Italian Islands of the Aegean | |||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1912–1945 | |||||||||||
 Coat of arms | |||||||||||
| Motto: Per l'onore d'Italia "For the honour of Italy" | |||||||||||
| Anthem: Giovinezza[1] | |||||||||||
 | |||||||||||
| Status | Colony ofItaly | ||||||||||
| Capital | Rhodes | ||||||||||
| Official languages | Italian | ||||||||||
| Common languages | Greek (Aegean Greek),Turkish (Aegean Turkish) | ||||||||||
| Religion | Catholic (State) Greek Orthodox,Islam | ||||||||||
| King | |||||||||||
• 1912–1945 | Victor Emmanuel III | ||||||||||
| Governor | |||||||||||
• 1912–1913(first) | Giovanni Ameglio | ||||||||||
• 1943–1945(last) | Iginio Ugo Faralli [it] | ||||||||||
| Historical era | Interwar /WWII | ||||||||||
| 27 April 1912 | |||||||||||
| 24 July 1923 | |||||||||||
| 8 September 1943 | |||||||||||
| 11 September 1943 | |||||||||||
| 8 May 1945 | |||||||||||
| 10 February 1947 | |||||||||||
| Currency | Italian lira | ||||||||||
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| Today part of | Greece | ||||||||||
TheItalian Islands of the Aegean (Italian:Isole italiane dell'Egeo;Greek:Ἰταλικαὶ Νῆσοι Αἰγαίου Πελάγους;Turkish:Ege'deki İtalyan Adaları) were an archipelago of fourteen islands (theDodecanese, exceptKastellorizo) in the southeasternAegean Sea, that—together with the surrounding islets—were ruled by theKingdom of Italy from 1912 to 1943 and theItalian Social Republic (underGerman occupation) from 1943 to 1945. When the Kingdom of Italy was restored, they remained under formal Italian possession (underBritish occupation) until they were ceded to theKingdom of Greece in 1947 under theTreaty of Paris.
TheDodecanese, exceptKastellorizo, were occupied by Italy during theItalo-Turkish War of 1912. Italy had agreed to return the islands to theOttoman Empire according to theTreaty of Ouchy in 1912;[2] however the vagueness of the text allowed a provisional Italian administration of the islands, andTurkey eventually renounced all claims on the Dodecanese with Article 15 of theTreaty of Lausanne in 1923.[3]
The provisional Italian regime on the islands, titled "Rhodes and the Dodecanese" (Rodi e Dodecaneso), was originally in the hands of military governors, until the appointment on 7 August 1920 of Count Carlo Senni as the Viceroy of the Dodecanese (Reggente del Dodecaneso).[4] Following the end of World War I, Italy agreed twice, in theVenizelos–Tittoni agreement of 1919 and theTreaty of Sèvres in 1920, to cede the islands to Greece except for Rhodes, which would enjoy extensive autonomy.[4] Due to the Greek embroilment and defeat in theGreco-Turkish War of 1919–22, these agreements were never implemented.
Kastellorizo was temporarily occupied by France in 1915 and came under Italian control in 1921.[4] The Dodecanese islands were formally annexed byFascist Italy, as thePossedimenti Italiani dell'Egeo in 1923.[5]
Italian interest in the Dodecanese was rooted in strategic purposes, and the islands were intended to further the Empire's long range imperial policy.[6] The islands ofLeros andPatmos were used as bases for theRoyal Italian Navy.[6]
In 1932 theConvention between Italy and Turkey was signed for some smaller islets around Kastellorizo.
Starting in 1923, civil governors replaced the military commanders. The Italian politics towards the native population had two phases: while governorMario Lago, a liberal diplomat, favoured peaceful coexistence among the different ethnic groups and the Italians, choosing a soft strategy of integration, his successor,Cesare Maria De Vecchi, embarked on a forcedItalianization campaign of the islands. Lago delegated[clarification needed] land for Italian settlers and encouraged intermarriage with local Greeks.[5] In 1929, scholarships at theUniversity of Pisa for Dodecanesian students were promoted to disseminate Italian culture and language among the localprofessional class.[7]
The only sector where Lago was unaccommodating was religion: The Italian authorities also tried to limit the power of theGreek Orthodox Church without success by trying to set up anautocephalous Dodecanesian church.[7] Fascist youth organizations such asOpera Nazionale Balilla were introduced on the islands, and the Italianization of names was encouraged by the Italian authorities.[7] The juridic state of the islands was an intermediate one (possedimento) between a colony and a part of the motherland: due to that, local islanders did not receive full citizenship and were not required to serve in the Italian armed forces.[5]
Under the governorship of De Vecchi (1936–40), a staunch and hard lineFascist, the Italianization efforts became very strong.[7] TheItalian language became compulsory in education and public life, with Greek being only an optional subject in schools.[5][7] While under Lago the inhabitants were allowed to elect their ownmayors, in 1937 the fascist system was set up to[clarification needed] the islands, with a newly appointedpodestà for each municipality (comune)[7] in 1938,Italian Racial Laws were introduced to the islands along with a series of decrees equalizing local legislation with Italian law.[7]
De Vecchi also linked Rhodes to Italy with a regular air service from the late 1930s.[8] The "Aero Espresso Italiana" (AEI) had flights from Brindisi to Athens and Rhodes with flying boats (AEI used mainly the "Savoia 55", but also the "Macchi 24bis".)[9]
Efforts to bring Italian settlers to the islands were not notably successful. By 1936, Italians in the Dodecanese numbered 16,711, most of them living on Rhodes and Leros.[7] Italians of Rhodes andKos were farmers involved in setting up new agricultural settlements, while Italians of Leros were generally employed by the army and lived at its facilities in the new Italian-built model town of Portolago (modernLakki).[7]
Mussolini wanted to transform the islands into showcases of the Italian colonial empire, and undertook a series of massive public works in the archipelago.[10] New roads, monumental buildings in accordance withfascist architecture and waterworks were constructed, sometimes using forced Greek labor.[10]
Many examples of Italian architecture can still be found on the islands:[11] A few among them are:
The Italians alsosurveyed the islands for the first time in history, and began to introduce mass-scaletourism toRhodes and Kos.[10] The smaller islands were mostly neglected by the improvement efforts and were left underdeveloped.[10]
Mussolini stated that Rhodes had merely returned to its ancestral home after being annexed by Italy, as the Dodecanese had been an important part of theRoman Empire.[6] Major Italian archaeological efforts from the 1930s onward were intended to discover Roman antiquities and thus strengthen the Italian claim on the islands.[6][10]
| Island (Italian name in parentheses) | Area | Population |
|---|---|---|
| Rhodes (Rodi) and dependent islets | 1,412 km2 (545 sq mi) | 61,886 |
| Patmos (Patmo),Agathonisi (Gaidaro) and dependent islets | 57.1 km2 (22.0 sq mi) | 3,184 |
| Leros (Lero) | 52.9 km2 (20.4 sq mi) | 13,657 |
| Leipsoi (Lisso) | 17.4 km2 (6.7 sq mi) | 977 |
| Kalymnos (Calino) and dependent islets | 128.2 km2 (49.5 sq mi) | 15,247 |
| Kos (Coo) | 296 km2 (114 sq mi) | 19,731 |
| Astypalaia (Stampalia) and dependent islets | 113.6 km2 (43.9 sq mi) | 2,006 |
| Nisyros (Nisiro) and dependent islets | 48 km2 (19 sq mi) | 3,391 |
| Symi (Simi) and dependent islets | 63.6 km2 (24.6 sq mi) | 6,195 |
| Tilos (Piscopi) and dependent islets | 64.3 km2 (24.8 sq mi) | 1,215 |
| Halki (Calchi) and dependent islets | 30.3 km2 (11.7 sq mi) | 1,461 |
| Karpathos (Scarpanto) and dependent islets | 306 km2 (118 sq mi) | 7,770 |
| Kasos (Caso) and dependent islets | 69.4 km2 (26.8 sq mi) | 1,890 |
| Megisti (Castelrosso) and dependent islets | 11.5 km2 (4.4 sq mi) | 2,238 |
| Totals for Italian Aegean Islands | 2,721.2 km2 (1,050.7 sq mi) | 140,848 |
After theBattle of Greece, Fascist authorities pushed for the incorporation of theCyclades andSporades into Italy's Aegean possessions, but the Germans were opposed to any territorial reduction of the puppetHellenic State.[12] As the Cyclades were already under Italian occupation, the preparation for outright annexation was continued despite German opposition.[12]
Military Administration in the Aegean | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1945–1947 | |||||||||
 Flag .svg) Coat of arms | |||||||||
| Largest city | Rhodes | ||||||||
| Chief Administrator | |||||||||
• 1945–1946 | Charles Henry Gormley | ||||||||
• 1946–1947 | Arthur Stanley Parker | ||||||||
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After theItalian capitulation of September 1943, the islands briefly became a battleground between the Germans, the British and the Italians (theDodecanese campaign).[13] The Germans prevailed, and although they were driven out of mainland Greece in 1944, the Dodecanese remained occupied until the end of the war in Europe in 1945.[13] The last German military governor,GeneralmajorOtto Wagener, surrendered to the British on 8 May 1945.[14] During the German occupation, the Dodecanese remained under the nominal sovereignty of theItalian Social Republic, but werede facto subject to the German military command.[15] After the end of World War II, the islands came under provisional British administration.
In theTreaty of Paris in 1947, the islands were ceded to Greece.[13]
Italian
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