Italian irredentism (Italian:irredentismo italiano[irredenˈtizmoitaˈljaːno]) was apolitical movement during the late 19th and early 20th centuries inItaly withirredentist goals which promoted theunification of geographic areas in whichindigenous peoples were considered to beethnic Italians. At the beginning, the movement promoted the annexation to Italy of territories where Italians formed the absolute majority of the population, but retained by theAustrian Empire after theThird Italian War of Independence in 1866.[1]
Even after theCapture of Rome (1871), the final event of the unification of Italy, many ethnic Italian speakers (Trentino-Alto Adigan Italians,Savoyard Italians,Corfiot Italians,Niçard Italians,Swiss Italians,Corsican Italians,Maltese Italians,Istrian Italians andDalmatian Italians) remained outside the borders of the Kingdom of Italy and this situation created the Italian irredentism. DuringWorld War I the main "irredent lands" (terre irredente) were considered to be the provinces ofTrento andTrieste and, in a narrow sense, irredentists referred to the Italian patriots living in these two areas.[1]
Italian irredentism was not a formal organization but rather an opinion movement, advocated by several different groups, claiming that Italy had to reach its "natural borders" or unify territories inhabited by Italians.[1] Similar nationalistic ideas were common inEurope in the late 19th century. The term "irredentism", coined from the Italian word, came into use in many countries (seeList of irredentist claims or disputes). This idea ofItalia irredenta is not to be confused with theRisorgimento, the historical events that led to irredentism, nor with nationalism orImperial Italy, the political philosophy that took the idea further underfascism.[2]
The term was later expanded to also include multilingual and multiethnic areas, where Italians were a relative majority or a substantial minority, within the northern Italian region encompassed by the Alps, withGerman,Italian,Slovene,Croatian,Ladin andIstro-Romanian population, such asSouth Tyrol,Istria,Gorizia and Gradisca and part ofDalmatia. The claims were further extended also to the city ofFiume,Corsica, the island ofMalta, theCounty of Nice andItalian Switzerland.[1][3]
After the end of World War I, the Italian irredentist movement was hegemonised, manipulated and distorted by fascism, which made it an instrument of nationalist propaganda, placed at the center of a policy, conditioned by belated imperial ambitions, which took the form of "forcedItalianizations", in the aspiration for the birth of aGreat Italy and a vastItalian Empire.[2] After World War II, Italian irredentism disappeared along with the defeated Fascists and the Monarchy of theHouse of Savoy. After theTreaty of Paris (1947) and theTreaty of Osimo (1975), all territorial claims were abandoned by theItalian Republic (seeForeign relations of Italy).[4] The Italian irredentist movement thus vanished from Italian politics.
Italian irredentism was not a formal organization but rather an opinion movement, advocated by several different groups, claiming that Italy had to reach its "natural borders" or unify territories inhabited by Italians.[1] Similar nationalistic ideas were common inEurope in the late 19th century. The termirredentism, coined from the Italian word, came into use in many countries (seeList of irredentist claims or disputes). This idea ofItalia irredenta is not to be confused with theRisorgimento, the historical events that led to irredentism, nor with nationalism orImperial Italy, the political philosophy that took the idea further underfascism.
During the 19th century, Italian irredentism fully developed the characteristic of defending the Italian language from other people's languages such as, for example,German in Switzerland and in the Austro-Hungarian Empire or French inNice andCorsica.
The liberation ofItalia irredenta was perhaps the strongest motive for Italy's entry intoWorld War I and theTreaty of Versailles in 1919 satisfied many irredentist claims.[5]
Italian irredentism has the characteristic of being originally moderate, requesting only the return to Italy of the areas with Italian majority of population,[6] but after World War I it became aggressive – under fascist influence – and claimed to theKingdom of Italy even areas where Italians were a minority or had been present only in the past. In the first case there were theRisorgimento claims onTrento, while in the second there were the fascist claims on theIonian Islands,Savoy andMalta.
The Corsican revolutionaryPasquale Paoli was called "the precursor of Italian irredentism" byNiccolò Tommaseo because he was the first to promote the Italian language and socio-culture (the main characteristics of Italian irredentism) in his island; Paoli wanted theItalian language to be the official language of the newly foundedCorsican Republic.
Pasquale Paoli's appeal in 1768 against the French invader said:
We are Corsicans by birth and sentiment, but first of all we feel Italian by language, origins, customs, traditions; and Italians are all brothers and united in the face of history and in the face of God ... As Corsicans we wish to be neither slaves nor "rebels" and as Italians we have the right to deal as equals with the other Italian brothers ... Either we shall be free or we shall be nothing... Either we shall win or we shall die (against the French), weapons in hand ... The war against France is right and holy as the name of God is holy and right, and here on our mountains will appear for Italy the sun of liberty
— Pasquale Paoli[7]
Paoli'sCorsican Constitution of 1755 was written in Italian and the short-lived university he founded in the city ofCorte in 1765 used Italian as the official language. Paoli was sympathetic toItalian culture and regarded his own native language as an Italian dialect (Corsican is anItalo-Dalmatian tongue closely related toTuscan).
After theItalian unification andThird Italian War of Independence in 1866, there were areas with Italian-speaking communities within the borders of several countries around the newly created Kingdom of Italy. The irredentists sought to annex all those areas to the newly unified Italy. The areas targeted wereCorsica,Dalmatia,Gorizia,Istria,Malta,County of Nice,Ticino, small parts ofGrisons and ofValais,Trentino,Trieste andFiume.[8]
Different movements or groups founded in this period included the Italian politician Matteo Renato Imbriani inventing the new termterre irredente ("unredeemed lands") in 1877; in the same year the movementAssociazione in pro dell'Italia Irredenta ("Association for the Unredeemed Italy") was founded; in 1885 thePro Patria movement ("For Fatherland") was founded and in 1891 theLega Nazionale Italiana ("Italian National League") was founded in Trento and Trieste (in the Austrian Empire).[9]
Initially, the movement can be described as part of the more generalnation-building process in Europe in the 19th and 20th centuries when the multi-nationalAustro-Hungarian,Russian andOttoman Empires were being replaced by nation-states. The Italian nation-building process can be compared to similar movements in Germany (Großdeutschland),Hungary,Serbia and in pre-1914Poland. Simultaneously, in many parts of 19th-century Europeliberalism andnationalism were ideologies which were coming to the forefront of political culture. In Eastern Europe, where theHabsburg Empire had long asserted control over a variety of ethnic and cultural groups, nationalism appeared in a standard format. The beginning of the 19th century "was the period when the smaller, mostly indigenous nationalities of the empire –Czechs,Slovaks,Slovenes,Croats,Serbs,Ukrainians,Romanians – remembered their historical traditions, revived their native tongues as literary languages, reappropriated their traditions and folklore, in short, reasserted their existence as nations".[10]
In the early 19th century the ideals of unification in a single Nation of all the territories populated by Italian-speaking people created the Italian irredentism. ManyIstrian Italians andDalmatian Italians looked with sympathy towards theRisorgimento movement that fought for the unification of Italy.[11]
The currentItalian Switzerland belonged to theDuchy of Milan until the16th century, when it became part ofSwitzerland. These territories have maintained their nativeItalian population speaking theItalian language and theLombard language, specifically theTicinese dialect.Italian irredentism in Switzerland was based on moderateRisorgimento ideals, and was promoted by Italian-Ticinese such asAdolfo Carmine [it].[12]
Following a briefFrenchoccupation (1798–1800) theBritishestablished control over Malta while it was still formally part of theKingdom of Sicily. During both the French and British periods, Malta officially remained part of the Sicilian Kingdom, although the French refused to recognise the island as such in contrast to the British. Malta became aBritish Crown Colony in 1813, which was confirmed a year later through theTreaty of Paris (1814).[13] Cultural changes were few even after 1814. In 1842, all literate Maltese learned Italian while only 4.5% could read, write and/or speak English.[14] However, there was a huge increase in the number of Maltese magazines and newspapers in the Italian language during the 1800s and early 1900s,[15] so as a consequence the Italian was understood (but not spoken fluently) by more than half the Maltese people beforeWW1.
TheKingdom of Sardinia again attacked theAustrian Empire in theSecond Italian War of Independence of 1859, with the aid ofFrance, resulting in the liberation ofLombardy. On the basis of thePlombières Agreement, the Kingdom of Sardinia cededSavoy andNice to France, an event that caused theNiçard exodus, that was the emigration of a quarter of theNiçard Italians to Italy.[16]Giuseppe Garibaldi was elected in 1871 in Nice at theNational Assembly where he tried to promote the annexation of his hometown to thenewborn Italian unitary state, but he was prevented from speaking.[17] Because of this denial, between 1871 and 1872 there were riots in Nice, promoted by the Garibaldini and called "Niçard Vespers",[18] which demanded the annexation of the city and its area to Italy.[19] Fifteen Nice people who participated in the rebellion were tried and sentenced.[20]
In the spring of 1860Savoy was annexed to France after a referendum and the administrative boundaries changed, but a segment of the Savoyard population demonstrated against the annexation. Indeed, the final vote count on the referendum announced by the Court of Appeals was 130,839 in favour of annexation to France, 235 opposed and 71 void, showing questionable complete support for French nationalism (that motivated criticisms about rigged results).[21] At the beginning of 1860, more than 3000 people demonstrated in Chambéry against the annexation to France rumours. On 16 March 1860, the provinces of Northern Savoy (Chablais, Faucigny and Genevois) sent toVictor Emmanuel II, toNapoleon III, and to the Swiss Federal Council a declaration - sent under the presentation of a manifesto together with petitions - where they were saying that they did not wish to become French and shown their preference to remain united to theKingdom of Sardinia (or be annexed to Switzerland in the case a separation with Sardinia was unavoidable).[22]Giuseppe Garibaldi complained about the referendum that allowed France to annex Savoy and Nice, and a group of his followers (among theItalian Savoyards) took refuge in Italy in the following years.
In 1861, with theproclamation of the Kingdom of Italy, themodern Italian state was born. On 21 July 1878, a noisy public meeting was held atRome with Menotti Garibaldi, the son of Giuseppe Garibaldi, as chairman of the forum and a clamour was raised for the formation of volunteer battalions to conquer the Trentino.Benedetto Cairoli, thenPrime Minister of Italy, treated the agitation with tolerance.[23] However, it was mainly superficial, as most Italians did not wish a dangerous policy against Austria or againstBritain for Malta.[23]
ManyIstrian Italians andDalmatian Italians looked with sympathy towards theRisorgimento movement that fought for the unification of Italy.[11] However, after theThird Italian War of Independence (1866), when theVeneto andFriuli regions were ceded by theAustrians to the newly formedKingdom of Italy, Istria and Dalmatia remained part of theAustro-Hungarian Empire, together with other Italian-speaking areas on the eastern Adriatic. This triggered the gradual rise of Italian irredentism among many Italians in Istria, Kvarner and Dalmatia, who demanded the unification of theJulian March,Kvarner andDalmatia with Italy. The Italians in Istria, Kvarner and Dalmatia supported the ItalianRisorgimento: as a consequence, the Austrians saw the Italians as enemies and favored the Slav communities of Istria, Kvarner and Dalmatia.[24] 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:[25]
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 made up about a third of the population in 1900.[27] Dalmatia, especially its maritime cities, once had a substantial local ethnic Italian population (Dalmatian Italians). According to Austrian census, the Dalmatian Italians formed 12.5% of the population in 1865.[28] In the 1910 Austro-Hungarian census, Istria had a population of 57.8% Slavic-speakers (Croat and Slovene), and 38.1% Italian speakers.[29] For the AustrianKingdom of Dalmatia, (i.e.Dalmatia), the 1910 numbers were 96.2% Slavic speakers and 2.8% Italian speakers.[30] In 1909 theItalian language lost itsstatus as the official language of Dalmatia in favor of Croatian only (previously both languages were recognized): thus Italian could no longer be used in the public and administrative sphere.[31]
The Italian population in Dalmatia was concentrated in the major coastal cities. In the city ofSplit in 1890 there were 1,969 Dalmatian Italians (12.5% of the population), inZadar 7,423 (64.6%), inŠibenik 1,018 (14.5%), inKotor 623 (18.7%) and inDubrovnik 331 (4.6%).[32] In other Dalmatian localities, according to Austrian censuses, Dalmatian Italians experienced a sudden decrease: in the twenty years 1890-1910, inRab they went from 225 to 151, inVis from 352 to 92, inPag from 787 to 23, completely disappearing in almost all the inland locations.
One consequence of irredentist ideas outside of Italy was an assassination plot organized against theEmperorFrancis Joseph in Trieste in 1882, which was detected and foiled.[23]Guglielmo Oberdan, a Triestine and thus Austrian citizen, was executed. When the irredentist movement became troublesome to Italy through the activity of Republicans and Socialists, it was subject to effective police control byAgostino Depretis.[23]
Irredentism faced a setback when theFrench occupation of Tunisia in 1881 started a crisis in French–Italian relations. The government entered into relations with Austria andGermany, which took shape with the formation of theTriple Alliance in 1882. The irredentists' dream of absorbing the targeted areas into Italy made no further progress in the 19th century, as the borders of theKingdom of Italy remained unchanged and the Rome government began to set up colonies inEritrea andSomalia in Africa.
Italy entered theWorld War I in 1915 with the aim of completing national unity: for this reason, the Italian intervention in the World War I is also considered theFourth Italian War of Independence,[33] in a historiographical perspective that identifies in the latter the conclusion of theunification of Italy, whose military actions began during therevolutions of 1848 with theFirst Italian War of Independence.[34][35]
Italy signed theTreaty of London (1915) and entered World War I with the intention of gaining those territories perceived by irredentists as being Italian under foreign rule. According to the pact, Italy was to leave theTriple Alliance and join theEntente Powers. Furthermore, Italy was todeclare war on Germany andAustria-Hungary within a month. The declaration of war was duly published on 23 May 1915.[36] In exchange, Italy was to obtain various territorial gains at the end of the war. In April 1918, in what he described as an open letter "to the American Nation"Paolo Thaon di Revel, Commander in Chief of theItalian navy, appealed to the people of the United States to support Italian territorial claims overTrento,Trieste,Istria,Dalmatia and theAdriatic, writing that "we are fighting to expel an intruder from our home".[37]
The outcome of the World War I and the consequent settlement of theTreaty of Saint-Germain met some Italian claims, including many (but not all) of the aims of theItalia irredenta party.[38] Italy gainedTrieste,Gorizia,Istria and the Dalmatian city ofZara. In Dalmatia, despite the London Pact, only territories with Italian majority as Zara with some Dalmatian islands, such asCherso,Lussino andLagosta were annexed by Italy becauseWoodrow Wilson, supporting Yugoslav claims and not recognizing the treaty, rejected Italian requests on other Dalmatian territories, so this outcome was denounced as a "Mutilated victory". The rhetoric of "Mutilated victory" was adopted byBenito Mussolini and led to therise ofItalian fascism, becoming a key point in thepropaganda of Fascist Italy. Historians regard "Mutilated victory" as a "political myth", used by fascists to fuelItalian imperialism and obscure the successes ofliberal Italy in the aftermath of World War I.[39]
The city ofFiume in theKvarner was the subject of claim and counter-claim because it had an Italian majority, but Fiume had not been promised to Italy in the London Pact, though it was to become Italian by 1924 (seeItalian Regency of Carnaro,Treaty of Rapallo, 1920 andTreaty of Rome, 1924). The stand taken by the irredentistGabriele D'Annunzio, which briefly led him to become an enemy of the Italian state,[40] was meant to provoke anationalist revival throughcorporatism (first instituted during his rule over Fiume), in front of what was widely perceived asstate corruption engineered by governments such asGiovanni Giolitti's. D'Annunzio briefly annexed to thisItalian Regency of Carnaro even the Dalmatian islands ofVeglia andArbe, where there was a numerous Italian community.
After the end ofWorld War I, the Italian irredentist movement was hegemonised, manipulated and distorted by fascism, which made it an instrument of nationalist propaganda, placed at the centre of a policy, conditioned by belated imperial ambitions, which took the form of "forcedItalianizations", in the aspiration for the birth of aGreat Italy and a vastItalian Empire.[2]
Fascist Italy strove to be seen as the natural result of war heroism against a "betrayed Italy" that had not been awarded all it "deserved", as well as appropriating the image ofArditi soldiers. In this vein, irredentist claims were expanded and often used in Fascist Italy's desire to control the Mediterranean basin.
To the east of Italy, the Fascists claimed thatDalmatia was a land of Italian culture whose Italians had been driven out of Dalmatia and into exile in Italy, and supported the return of Italians of Dalmatian heritage.[41] Mussolini identified Dalmatia as having strong Italian cultural roots for centuries via the Roman Empire and theRepublic of Venice.[42] The Fascists especially focused their claims based on the Venetian cultural heritage of Dalmatia, claiming that Venetian rule had been beneficial for all Dalmatians and had been accepted by the Dalmatian population.[42] The Fascists were outraged after World War I, when the agreement between Italy and the Entente Allies in theTreaty of London of 1915 to have Dalmatia join Italy was revoked in 1919.[42]
To the west of Italy, the Fascists claimed that the territories ofCorsica,Nice andSavoy held by France were Italian lands.[43][44] The Fascist regime produced literature on Corsica that presented evidence of the island'sitalianità.[45] The Fascist regime produced literature on Nice that justified that Nice was an Italian land based on historic, ethnic and linguistic grounds.[45] The Fascists quoted Medieval Italian scholarPetrarch who said: "The border of Italy is the Var; consequently Nice is a part of Italy".[45] The Fascists quoted Italian national heroGiuseppe Garibaldi, a native of Nizza (now calledNice) himself, who said: "Corsica and Nice must not belong to France; there will come the day when an Italy mindful of its true worth will reclaim its provinces now so shamefully languishing under foreign domination".[45] Mussolini initially pursued promoting annexation of Corsica through political and diplomatic means, believing that Corsica could be annexed to Italy through Italy first encouraging the existing autonomist tendencies in Corsica and then the independence of Corsica from France, that would be followed by the annexation of Corsica into Italy.[46]
In 1923, Mussolini temporarily occupiedCorfu, using irredentist claims based on minorities of Italians in the island, theCorfiot Italians. Similar tactics may have been used towards the islands around theKingdom of Italy – through theMaltese Italians,Corfiot Italians andCorsican Italians in order to control the Mediterranean sea (hisMare Nostrum, from the Latin "Our Sea").
In the 1930s Mussolini promoted the development of an initial Italian irredentism inDurrës, in order to occupy all ofAlbania later. Durrës (called "Durazzo" in Italian) has been for centuries, during the Middle Ages, a city with territory under the control of the Italian states (Naples, Sicily, Venice), and many Italians settled there. The Durazzo section of the Albania Fascist Party was created in 1938, which was formed by some citizens of the city with distant and recent Italian roots (they started the local Italian irredentism). In 1939, all of Albania was occupied and united to the Kingdom of Italy: Italian citizens (more than 11,000) began to settle in Albania ascolonists and to own land in 1940 so that they could gradually transform it into Italian territory.[47] Theitalianization of Albania was one of Mussolini's plans.[48]
DuringWorld War II, large parts of Dalmatia were annexed by Italy into theGovernorship of Dalmatia from 1941 to 1943. Corsica and Nice were also administratively annexed by Italy in November 1942. Malta was heavily bombed, but was not occupied due toErwin Rommel's request to divert to North Africa the forces that had been prepared for the invasion of the island.
Dalmatia was a strategic region during World War I that both Italy and Serbia intended to seize from Austria-Hungary. Italy joined theTriple EntenteAllies in 1915 upon agreeing to theTreaty of London (1915) that guaranteed Italy the right to annex a large portion of Dalmatia in exchange for Italy's participation on the Allied side. From 5–6 November 1918, Italian forces were reported to have reachedLissa,Lagosta,Sebenico, and other localities on the Dalmatian coast.[49] By the end of hostilities in November 1918, the Italian military had seized control of the entire portion of Dalmatia that had been guaranteed to Italy by the Treaty of London and by 17 November had seized Fiume as well.[50] In 1918, AdmiralEnrico Millo declared himself Italy's Governor of Dalmatia.[50] FamousItalian nationalist Gabriele d'Annunzio supported the seizure of Dalmatia and proceeded to Zara in an Italian warship in December 1918.[51]
The last city with a significant Italian presence in Dalmatia was the city of Zara (now calledZadar). In the Austro-Hungarian census of 1910, the city of Zara had an Italian population of 9,318 (or 69.3% out of the total of 13,438 inhabitants).[52] In 1921 the population grew to 17,075 inhabitants, of which 12,075 Italians (corresponding to 70,76%).[53]
In 1941, during theSecond World War,Yugoslavia was occupied by Italy and Germany. Dalmatia was divided between Italy, which constituted theGovernorate of Dalmatia, and theIndependent State of Croatia, which annexedRagusa andMorlachia. After theItalian surrender (8 September 1943) the Independent State of Croatia annexed the Governorate of Dalmatia, except for the territories that had been Italian before the start of the conflict, such as Zara. In 1943,Josip Broz Tito informed theAllies that Zara was a chief logistic centre for German forces in Yugoslavia. By overstating its importance, he persuaded them of its military significance. Italy surrendered in September 1943 and over the following year, specifically between 2 November 1943 and 31 October 1944, Allied Forcesbombarded the town fifty-four times. Nearly 2,000 people were buried beneath rubble: 10–12,000 people escaped and took refuge in Trieste and slightly over 1,000 reached Apulia. Tito's partisans entered Zara on 31 October 1944 and 138 people were killed.[54] With the Peace Treaty of 1947, Italians still living in Zara followed theItalian exodus from Dalmatia and only about 100 Dalmatian Italians now remain in the city.
Under theTreaty of Peace with Italy, 1947,Istria,Kvarner, most of theJulian March as well as theDalmatian city ofZara was annexed byYugoslavia causing theIstrian-Dalmatian exodus, which led to the emigration of between 230,000 and 350,000 of local ethnicItalians (Istrian Italians andDalmatian Italians), the others being ethnic Slovenians, ethnic Croatians, and ethnicIstro-Romanians, choosing to maintain Italian citizenship.[55]
The Istrian-Dalmatian exodus started in 1943 and ended completely only in 1960. According to the census organized inCroatia in 2001 and that organized inSlovenia in 2002, the Italians who remained in the formerYugoslavia amounted to 21,894 people (2,258 in Slovenia and 19,636 in Croatia).[56][57]
After World War II, Italian irredentism disappeared along with the defeated Fascists and the Monarchy of theHouse of Savoy. After the Treaty of Paris (1947) and theTreaty of Osimo (1975), all territorial claims were abandoned by theItalian Republic (seeForeign relations of Italy). The Italian irredentist movement thus vanished from Italian politics. Today, Italy,France,Malta,Greece,Croatia andSlovenia are all members of theEuropean Union, whileMontenegro andAlbania are candidates for accession. The 1947Constitution of Italy established five autonomous regions (Sardinia,Friuli-Venezia Giulia,Sicily,Aosta Valley andTrentino-Alto Adige/Südtirol), in recognition of their cultural and linguistic distinctiveness.
In the early 1990s, thebreakup of Yugoslavia caused nationalistic sentiments to re-emerge in these areas; worthy of note in this regard are the demonstrations inTrieste on 6 October 1991 "for a new Italian irredentism". These were promoted by theItalian Social Movement and inspired by rumours about negotiations for the passage through Trieste of the Yugoslav troops expelled fromSlovenia during theTen-Day War which saw the participation of thousands of people at the political rally in Piazza della Borsa followed by a long procession through the streets of the city, and on 8 November 1992, again in Trieste.[58]
The same Italian Social Movement andNational Alliance asked for the review of the peace treaties signed by Italy after World War II, especially with regard to Zone B of the formerFree Territory of Trieste, given that the qualification of Slovenia andCroatia as heirs of Yugoslavia was not a given and that the division ofIstria between Slovenia and Croatia contradicted the clauses of the peace treaties which guaranteed the unity of the surviving Italian component in Istria (Istrian Italians), assigned to Yugoslavia after World War II, proposing the creation of an Istrian Euro-region also including the city ofRijeka.[59] These claims, which also concernedDalmatia (including islands such asPag,Ugljan,Vis,Lastovo,Hvar,Korčula andMljet) and the coast with the cities ofZadar,Šibenik,Trogir andSplit, remained completely unheeded by all theItalian governments that followed one another in that period.[60][61][62]
Various points were brought forward as arguments in support of the irredentist theses of claim, such as the geographical belonging of those lands to the Italian peninsula or the presence of more or less numerous communities of Italians or Italian speakers.
After World War I the situation of the claimed lands was as follows:[63]
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