Governorate of Dalmatia

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Governorate of Dalmatia
Governatorato di Dalmazia (Italian)
1941–1943
Coat of arms of Dalmatia
Coat of arms
Motto: 
Italy
CapitalZara
Common languages
Religion
Roman Catholic
Governor 
• 1941
Athos Bartolucci
• 1941–1943
Giuseppe Bastianini
• 1943
Francesco Giunta
Historical eraWorld War II
17 April 1941
10 September 1943
Population
• 1941
380,100
CurrencyItalian lira
Preceded by
Succeeded by
Kingdom of Yugoslavia
Province of Zara
Independent State of Croatia
Italian Social Republic
  1. ^ Unofficial anthem was Giovinezza ("Youth").[1]

The Governorate of Dalmatia (

occupied Yugoslav territory annexed by Italy after the invasion of Yugoslavia by the Axis powers and the signing of the Rome Treaties.[2]

Background

Gabriele d'Annunzio supported the seizure of Dalmatia and proceeded to Zadar in an Italian warship in December 1918.[5]

However, in spite of the guarantees of the London Pact to Italy of a large portion of Dalmatia and Italian military occupation of claimed territories of Dalmatia (for the presence of Dalmatian Italians), both the peace settlement negotiations of 1919 to 1920 and the Fourteen Points of Woodrow Wilson, who advocated self-determination, took precedence, with Italy being permitted to annex only Zadar from Dalmatia, with the rest of Dalmatia being part of Yugoslavia. Enraged Italian nationalists considered the decision to be a betrayal of the promises of the London Pact.

Characteristics

The Governorate of Dalmatia was made up of parts of coastal

Saseno, now Albania, and totalling about 200 square kilometres, which Italy had possessed since 1919. The town of Zara (Zadar), which had included most of the Italian population of Dalmatia since the beginning of the 20th century and was largely Italian-speaking,[6]
was designated as its capital.

The creation of the Governorate of Dalmatia fulfilled the demands of Italian irredentism, but not all of Dalmatia was annexed by Italy, as the Italian-German quasi-protectorate known as the Independent State of Croatia took parts of it. Nevertheless, the Italian army maintained de facto control over the whole of Dalmatia.

The Kingdom of Italy divided the Governorate in three Italian provinces: Zara (

Italy
.

In September 1941, Italy's fascist dictator, Benito Mussolini, ordered the military occupation of the entire Dalmatian coast, including the city of Dubrovnik ("Ragusa"), and islands such as Vis (Lissa) and Pag (Pago) which had been given to the puppet Independent State of Croatia of Ante Pavelić: Mussolini tried to annex those areas to the Governorship of Dalmatia, but was temporarily stopped by the strong opposition of Pavelić, who retained nominal control of them.[7]

Fascist Italy even occupied

Province of Lubiana
, even though their population was not Slovene but Serbian.

The governorship was held until January 1943 by Giuseppe Bastianini, when he was recalled to Italy to join the cabinet, his place as governor being taken by Francesco Giunta.[8]

The Governorate of Dalmatia was cancelled administratively by

Spalato and Cattaro
.

After the Kingdom of Italy changed sides to the Allies in 1943, German forces took over the area. The territory was not given to the fascist Italian Social Republic, which was a puppet state of Germany, but was instead completely dissolved and added to the puppet Independent State of Croatia.

However, Zara (and the surrounding territory that was the original Provincia italiana di Zara until 1941) remained Italian (even if under nominal control and protection of the German Army) until 1945. The city was exposed to bombings between November 1943 and October 1944: the Allies documented 30 bombing raids, while contemporary Italian accounts claim 54; fatalities recorded range from nearly 1,000, up to as many as 4,000 of the city's 20,000 inhabitants and 60% of the city's buildings were fully destroyed.

On October 30, 1944, the last Italian authority in Dalmatia – the Zara prefect Vincenzo Serrentino – left the destroyed city with the remaining Dalmatian Italians . Nearly 89% of the Zara buildings & installations were destroyed and so the city was called the "Dresden of Italy"[9]

Territory

province of Spalato and province of Cattaro

The Governorate of Dalmatia consisted of three provinces:

. The administrative capital was Zara.

After the autumn of 1941 the Dalmatian islands of

Bosnia, near Sarajevo and Banja Luka. However these were not formally annexed to the Governorate.[10]

Demographics

Province Area (km²) Population[11]
Zara 3,179 211,900
Spalato
1,075 128,400
Cattaro 547 39,800
Total 4,801 380,100

The Dalmatian Governatorate contained 390,000 inhabitants, of which 270,000 (69.2%) Croats, 90,000 (23.0%) Serbs and 30,000 (7.6%) Italians.[12]

Governors of Dalmatia

See also

Notes and references

Notes

References

  1. ^ "Italy (1922-1943)". nationalanthems.info. Retrieved 2017-02-14.
  2. ^ "Governatorato di Dalmazia" (in Italian). Archived from the original on 2012-03-09. Retrieved 2017-02-15.
  3. ^ Giuseppe Praga, Franco Luxardo. History of Dalmatia. Giardini, 1993. p. 281.
  4. ^ a b Paul O'Brien. Mussolini in the First World War: the Journalist, the Soldier, the Fascist. Oxford, England, UK; New York, New York, US: Berg, 2005. p. 17.
  5. ^ A. Rossi. The Rise of Italian Fascism: 1918-1922. New York, New York, US: Routledge, 2010. p. 47.
  6. ^ Vrandečić, Josip (2001-10-07). "Razvoj talijanskog nacionalizma u Dalmaciji" (PDF). Dijalog povjesničara - istoričara 6 (in Croatian). Zagreb: Political Science Research Centre Ltd. (PSRC) for Scientific Research Work. pp. 204–205. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2012-02-22. Retrieved 2013-02-06.
  7. ^ Giorgio Bocca, Storia d'Italia nella guerra fascista 1940-1943. Mondadori editore. Milano, 2006
  8. ^ Jozo Tomasevich, War and revolution in Yugoslavia, 1941-1945: occupation and collaboration, Stanford University Press, 2001, pp. 136–137
  9. ^ History of Zara bombing [1](https://web.archive.org/web/20150116202426/http://xoomer.virgilio.it/histria/citta/zara/sestiere.htm)
  10. ^ Davide Rodogno. Fascism's European empire. Cambridge University Press, 2006 pp. 419–20.
  11. ^ cfr.: Davide Rodogno Il nuovo ordine mediterraneo, ed. Bollati Boringhieri, Turin, 2003.
  12. . Retrieved 22 May 2016.