Empire, consisting of three regions: the Istrian peninsula,Gorizia and Gradisca, and the city ofTrieste.[11]
TheItalian-Austrian war of 1866, followed by the passage of what was then known as Veneto (the currentVeneto andFriuli regions, except for the province ofGorizia) to Italy, did not directly affect the Littoral; however, a small community of Slavic speakers in northeastern Friuli (an area known asSlavia Friulana – Beneška Slovenija) became part of the Kingdom of Italy. Otherwise, the Littoral lasted until the end of the Austrian Empire in 1918.
The Italians in Julian March supported the ItalianRisorgimento: as a consequence, the Austrians saw the Italians as enemies and favored the Slav communities of Julian March.[12] During the meeting of the Council of Ministers of 12 November 1866, EmperorFranz Joseph I of Austria outlined a wide-ranging project aimed at theGermanization orSlavization of the areas of the empire with an Italian presence:[13]
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 inSouth Tyrol,Dalmatia andLittoral 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.
Istrian Italians were more than 50% of the total population of Istria for centuries,[16] while making up about a third of the population in 1900.[17]
The Kingdom of Italy annexed the region after World War I according to theTreaty of London and laterTreaty of Rapallo, comprising most of the formerAustrian Littoral (Gorizia and Gradisca,Trieste andIstria), south-western portions of the formerDuchy of Carniola, and the current Italian municipalities ofTarvisio,Pontebba andMalborghetto Valbruna which had beenCarinthian (aside fromFusine in Valromana in eastern Tarvisio, which had been part of Carniola). The annexed areas included many partially or fully Slovene or Croat areas. The island ofKrk and the municipality ofKastav, which had formerly been part of the Austrian Littoral, became part of theKingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes (renamed the Kingdom of Yugoslavia in 1929).[18]
Rijeka-Fiume, which had enjoyedspecial status within theLands of the Crown of Saint Stephen (the Hungarian part of Austria-Hungary), became an independentcity-state in the Treaty of Rapallo: theFree State of Fiume. It was abolished following the1924 Treaty of Rome and divided between Italy and the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes.
The new provinces of Gorizia (which was merged with theProvince of Udine between 1924 and 1927), Trieste,Pola and Fiume (after 1924) were created. Tarvisio, Pontebba, Malborghetto Valbruna, and the westernmost part of the former Littoral aroundCervignano del Friuli remained part of Udine (and so Euganean Venetia) after 1927.
Italians lived primarily in cities and along the coast, and Slavs inhabited the interior.Fascist persecution, "centralising, oppressive and dedicated to the forcible Italianisation of the minorities",[19] caused the emigration of about 105,000[6]Slovenes andCroats from the Julian March—around 70,000 to Yugoslavia and 30,000 toArgentina. Several thousandDalmatian Italians moved from Yugoslavia to Italy after 1918, many to Istria and Trieste.
In response to theFascist Italianization of Slovene areas, themilitant anti-Fascist organizationTIGR emerged in 1927. TIGR co-ordinated Slovene resistance againstFascist Italy until it was dismantled by thesecret police in 1941, and some former members joined theYugoslav Partisans. TheSlovene Partisans emerged that year in the occupiedProvince of Ljubljana, and spread by 1942 to the other Slovene areas which had been annexed by Italy twenty years earlier.
After theItalian armistice of September 1943, many local uprisings took place. The town ofGorizia was temporarily liberated by partisans, and a liberated zone in the UpperSoča Valley known as the Kobarid Republic lasted from September to November 1943. TheGerman Army began to occupy the region and encountered severe resistance from Yugoslav partisans, particularly in the lowerVipava Valley and the Alps. Most of the lowlands were occupied by the winter of 1943, but Yugoslav resistance remained active throughout the region and withdrew to the mountains.
In the aftermath of the fall 1943 Italian armistice, the first of what became known as theFoibe massacres occurred (primarily in present-day Croatian Istria). The Germans established theOperational Zone of the Adriatic Littoral, officially part of theItalian Social Republic but underde facto German administration, that year. Many areas, (especially north and north-east of Gorizia) were controlled by the partisan resistance, which was also active on theKarst Plateau and interior Istria. The Nazis tried to repress the Yugoslav guerrillas with reprisals against the civilian population; entire villages were burned down, and thousands of people were interned inNazi concentration camps. However, the Yugoslav resistance took over most of the region by the spring of 1945.
Italian resistance in the operational zone was active inFriuli and weaker in the Julian March, where it was confined to intelligence and underground resistance in the larger towns (especiallyTrieste andPula). In May 1945, the Yugoslav Army entered Trieste; over the following days, virtually the entire Julian March was occupied by Yugoslav forces. Retaliation against real (and potential) political opponents occurred, primarily to the Italian population.
The Western allies adopted the term "Julian March" as the name for the territories which were contested between Italy and thePeople's Federal Republic of Yugoslavia between 1945 and 1947. TheMorgan Line was drawn in June 1945, dividing the region into two militarily administered zones. Zone B was under Yugoslav administration and excluded the cities of Pula, Gorizia, Trieste, theSoča Valley and most of the Karst Plateau, which were under joint British-American administration. During this period, many Italians left the Yugoslav-occupied area.
In 1946, U.S. PresidentHarry S. Truman ordered an increase in U.S. troops in their occupation zone (Zone A) and the reinforcement of air forces in northern Italy after Yugoslav forces shot down two U.S. Army transport planes.[20] An agreement on the border was chosen from four proposed solutions[21] at theParis Peace Conference that year. Yugoslavia acquired the northern part of the region east of Gorizia, most of Istria and the city of Fiume. AFree Territory of Trieste was created, divided into two zones—one under Allied and the other under Yugoslav military administration. Tensions continued, and in 1954 the territory was abolished and divided between Italy (which received the city of Trieste and its surroundings) and Yugoslavia,[22] under the terms of the London Memorandum.
In Slovenia the Julian March is known as theSlovene Littoral, encompassing the regions ofGoriška and Slovenian Istria. In Croatia, the traditional name ofIstria is used. After the divisions of 1947 and 1954, the term "Julian March" survived in the name of theFriuli-Venezia Giulia region of Italy.
TheTreaty of Osimo was signed on 10 November 1975 by theSocialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia and theItalian Republic inOsimo, Italy, to definitively divide theFree Territory of Trieste between the two states: the port city of Trieste with a narrow coastal strip to the north-west (Zone A) was given to Italy; a portion of the north-western part of the Istrian peninsula (Zone B) was given to Yugoslavia. The treaty became effective on 11 October 1977. For theItalian Government, the treaty was signed byMariano Rumor,Minister for Foreign Affairs. For Yugoslavia, the treaty was signed byMiloš Minić, theFederal Secretary for Foreign Affairs.
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Two major ethnolinguistic clusters were unified in the region. The western portion was inhabited primarily byItalians (Italian,Venetian andFriulian were the three major languages), with a smallIstriot-speaking minority. The eastern and northern areas were inhabited bySouth Slavs (Slovenes andCroats), with smallMontenegrin (Peroj) andSerb minorities.
Other ethnic groups includedIstro-Romanians in easternIstria,CarinthianGermans in theCanale Valley and smallerGerman- andHungarian-speaking communities in larger urban centres, primarily members of the formerAustro-Hungarian elite. This is illustrated by the 1855 ethnographic map of the Austrian Empire compiled by Karl von Czoernig-Czernhausen and issued by the Austriank. u. k. department of statistics. According to the 1910–1911 Austrian census, the Austrian Littoral (which would be annexed by Italy from 1920 to 1924) had a population of 978,385. Italian was the everyday language (Umgangsprache) of 421,444 people (43.1 percent); 327,230 (33.4 percent) spoke Slovene, and 152,500 (15.6 percent) spoke Croatian.[23] About 30,000 people (3.1 percent) spoke German, 3,000 (0.3 percent) spoke Hungarian, and small clusters ofIstro-Romanian andCzech speakers existed. TheFriulian,Venetian andIstriot languages were considered Italian; an estimated 60,000 or more "Italian" speakers (about 14 percent) spoke Friulian.[24]
The standardItalian language was common among educated people in Trieste,Gorizia, Istria and Fiume/Rijeka. In Trieste (and to a lesser extent in Istria), Italian was the predominant language in primary education. The Italian-speaking elite dominated the governments of Trieste and Istria under Austro-Hungarian rule, although they were increasingly challenged by Slovene and Croatian political movements. Before 1918, Trieste was the only self-governing Austro-Hungarian unit in which Italian speakers were the majority of the population.
Most of theRomance-speaking population did not speak standard Italian as their native language, but two other closely related Romance languages: Friulian and Venetian.[25] There was no attempt to introduce Venetian into education and administration.
Friulian was spoken in the south-western lowlands of the county of Gorizia and Gradisca (except for the Monfalcone-Grado area, where Venetian was spoken), and in the town ofGorizia. Larger Friulian-speaking centres includedCormons,Cervignano, andGradisca d'Isonzo. A dialect of Friulian (Tergestine) was spoken in Trieste andMuggia, evolving into a Venetian dialect during the 18th century. According to contemporary estimates, three-quarters of the Italians in the county of Gorizia and Gradisca were native Friulian speakers—one-quarter of the county's population, and seven to eight percent of the population of the Julian March.
Venetian dialects were concentrated in Trieste, Rijeka and Istria, and the Istro-Venetian dialect was the predominant language of the west Istrian coast. In many small west Istrian towns, such asKoper (Capodistria),Piran (Pirano) orPoreč (Parenzo), the Venetian-speaking majority reached 90 percent of the population and 100 percent inUmag (Umago) andMuggia. Venetian was also a strong presence on Istria'sCres-Lošinj archipelago and in the peninsula's eastern and interior towns such asMotovun,Labin,Plomin and, to a lesser extent,Buzet andPazin. Although Istro-Venetian was strongest in urban areas, clusters of Venetian-speaking peasants also existed. This was especially true for the area aroundBuje andGrožnjan in north-central Istria, where Venetian spread during the mid-19th century (often in the form of a Venetian-Croatpidgin). In the county of Gorizia and Gradisca, Venetian was spoken in the area aroundMonfalcone andRonchi (between the lowerIsonzo River and the Karst Plateau) in an area popularly known asBisiacaria and in the town ofGrado. In Trieste the local Venetian dialect (known asTriestine) was widely spoken, although it was the native language of only about half the city's population. In Rijeka-Fiume, a form of Venetian known asFiumano emerged during the late 18th and early 19th centuries and became the native language of about half the city's population.
In addition to these two large language groups, two smaller Romance communities existed in Istria. In the south-west, on the coastal strip between Pula andRovinj, the archaicIstriot language was spoken. In some villages of eastern Istria, north ofLabin, theIstro-Romanian language was spoken by about 3,000 people.
Slovene was spoken in the north-eastern and southern parts of Gorizia and Gradisca (by about 60 percent of the population), in northern Istria and in theInner Carniolan areas annexed by Italy in 1920 (Postojna,Vipava,Ilirska Bistrica andIdrija). It was also the primary language of one-fourth to one-third of the population of Trieste. Smaller Slovene-speaking communities lived in theCanale Valley (Carinthian Slovenes), inRijeka and in larger towns outside theSlovene Lands (especiallyPula,Monfalcone,Gradisca d'Isonzo andCormons).Slavia Friulana – Beneška Slovenija, the community living since the eighth century in small towns (such asResia) in the valleys of theNatisone,Torre andJudrio Rivers inFriuli, has been part of Italy since 1866.
A variety ofSlovene dialects were spoken throughout the region. The Slovene linguistic community in the Julian March was divided into as many as 11 dialects (seven larger and four smaller dialects), belonging to three of theseven dialect groups into which Slovene is divided. Most Slovenes were fluent in standard Slovene, with the exception of some northern Istrian villages (where primary education was in Italian and theSlovene national movement penetrated only in the late 19th century) and theCarinthian Slovenes in the Canale Valley, who wereGermanised until 1918 and frequently spoke only the local dialect.
Slovene-Italian bilingualism was present only in some north-west Istrian coastal villages and the confined semi-urban areas around Gorizia and Trieste, while the vast majority of Slovene speakers had little (or no) knowledge of Italian;German was the predominant second language of the Slovene rural population.
Croatian was spoken in the central and eastern Istrian peninsula, on theCres-Lošinj archipelago; it was the second-most-spoken language (after Venetian) in the town ofRijeka. TheKajkavian dialect ofSerbo-Croatian was spoken aroundBuzet in north-central Istria;Čakavian was predominant in all other areas, frequently with strong Kajkavian and Venetian vocabulary influences. Italian-Croatianbilingualism was frequent in western Istria, on the Cres-Lošinj archipelago and in Rijeka, but rare elsewhere.
German was the predominant language in secondary and higher education throughout the region until 1918, and the educated elite were fluent in German. Many Austrian civil servants used German in daily life, especially in larger urban centres. Most of the German speakers would speak Italian, Slovene or Croatian on social and public occasions, depending on their political and ethnic preferences and location. Among the rural population, German was spoken by about 6,000 people in the Canale Valley. In the major urban areas (primarily Trieste and Rijeka),Hungarian,Serbian,Czech andGreek were spoken by smaller communities.
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