Princely County of Gorizia and Gradisca
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Princely County of Gorizia and Gradisca Gefürstete Grafschaft Görz und Gradisca (German) | |||||||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1754–1919 | |||||||||||
Karl I | |||||||||||
Landeshauptmann | |||||||||||
• 1870–1877 | Franz Coronini von Cronberg | ||||||||||
• 1877–1883 | Luigi Pajer de Monriva | ||||||||||
• 1883–1899 | Franz Coronini von Cronberg | ||||||||||
• 1899–1913 | Luigi Pajer de Monriva | ||||||||||
Historical era | Modern history | ||||||||||
• Established | 4 March 1754 | ||||||||||
10 September 1919 | |||||||||||
Area | |||||||||||
1910[1] | 2,918 km2 (1,127 sq mi) | ||||||||||
Population | |||||||||||
• 1910[1] | 260,721 | ||||||||||
|
The Princely County of Gorizia and Gradisca (German: Gefürstete Grafschaft Görz und Gradisca; Italian: Principesca Contea di Gorizia e Gradisca; Slovene: Poknežena grofija Goriška in Gradiščanska), historically sometimes shortened to and spelled "Goritz", was a crown land of the Habsburg dynasty within the Austrian Littoral on the Adriatic Sea, in what is now a multilingual border area of Italy and Slovenia. It was named for its two major urban centers, Gorizia and Gradisca d'Isonzo.
Geography
The province stretched along the Soča/Isonzo River, from its source at Mt. Jalovec in the Julian Alps down to the Gulf of Trieste near Monfalcone. In the northwest, the Predil Pass led to the Duchy of Carinthia, in the northeast Mts. Mangart, Razor and Triglav marked the border with the Duchy of Carniola (Upper Carniola).
In the west, Mts.
History
Province of the Habsburg Empire
The medieval estates of the
During the
The remaining territory of the county was left under Austrian rule until 1809, when it was incorporated into the Illyrian Provinces under direct domination of the French Empire.
In 1813, Austrian rule was restored. The county was re-established in its former borders, including the former
In 1915, Italy entered World War I against Austria-Hungary. The western part of the county was devastated by the Battles of the Isonzo, fought between the two armies. In August 1916, Gorizia was occupied by Italian troops for the first time in its history, but in November 1917 the Austro-Hungarian Army threw the Italian forces back in the Battle of Caporetto. Large numbers of the population were interned in civil camps around Austria-Hungary and Italy, while almost half of the province's territory laid in ruins.
In Spring 1918, two mass political movements emerged in the county, demanding larger autonomy within a federalized Habsburg Monarchy. The
Border region of Italy
In November 1918, the county was officially abolished and incorporated in the provisional administrative region of
In 1924, the Province of Gorizia was abolished and its territory incorporated into the
Between 1927 and 1943, the Province of Gorizia was an administrative territorial entity of the Fascist regime, governed by a Government-appointed prefect and the local Fascist hierarchy. All municipal autonomy was abolished and the podestà, appointed by the prefect, replaced the elected mayors. All legal political activity outside the regime became impossible and most of the civil society institutions, at least the Slovenian ones, were dismantled.
In 1927, the first
World War II and post-war division
In 1941, with the
Already in September 1943, large portions of the region were taken over by the
After the end of World War II in 1945, almost the entire region was liberated by the Yugoslav People's Army, but was forced to withdraw from its western part. During the forty days of Yugoslav occupation, thousands of Italians were arrested by Communist authorities; most of them were released, but several hundred of them perished in the Foibe massacres.
For two years, Gorizia and Gradisca was a contested region between Italy and the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, divided by the so-called Morgan Line. The territory west of the line (including the entire Soča valley, the lower Vipava Valley and most of the Karst Plateau) were occupied by British and U.S. forces, while the east remained under Yugoslav military administration. In September 1947, the region was finally divided between the two countries: Yugoslavia got most of the rural territory of the eastern part, while all of the western lowlands and the urban center of Gorizia were left to Italy. A small portion of the Karst region between Trieste and Duino was incorporated into the Zone A of the Allied-administered Free Territory of Trieste (which became part of Italy in 1954).
Gorizia and Gradisca thus ceased to exist as a unified historical region. Its Yugoslav portion became an integral part of the Socialist Republic of Slovenia: most of its territory was included in the Goriška region, except for the Karst Plateau, which was incorporated into the Littoral–Inner Carniola Statistical Region. A new urban center, called Nova Gorica ("New Gorizia") was built between the late 1940s and in the early 1950s. The Italian portion became part of the Friuli-Venezia Giulia autonomous region, mostly included in the Province of Gorizia.
Culture
The county of Gorizia and Gradisca enjoyed a multicultural environment, where Slavic, German and Latin people lived together and the government respected the right of minorities; it wasn't uncommon for people in this area to speak three or four language.
Slovene culture
The County of Gorizia and Gradisca emerged as a major center of Slovene culture in the second half of the 19th century. Already in the early 1860s, Slovene replaced German as the major language of education and administration in the Slovene-inhabited parts of the county. Differently from Styria, Carinthia and even Carniola, there was no assimilation pressure against the Slovene culture in most of Gorizia-Gradisca, so the Slovene culture flourished. Since the 1890s, the State Gymnasium of Gorizia emerged as one of the most prestigious educational centers in the Slovene Lands: several prominent figures in Slovenian arts, sciences and politics in the early 20th century received their education in this institution. In 1913, the Gymnasium was divided into three parts, with German, Italian and Slovenian as the language of teaching. The Slovenian section of the Gymnasium of Gorizia thus became the first public high school with Slovene as the primary language of teaching.
Among the prominent figures of
Friulian culture
During the 19th century Gorizia was an important and lively center for Friulian. Throughout the century, many old books were republished, new works were composed, and several political and cultural association promoting Friulian culture were founded in the region. This was also thanks to the fact that even the nobility would normally use the language, while for example in Udine and in other towns of central Friulian higher classes rather used Venetian, because Friulian was seen as the language of peasants.
The County of Gorizia and Gradisca was also important for Friulian because it is the only territory in which an official census on speakers of Friulian has been carried out: in 1857, the official Austrian census showed 48.841 Friulians, 130,748 Slovenians, 15,134 Italians and 2,150 Germans in the county. A second census in 1921, carried out shortly after the annexation to Italy gave similar results.
Throughout the 19th century, most educated Friulians gravitated towards the
Italian culture
During the 19th century, the town of Gorizia was the only major center of Italian culture in the region. In the 17th century, Italian emerged as a second language of culture in the town, next to German. Throughout the 18th and early 19th century, Italian culture flourished in the whole region. Italian was used as a language of education and culture by many noble families, as well as in Slovene and German
The emergence of the
By the beginning of the 20th century, Italian lost its previous function as the lingua franca in the region. Gorizia remained the only important center of Italian culture in the county, although the percentage of Italian speakers in the town was in constant decrease and dropped under 50% in 1910.
Nevertheless, important figures emerged from the Italian-speaking milieu of Gorizia, such as the prominent philologist
was the most important representative of this local Italian culture.German culture
The German-speaking community represented only a very small portion of the population. They were mostly concentrated in the town of Gorizia, where they represented some 10% of the overall population of the city center. Nevertheless, other factors increased the importance of the German culture in the region. Until the end of
Among the most prominent members of the German-speaking community of Gorizia and Gradisca were the chemist Johannes Christian Brunnich and explorer and natural scientist Karl von Scherzer.
In the 1850s, Gorizia and Gradisca also emerged as a tourist destination for the Central European elite. Towns such as Gorizia,
Religion
The vast majority of the population of the county was of
According to the census of 1910, there were around 1,400 members of non-Latin Catholic or non-Catholic denominations in the county, which amounted to only around 0,5% of the overall population. Among them, around 750 belonged to various
Area and population
According to the data of the last official census in the Austro-Hungarian monarchy in 1910, the county had an area of 2918 km2 and 260,721 inhabitants, of which around 20% lived in urban areas (Gorizia, Gradisca,
The historical demography of the region was the following one:
Census[3] | Ethnic structure | ||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Year | Population of Gorizia-Gradisca |
Slovenes | % | Italians and Friulians |
% | Germans | % |
1818 | 144,008 | n.a. | n.a. | n.a. | |||
1857 | 196,279 | 130,748 | 66.6% | 62,975 | 32.1% | 2,320 | 1.2% |
1890 | 222,000 | 145,000 | 65.3% | 73,000 | 32.9% | 3,000 | 1.4% |
1910 | 260,721 | 154,564 | 59.3% | 90,119 | 34.6% | 4,486 | 1.7% |
Subdivisions
The county was divided into five administrative or "political" districts (Kreise), which were in turn subdivided into judicial districts. The town of Gorizia had a status of an administrative district.
Administrative districts
- Gorizia City (Italian: Gorizia città, Slovene: Gorica mesto, German: Görz Stadt)
- Gorizia Countryside (Italian: Gorizia Campagna, Slovene: Gorica-dežela, German: Görz Land)
- Gradisca d'Isonzo (Slovene: Gradišče ob Soči, German: Gradisca)
- Monfalcone (Slovene: Tržič, German: Neumarktl)
- Sežana (Italian and German: Sesana)
- Tolmin (Italian: Tolmino, German: Tolmein)
Judicial districts
- Administrative district of Gorizia:
- Gorizia
- : Kanalburg)
- Ajdovščina (Italian: Aidussina, German: Haidenschaft)
- A.d. of Gradisca:
- A.d. of Monfalcone:
- Monfalcone (Slovene: Tržič)
- Cervignano (Friulian: Çarvignan, Slovene: Červinjan)
- A.d. of Sežana:
- A.d. of Tolmin:
See also
- History of Gorizia
- Slovenian Littoral
- Italia irredenta
References
- ^ a b "Küstenland mit Görz, Istrien und Triest als Kronländer" (in German). 7 July 2017. Retrieved 2021-09-27.
- ^ Siemann 2019, p. 225-226.
- ^ Branko Marušič, Pregled politične zgodovine Slovencev na Goriškem (Nova Gorica: Goriški muzej, 2005)
Sources
- Branko Marušič & Sergio Tavano, Il vicino come amico realtà o utopia? : la convivenza lungo il confine italo-sloveno (Gorizia: Mohorjeva družba, 2007).
- Branko Marušič, Die Vereinstätigkeit im österreichischen Küstenland (Triest, Görz-Gradisca, Istrien) (Vienna: Österreichischen Akademie der Wissenschaften, 2006).
- Branko Marušič, Gli sloveni nel Goriziano dalla fine del medioevo ai giorni nostri (Udine: Forum, 2005).
- Simon Rutar, Poknežena Grofija Goriška in Gradiščanska (Nova Gorica: Založba Branko, 1997).
- Siemann, Wolfram (2019). Metternich: Strategist and Visionary. Cambridge: Harvard University Press.
- Sergio Tavano, Il Goriziano nella sua vita letteraria (Udine: Società Filologica Friulana).